♪♪ Let it "Flow", Let it "Flow", Let it "Flow" ♪♪

As promised today this article will take a quick look at the newest cable TV provider in Barbados, Flow which is owned by Columbus Communication. Flow's market share potential will be strengthened as Columbus Communication bought Karib Cable which was another new entrant to the Barbados market. Flow will be offering a "Triple Play" of Cable, Broadband and Homephone.

With the purchase of Karib Cable, Columbus Communications will integrate that network with theirs to provide a fibre based roll out on the island. The service is currently available in parts of St. Michael, Christ Church and St. James with more parts of the island scheduled for September 2013 and beyond.

Flow also provides service in several Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. Based on comments online there are mixed reviews to the quality of the cable TV and Internet offerings of Flow, ranging from great to disappointing.

I have only been able to see the service at a public exposition which Flow held earlier this year. During that event I was able to get a glimpse of their High Definition offering as well as their broadband speeds. In Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago Flow offers speeds up to 100Mbps and the same is here for Barbados. Just going by numbers, that speed is five (5) times what telecommunication provider LIME offers as its maximum broadband speed (20Mbps). Of course those are maximum possible speeds and many factors come into play when it comes to realisation of actual speed. However, the announcement of Flow's arrival should have positive results when it comes to competition among the Internet and Cable TV providers in Barbados.

In addition to the Internet the prospects of the Cable TV service sound quite interesting. Namely because when I glance through the Flow Barbados Channel List I see an incredible amount of HD channels on offer (by Barbados standards of course). The basic package alone has about 19 HD channels. A further browse of the channel list reveals about 30 more HD channels (available in packages and a-la-carte). So basically Flow will offer around 50 channels in HD while MCTV has 4 channels....hmmm...and to be honest looking at Flow's HD offering of 19 channels in the basic package, in terms of price Flow wins. Even looking at the amount of standard definition (SD) and HD channels offered in the other two extended packages, overall Flow looks like the better value. Flow will also offer at least two channels in 3D (the 3D channels are free, most likely because the potential market for 3D channels is small). Of course, at the end of the day the real answer comes in the quality of the actual service as well as customer service. Columbus Communication has also promised new technological developments for Flow will be introduced in Barbados later this year. At this point I can not comment on how Flow in Barbados will be overall but what I can say is that based on the channel package information Flow has online as well as the demonstration of the service at the exposition, it seems like Flow will bring a new level of technology  and innovation to Barbados, which should lead to better product offerings available by Flow's competitors. In the end this should benefit the consumers.

...and then there was HD...sort of

The MCTV (Barbados) High Definition (HD) receiver

So without any research I believe the award for the longest delay in offering High Definition television channels to its cable TV lineup would be given right here in Barbados. Just about last month, MCTV in Barbados started offering High Definition channels. With the announcement of HDTV channels, I was obviously excited, having had to get my HD fix via HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, YouTube and other online sources. The opportunity to be able to watch my favourite sporting event, drama or comedy show in crisp, clear, glorious high definition was alluring. In fact the thought was magical. I have watched HD cable before while on vacation in the United States and Canada but being able to watch it here in my living room in Barbados...nice. That was until I realized what they were offering.

I must admit I was never a fan of our cable provider MCTV but that is too long a story for this blog. But a quick summary, MCTV has always had a history of receiver boxes not working properly (the remote does not respond to button presses, basically the box sticks, no programme data etc...) and that long tradition continues with the new HD box.

In addition, as can be seen their website....yeah...you get the point. If they don't put effort into their website how can you expect them to put effort into anything else. Of course there may be reasons why MCTV has the issues they have but again too long of a story for this blog. So then upon reflection it really did come as no surprise when I found out their HDTV offering was a "whopping" four (4) channels...yes...4 channels. To make it even more depressing only 2 of them sounded worthwhile to have in HD and then for the reality check only 1 of those 2 is actually in HD. The channels are CTV Toronto HD, Justice Central HD, FightNow HD and WGN HD. Now WGN HD is not actually in HD, which leaves CTV HD as the only real choice. One can only imagine what MCTV management was thinking when they thought to add Justice Central HD and FightNow HD. If those two channels were part of a 20 or 30 channel HD package then it may be more understandable but with a small offering of 4 channels MCTV offers Justice Central and FightNow HD? Not really the best channel choices with such a limited HD offering.

I should add that sometimes NBC Sports and CBS are in HD or near HD. Obviously MCTV's offering is way to small for the year 2013...and to think they are offering this when a new cable provider has entered the Barbados marketplace. So for MCTV's sake they better improve. For years they had the luxury of having the best channel package in Barbados but the new entrant into the Barbados cable TV market is offering more channels and more importantly more channels in HD. More on that new provider tomorrow.

And to be honest, MCTV's paltry HD offering is a pity, because the picture quality of CTV HD is really quite good. Hopefully management at MCTV will improve the HD product offerings soon...in fact it is in their own best interest.