Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) The number of subscribers to Chunghwa Telecom Co.'s digital TV service has spiked sharply since last Sunday, when Taiwan won its first medal at the 2012 London Olympics, the company said Wednesday.
On July 30 and 31, there were 2,800 to 2,900 applications per day for subscription to the multimedia-on-demand (MOD) service, an authorized broadcaster of the Olympics Games, Chunghwa Telecom said.
The daily average is usually around 2,000 applications, Chang Yi-fong, vice president of the company's Northern Business Group, told CNA.
The spike came after Hsu Shu-ching won a silver medal in the women's 53 kilograms weightlifting event with a combined lift of 219kg, securing Taiwan's first medal at the London Games, Chang said.
In July, there were 40,000 applications for the high-definition MOD service, more than 1.6 times the monthly average, Chang said.
He said his company is providing a "comprehensive" service, broadcasting all the sports events that are of interest to audiences in Taiwan.
"As long as the competition is broadcast by the organizers, subscribers to our services would be able to watch and enjoy," he said.
The number of subscribers to the MOD service, which was launched in 2005, exceeded 1 million last year, with an average revenue of NT$157 (US$5.37) per user, according to Chunghwa Telecom, the country's biggest telecom carrier.
As of Wednesday, the number of subscribers had topped 1.15 million and was "still growing gradually," Chang said.
The company has forecast a rise to 1.5 million subscribers by the end of this year, partly because of increased demand for Olympics Games broadcasts.
In Taiwan, only Chunghwa Telecom and Elta TV have obtained the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games via new media platforms such as mobile phones and Internet Protocol Television, which is digital content delivered on a person's television through a high-speed Internet connection.
Elta TV, which is carried on Chunghwa Telecom's MOD system, has been broadcasting the 2012 Olympic Games on 11 approved channels.
(By James Lee)
ENDITEM /pc