While my wife was here on her Philippines vacation, she had cable TV installed in our house. She didn't just get an installation done; she had the installation done in three rooms: The living room, the master bedroom, and my son's bedroom.

The Cable TV Company

The name of the cable TV company here in Olongapo City is Colorview CATV, Inc. It's the only cable company in the city. It was founded in 1972, and became operational in 1973, during the reign of President Ferdinand Marcos. The first CEO was Ramón Banzon Magsaysay, Jr. (son of former President Magsaysay — Magsaysay Drive in Olongapo City is named after the President). At the time Ramón was not involved in politics, although he's now a senator in the Philippines.

Colorview CATV is an asset of the Asian Vision Cable Holdings Inc., its umbrella corporation.

Cable TV Installation Charges and Monthly Subscription Fees

The installation charges were minimal. I have only the invoice to go by, but it appears that the total cost of installation was 3,544 pesos (around $76.00 in US dollars). This includes the deposits on three converter boxes, splitters and advance payment for the monthly subscription fee for one month.

Each converter deposit is 500.00 pesos (around $11.00 in US dollars). The monthly subscription fee for the premium/full package, which includes HBO Asia, Cinemax Asia, and channels from other countries, is 1,325 pesos (around $29.00 in US dollars).

We are stuck with analog cable TV for now, so we'll have to wait until digital television conversion comes along.. The lead technician told me they expect to go digital next year, but I'm not holding my breath. My wife brought a single 19-inch widescreen TV with her from the US (I'll try to mention it and put a picture in a later post). None of the signals are in widescreen yet, obviously. The TV is the same size as my computer monitor, but a lot more expensive. It must have something to do with all the doo-dads that can be plugged into it, along with being able to use it as either a primary or additional computer monitor.

Colorview and Cable Internet

Colorview CATV is also the company that provides broadband services by cable to most of the city. According to the lead technician, once again, cable Internet should be available in my area next year. A sister-in-law's sister-in-law living on Gordon Avenue, just off Magsaysay and near the freeport zone, has cable Internet in her home and it rocks compared to the lousy DSL connection I suffer with.

Around these parts, next year usually means 2-5 years, so holding my bad breath is out of the question.

Colorview CATV, Inc.

I couldn't find much by searching for the company on the Internet. I'm surprised it doesn't have much of a web presence. I do, however, have their contact information:

Colorview CATV, Inc.
2298 Rizal Avenue, East Bajac-Bajac
Olongapo City
Philippines 2200
Phone 63-47-222-3185

There's also an address at 62 Gordon Avenue (everything else would be the same), but I don't know which address is correct — I have not been there. The phone number hasn't changed, so I'll find out from my mother-in-law (when she pays the bill for me at the beginning of October) what their actual location is.