KyLinTV... Seems like they are going down :-(

Mainland Channel Outage

Well, anyone with KyLinTV service has likely been concerned over the past several months. With every passing day things drag on and nothing happens. KyLinTV doesn't update us and progress seems to be really, really slow.

Service for all the Mainland channels has been out since the middle of the Summer. Only Video-On-Demand (Cost extra) and all the channels KyLinTV should be paying me to watch are available.

Lack of Updates

The service update informing customers that KyLinTV is working to resolve the problem is far outdated and not very informative. It states that Summer is almost over and soon September will be here. Well, it is October now and no new news.

Deceptive Sales

Of course, on their website there are no user forums, outage information, updates or warnings to new customers that they are going down the tubes. Really, wrong of them in my opinion to not warn customers and not take care of current customers. How hard is it to type a message and broadcast it?

Oddly, KyLinTV does advertise the Mainland channels are part of their service. At best this is deceptive. At worst it is a matter for the FTC.

It is unfortunate that things have come to this. Maybe the outage is not the fault of KyLinTV but they need to take care of us customers and be completely honest with new ones.

They Were Trying, Not Anymore

Now, let me give KyLinTV a little credit. They are providing some really crappy programming for free via Video-On-Demand. Crappy is an understatement, it is so bad I can't explain it. Phoenix North America Channels for free, not very interesting, especially for people interested in Mainland issues. And some of the absolute worst "live" programming available. I know they are trying but this isn't working anymore.

Political Issues

I don't know who is to blame for the outage. KyLinTV or Mainland TV programmers. Either way here is the deal.

Right now ALL I get is a Taiwanese viewpoint. By holding up the Mainland perspective and programming there is an interesting thing happening. KyLinTV subscribers are getting one side of the story about back home. They get the Taiwan/American slant on everything. Often, the viewpoint is so slanted it is amusing.

So here is my question and stay with me here. Is KyLinTV a purposely refusing to air Mainland programming? Is this a pro-Taiwan / anti-Mainland China action? Is political influence being exerted by the American or Taiwanese governments?

It is just a curious situation and something worth thinking about. I am not saying there is a conspiracy or anything but without any explanation from either KyLinTV or the Mainland we are are left in a mystery. I wish one side would come out and force the other's hand in providing an explanation.

Competition Coming?

Anyhow, why doesn't China Telecom start sending IPTV boxes overseas and providing Mainland service to overseas markets? I mean the debut in several cities over the past year or so has already taken place in the Mainland. Hmm... maybe that is what is happening. Maybe KyLinTV is going to be forced out of the market by emerging services from major providers.

KyLinTV, Still Not a Player

Well, either way KyLinTV doesn't seem to be ready for the "big-time" yet. They were the first to come and it is looking like they may be the first to go as well. They intermittent service, lack of updates and complete halt of innovation all signal bad things to come in my opinion.