The future came suddenly to Hong Kong, so suddenly you might have missed it. It began earlier this year with the Cricket World Cup, dribbled its way through college basketball's Final Four and hip-checked itself into our living rooms with the Stanley Cup playoffs. Welcome to the vanguard, the new frontier and LWE (life without ESPN). Welcome to a steady diet of pay-per-view sporting events - and all this because ESPN and Star Sports have vested their future in reality TV. Kids on skateboards and snowmobiles occupy the bulk of their programming and it's not because the ageing network brass down in Singapore are X-gamers themselves. It's because of money. Ask yourself two questions. How much does it cost to put a kid on a skateboard? How much does it cost to put Barry Bonds in a baseball uniform? Bonds makes about US$18 million per year. The punk on the skateboard, unless his name is Tony Hawk, makes lunch money. Naturally, the broadcast rights for the game Bonds plays are going to be far more expensive than the games kids play. So, it is not all the fault of the programming executives, it is also the fault of the major sporting leagues who seek exorbitant broadcast fees. ESPN/Star has decided to sink the majority of its budget into English soccer and Formula One. According to sources at the network, negotiations are ongoing with Major League Baseball. And the baseball season is ongoing as well but, as I mentioned a few weeks earlier, I don't care about these networks anymore. I don't care that they decided to run promos for baseball even though they did not have a deal signed with MLB at the time, and I don't care that broadcast schedules in newspapers still list upcoming games that never appear. The reason I don't care is that I have a friend in Hong Kong Cable. Before you assume I am a paid shill for Hong Kong Cable, think again, because I am an unpaid shill for Hong Kong Cable. I don't think anybody has taken more shots at them over the years than this space has. But instead of taking it personally, they took it professionally. What they have done is accommodate the so-called niche sports fans and, invariably, raised the quality of life in Hong Kong. By putting things like cricket and hockey in a pay-per-view package they have issued a challenge to habitual whiners like myself. You want the big events? OK, here they are. But you aren't back in Mumbai or Montreal; these events are going to cost. 'The big difference for us now has been upgrading from analog transmission to digital,' says Garmen Chan, vice president for external affairs at Hong Kong Cable. 'With the more advanced technology we can transmit more channels so we can accommodate a broader viewing range. We are gradually building our programme platform.' Chan says the response to pay-per-view for the recent Cricket World Cup package was so positive they are now starting a cricket channel. The cost is roughly $2,200 per year, a little less than $200 per month and a lot less than four beers in Lan Kwai Fong. For that money you get virtually every cricket match that matters all year round. Since ESPN dropped the NHL this year, Hong Kong Cable stepped up with a comprehensive playoff package at a cost of $500. 'If things work out,' Chan says, 'we will naturally explore doing something like a hockey channel to show games all year.' And since you can now get a comprehensive major league baseball package online at MLB.com, tell me again why I need ESPN? Once English soccer shuts down for the summer, there will be more filler on that network than in a Bologna sandwich. But it's not my concern. I have the gift of the future now and all I can say is what a show. Non-hockey fans may still dismiss it as a blood sport. But if you could put down your prejudice and squelch your narrow mindedness long enough to open your eyes, the pleasure is endless. The Stanley Cup offers the most riveting playoffs on the North American sporting calendar. Game Seven of the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks series was so raw and enthralling. Winner goes on to the conference championship, loser goes golfing. The crowd was frenzied, every shot was nerve wracking and when the Wild came back to score three goals in the third period and win 4-2, it was stunning. Minnesota Wild? What is that, a ribbed condom? A bottle of gut rot vodka? No, it's a hockey team in every sense of the word. The towel boy for the Los Angeles Lakers may have more star power than the entire roster of the Wild. But much like the South Korean national soccer team, the Wild are a bunch of pint-sized clones who keep coming in wave upon wave of pure adrenaline. And now they will play the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. Anaheim Mighty Ducks? Oh, never mind. Just be grateful to Hong Kong Cable because indulging in the future has never been more rivetting.
