Goodbye KyLinTV & Call to Action

After half a year of outage (I was a paying customer for almost about 1.5 years), deceptive practices, and no progress from KyLinTV I finally boxed up the Set Top Box (Which isn't free as another person found out, it's on a $198 loan) and sent it back on my own buck.

While KyLinTV was plagued with Mainland outages, DishNetwork and DirectTV were able to maintain service. FTA programming remained available as well. KyLinTV blaming the Chinese government for the outage repeatedly was a poor excuse in my opinion.

The video quality degraded and was never great to begin with. Artifacts, synchronization problems, buffering issues all were never solved and never improved. Comments were ignored and support was slow to respond.

The programming offered in lieu of the advertised channels Fig. 1,2were channels KyLinTV should have been paying me to watch most of the time. It is a issue of taste of course, but I joined for certain channels and was force fed something else. Month after month KyLinTV promised "Soon the outage will be over," but nothing happened. Just more channels that quite frankly sucked and none of the channels returning which they advertise! Customer even posted to this blog stating that KyLinTV wasn't informing them of the outage when they were signing up for new service. Per my advice they called KyLinTV back and specifically asked. Upon this the answer was given that their monthly fee would be reduced and admission of the outage was explained.

Fig. 1


Fig. 2




Ending service was as enjoyable as the past half a year of service. It wasn't. Had to send back the STB, so it wasn't really "Free" as advertised on the very first page of their website. Fig.3,4 Not only that, I had to box it and pay for return shipping. No offer of a return shipping container or anything. Just, "OK, your account has been canceled, just send it back to us."

Fig. 3



Fig. 4



I think the FTC should be alerted to the false advertising that KyLinTV habitually carries out. Maybe if enough people file formal complaints something will be done ;-)

I will keep the blog going for all the KyLinTV customers out there and as a warning to future consumers.

I would like to also extend my willingness to KyLinTV to review their products should they ever decide to want a fair and balanced report to the public. During this whole time I was a paying customer and this blog has recorded the issues, treatment and history of my time with KyLinTV.

I hope that my effort and time can serve as an informational tool for others. Of course, everything I wrote is only my opinion and that may not be valued by all. Nonetheless, I hope that I have helped just one person.

Goodbye KyLinTV

Mainland Channel Service Update

I spoke with KyLinTV today and asked about the Mainland channels coming back. I was told by a representative that the holdup is with the Mainland Chinese government restructuring the way channels are censored through before being sent out internationally. Contracts are already in place between KyLinTV and the TV stations in China. However, the government must now approve the changes that have been made and ensure full compliance regarding the censorship and processing methods.

I have no idea who to contact in China to get their side of the story so please keep in mind that this is only KyLin's version and it cannot be confirmed as of now. If any one has contacts that may be helpful please let me know.

The problem still remains that customers don't have service.

I wonder why DirectTV and Dish Network and FTA (Free to Air) stations are not having similar issues?

I at least give KyLin credit for providing good phone customer support and taking the time to explain what their side of the story is. I must say that I have always had positive experiences when dealing with their customer support. Mistakes are sometimes made but they are eager to correct them and always helpful.

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.