MANILA, Philippines – After entertaining my family for 30 years, it’s time to say goodbye to Sky Cable, my cable TV service provider. I have friends who have disconnected their cable TV subscription years ago. They’ve been asking why I haven’t cut mine? So what took me so long?
The first time I heard about Sky Cable was in March 1992. Kenny Loggins, who was in the Philippines to perform two nights of concerts, was in a Sky Cable commercial.
“I’m hooked on Sky Cable,” when classmates talk about watching Saturday Night Live or movies on HBO, I couldn’t relate.
Sports on TV
What really made me envious about people with Cable TV was the showing of tennis matches, especially the Grand Slam events shown on Star Sports.
From 1992 to 1996, my dad always tuned in to PTV 4 and checked if there were any tennis matches being shown. I recorded some of the semi-finals and finals matches of the four Grand Slam events: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. If I could get lucky, I’d be able to watch and record Davis Cup matches wherever they were held.
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In June of 1996, my dad finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Sky Cable. I was so happy when my dad told me about it. Finally, I can watch Wimbledon and other Grand Slams in their earlier rounds. I can watch as many tennis matches as I want since they cover the whole event. I could watch it live and didn’t have to wait to read the newspapers the next day to find out the results of the matches.
Eventually, having a Cable TV subscription meant more than being able to watch ATP and WTA tennis matches. It got me hooked on WWF wrestling. It was the right timing for me because 1996 was about to unleash its Attitude Era.
I watched the early days of Stone Cold Steve Austin, then saw the very first match of Rocky Maivia in the WWF before he became the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment. Oh, I also witnessed how Degeneration-X was formed and how Hunter Hearst-Helmsley became Triple H.
While channel surfing, I discovered that WCW’s Monday Nitro was also being shown on TNT channel every Saturday evening, which appears after Cartoon Network. When Bret Hart left WWF after the Montreal Screwjob incident, I anticipated his appearance in the next episode of Monday Nitro. I was in wrestling heaven!
Channel-surfing era
But hey, cable TV for me wasn’t all about tennis and wrestling. I was in it for the news too. The only time I watched CNN was during the Gulf War in 1991. Thanks to our cable TV subscription, we were able to watch different news channels aside from CNN. My dad and I were able to know more about what’s going on in the world with extensive news reporting.
I witnessed the birth of ABS-CBN’ Sarimanok News Network and would sometimes watch veteran broadcaster Frankie Evangelista delivering the news. During its early days, they showed other regions’ news or shows which gave me a glimpse of what’s going on in their turf. The Sarimanok News Network changed its name to the ABS-CBN News Channel, or what we now know as ANC.
Star World was my favorite channel among all in the Sky Cable lineup. I watched Seinfeld, Third Rock from the Sun, oh and Ally McBeal! I’ve forgotten the others, but Star World was my default channel before I channel surfed.
I’m an MTV guy too! MTV Asia during the 90s was the best! Who could forget VJs like Mike Kasem, Nadya Hutagalung and Donita Rose? My favorite MTV Asia show? Alternative Nation because the 90s were ruled by Alternative Rock!
For my parents, it was a plus for them to have movie channels like HBO and Star Movies in the channel list. Sometimes, it was a good idea for them to stay at home and watch an old movie they’ve watched before or a movie that they have missed watching.
What’s great compared to watching movies on a local channel is there are no commercial breaks! So it was really like watching in a movie house, except their Sony TV in their bedroom was a 21-inch which was already considered somewhat large in the 90s.
Sky Cable was also helpful for us in the family too. They have a NAIA channel where we can see the flights departing and landing in Terminal 1. My brother and I checked this religiously before we head out to the airport and fetch our parents. Personally, I love staring at the Aquarium channel because we didn’t have one at home. It was the next best thing to having a real aquarium.
After 15 years, I was still glued to Cable TV shows, especially on Star World. I got hooked on NCIS and Criminal Minds and I didn’t mind watching their reruns on weekdays. Sunday evenings were reserved for me to watch back-to-back-to-back shows on Star World: NCIS at 7p.m., Criminal Minds at 8p.m. then White Collar at 9pm.
Introduction to streaming apps
Then, streaming apps started to show up. It started with iflix and HOOQ and then the biggest of them all, Netflix, entered the Philippines in 2016. I already knew as early as 10 years ago that Cable TV companies are in big trouble with these apps.
Nowadays, I maintain a Netflix premium subscription, a Disney+ annual subscription, and a BlastTV annual subscription (honestly, it was a big mistake). I’m contemplating adding PrimeTV or HBO Max if my budget would allow it.
Yes, streaming video services like the apps I mentioned were some of the reasons why I am unsubscribing. Compared to 30 years ago or even a few years ago, a lot of the channels I wanted were gone. Star/FOX was gone, and so did ESPN and FOX Sports. FOX Movies was gone too. A lot of channels I used to watch are not present anymore on my cable TV service.
The only thing holding me back is ANC, but that also can be watched on YouTube. And whenever I turn on my Digibox, I would always get an error and sometimes it would take forever for a repairman to go to my house and fix their cable.
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If my dad was still alive, he wouldn’t let us disconnect the service. He doesn’t understand opening the streaming apps unless I am at home. It was still easier for him to turn on the TV and just channel surf to watch what he wanted.
He’s not here anymore, and the decision is all up to me. Despite all these things I’ve mentioned, I still didn’t want to disconnect from my CableTV subscription. I guess it was nostalgia.
I just miss the mid-90s when my family gets to watch Tennis or HBO Movies together in our living room. When my brother raised a family with two kids, they too joined my parents in watching kids shows their grandkids enjoy. After my mom died in 2024 and my yaya left earlier this year, no one was watching Cable TV anymore.
After 30 years, I guess this is goodbye. Thanks Sky Cable for 30 years of entertaining my family.