For Chinese viewers, Sky offers a Chinese Channel, the best Chinese programs down from TVBI of Hong Kong. It also has drama serials and musical-variety programs in Mandarin and Cantonese.
For local happenings, Sky offers a Community Channel. The events of the coming elections, the activities in the Manila stock exchanges, or simply the latest happening in your village can now be monitored through an exclusive Sky channel. Important announcements are also flashed regularly in the community bulletin.
“It will take something like six satellites dishes to come up with a programming like ours,” Velarde said. At present Sky has 29 active channels [and] in a few months, they will hit a total of 33 channels.
“And we just began last month,” Velarde said. The cable system has the capacity to carry up to 80 channels, which means endless preferences for subscribers.
The transmission is very simple. Sky Vision has their own dishes which receive signals. The signals are then transmitted to the household through cables., aAt present, Sky cable is available in Makati villages like San Lorenzo, Urdaneta, Dasmarinñas and Bel-Air., It is also available in Magallanes Village and Corinthian Gardens.
“We are now going towards the Quezon City area.” Velarde said. It will be available in Greenhills, Blue Ridge and White Plains some time next month. Velarde hopes to hit Quezon City in four months’ time. Their next goal is to put up a system in ‘Loyola Heights and Damar Village.
Sky Cable is available in hotels, among them, at the Manila Peninsula. In fact, they are the ones responsible for the live telecast of the Superbowl at the hotel ballroom last Jan. 30., The Manila Pen served breakfast at 5 am, in time for the game at 7 am. The cable system will soon be available at the Mandarin Oriental. After the Superbowl. Velarde is looking forward for the Sky Cable’s coverage of the Olympics in Barcelona.
Velarde refuses to compare the features of Sky Cable to Sining Makulay, the popular cable television network in the late ’70s. He did specify, however, that aside from the large number of channels, Sky cable offers the highest broadcast quality, free from aerial distortions and interferences even in areas surrounded by high-rise buildings. The company also has a customer service group that is readily available for the: subscriber’s needs.
So far, Sky Vision is the most advanced cable television network in the country., It is now available for Makati, Magallanes, and Corinthian Gardens residents.
