Simon Said, Swieqi
Paying for more but getting less
I have to agree with correspondent Stephanie Scerri (December 17). Melita should fix the services they currently offer before embarking on new projects. It is not surprising that regular letters appear in this newspaper. I have been a loyal customer for many years, and pay yearly in advance, and therefore expect that what I have paid for I will receive. Over the years I no longer receive Manchester United channel and some other programmes that I have forgotten about.
Recently, I discovered that on my analogue reception I have lost nearly all the channels, which I had paid for in advance. When I complained, the answer I received was that they are being removed all over Europe, and that they are included free with my main digital reception. Shouldn't I receive some compensation? Never, not with Melita.
In fact, quite the opposite, they recently added a channel "Melita More", which means pay more.
What about sports channel, for which we pay extra? All summer we never viewed the Olympics, US Open or Wimbledon tennis or all the athletics around Europe.
When I asked customer service, the reply I received was, you can stop sports channel any time when there is nothing on. Yes, and then re-connect it, at a charge.
All we get is repeats. Last Wednesday must have been special. On Melita Sports 1 and Melita Sports 3 we were shown a repeat of Napoli vs Lecce at the same time!
With the competition on the market I am surprised that this company does not respect its existing customers. Soon there may not be many left.
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Kenneth Cassar
Dec 24th 2008, 09:22
"When I asked customer service, the reply I received was, you can stop sports channel any time when there is nothing on. Yes, and then re-connect it, at a charge".
For accuracy's sake, I don't believe there is a charge for re-connecting the sports channels.
s.cutajar
Dec 23rd 2008, 18:38
In the recent past there were only 4 persons in the whole of Malta (incl. the undersigned) that have challenged successfully our national administrators by asking the EU to abolish the unjust satellite licence charged to those receiving satellite TV.
Although primarily merit was given to Simon Busuttil and/or Joseph Muscat by their two major parties propaganda machines in front of the Maltese public, in reality it was not so. Although repeatedly harassed with legal proceedings by the local authorities (that is what happened here in Malta to us who filed a formal complaint as usual!!) we were proven right by the EU institutions.
So to all those complaining about Melita and TVM licence, instead of moaning, try for once your luck and lodge a complaint with the EU institutions so that you see for yourselves that in the outside world complaints and double standards are taken very seriously!!!
There is no free market here because everyone is afraid to seriously challenge the status quo!! Although unofficially, there are already alternatives to Melita here in Malta! I am not referring to Go here!!
Raymond Bartolo
Dec 23rd 2008, 16:27
Has anybody seen what this company charges at Mater Dei, a minimum charge of Euro 4 per day (irrespective of use), this works out to Euro 120 per month for a service which costs Euro 29 per month. This is a low as it gets exploiting sick people there should be a law against this. Personally I have had enough of being charged for 25 year old re-runs (A-Team, Knight Rider, no this not a joke ) which are available free elsewhere. Lets also not forget removing Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea channels, England International Games, and FA Cup games replaced by even more repeats. Were are the relevent authorities and the consumer protection.
Alex Abela
Dec 23rd 2008, 15:57
I still remember the days when Melita used to transmit Telepiu illegaly charging us good money for it. Once during a Milan-Juventus match the signal got so bad that their relay had to be turned off. When the day after i called at their offices to complain, the only reply i got was that if I was not pleased with their services, I could pay LM7 to get my service disconnected. This is what i did and from that day I am proud to say that I watched football paying less money, but it seems that many Maltese either don't have the courage to do like me or either cannot use their brain properly to choose between a VERY expensive medium (Melita) and other available options.
M Tanti
Dec 23rd 2008, 15:49
My friends, stop grumbling and make the switch. Anyway there are cheaper ways of watching football other than subscribing to Melita. Please use your heads and don't let people steal the money from your pockets!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jo Saliba
Dec 23rd 2008, 15:40
From its conception Melita was conceived to be a company operating in a communist style market. Quiet a few of us remember the saga when they were fixing big ugly boxes to house facades and its employees climbing onto private houses roofs without asking any permission. Now it go more fine, but still has the same mentality. Government please note and legislate in favour of a plan similar to that in force in Italy, where no operator can hold more than 60% of football television rights.
G Zahra
Dec 23rd 2008, 15:01
In Malta there is no free market. For example in Italy the same football match is transmitted live via 4 different mediums - Sky (Satellite), Mediaset and La 7 (DTT), Rosso Alice (Cable - in some cities) and Fastweb (internet). In Malta Melita has a monopoly of most of the football rights, thus allowing it to charge more than reasonable prices for football matches. Where is the market competitiveness???
R Aquilina
Dec 23rd 2008, 14:39
I agree with Mr. Said. I made exactly the same complaint re the loss of channels on my analogue receiver. I was told that there would be no compensation and the Channels I had been getting prior were gratis anyway.
Just waiting for the competition to include certain channels,which they don't have at the moment,before I move on.
lgalea
Dec 23rd 2008, 13:06
Why doesn't Gonzipn allow other companies to provide their service at Mater Dejn so that the patients would have a choice?
Is it because it wants to scratch the back of friends or friends of friends?
What about the eu rules of competition Gonzipn?
What is the eu representative in Malta doing about this blatant infringement of the rules of competition?
We expect the eu representative to give an answer and whether she has informed or presented a formal complaint to the Commission as the eu representative in Malta.
T.Borg
Dec 23rd 2008, 12:10
Wait until the arial ANALOGUE will soon be cut off and only then will most Maltese citizens realise that TVM, the national TV Station is ENCRYPTED on the then only available means of getting free TV.
Amazingly, we already are the only country where the national TV station is encrypted on Digital Terretial and not free to air viewable by all citizens of Malta. Where is the opposition?
What a far cry from UK's freeview!!!
A Sammut
Dec 23rd 2008, 11:35
I fully agree with Mr Muscat's and Mr Said's comments. Melita's services are by far more expensive than those of other Digital TV operators all over Europe (even in countries where wages are higher than Maltese wages). Buy hopefully now that competitors in the Digital TV sector are getting stronger, Melita will be brought down to earth.
Chris Muscat
Dec 23rd 2008, 10:34
Some more news about Melita. Go to Mater Dei Hospital to see how greedy is this company. For a service of 24 hours (NOT ONE SECOND MORE) they charge between 4 and 8 Euros. To add insult to injury the change given by automated machines (which most of the time are out of order) is rounded down to the nearest 10 cents. It may not be much but why it is not rounded up to the nearest figure (up or down)? It is time for Maltese to stand up and try to get their rights as citizens and customers protected.