“I’m never afraid of competition.’ Those are the words of President and CEO of Ready TV, Chris Dehring when asked how he intends to present his newest project, ReadyTv, as a viable option for telecommunications consumers.

Come December, ReadyTV will be launched by Digital Interactive Services Limited (DISL). The company was recently granted an island-wide Special Subscriber Television Licence issued by the Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica. This licence will allow it to use both wired and wireless technology to deliver multiple television channels to customers across Jamaica

The new multimillion dollar venture will be aimed Jamaican households that are still without basic cable service because of either the unavailability or the cost of obtaining the service in their respective location.

In an exclusive interview with Businessuite Magazine, Dehring says ReadyTV’s services will be primarily aimed at the underserved market even though he expects that “based on the quality and convenience of our service might also attract some existing customers of cable operators”.

Competitive Advantage
Stopping just short of revealing his strategy to take over the market, the ReadyTV President and CEO says he will focus on providing an affordable and convenient choice for Jamaicans. “Our tagline, “TV when YOU ready”, defines what will be our approach to our customers, a service when they are ready, not the other way around”.

He says his approach to the market is based on his belief that the key is to “never to engage with larger, stronger competitors on their terms, but to define your own terms”. Using a sports-based analogy to explain his point, the CEO continued, “You don’t try and play Barcelona style football against Barcelona if you don’t have the same type of players that they have”.

Dehring says ReadyTV will instead aim to deliver a service that offers Jamaicans an alternative to whatever the competition has or doesn’t have, employing marketing and technology strategies that allow the company to play to on its strengths, and not those of its competitors.

“Suffice it to say that we strongly believe we can be a viable alternative to the great products and services currently offered by FLOW and DIGICEL, even though our primary target market is those consumers who right now are not served by these two multinational giants”, Dehring indicated.

Past Experience
Dehring says it is his ‘collective experience’ that gives him the confidence to launch any new venture. He says ‘that includes having started and run Jamaica’s first investment bank, Dehring Bunting & Golding, as well as conceptualizing and launching the Caribbean’s first sports cable channel, Sportsmax, which is now broadcast in 26 countries”.

The former LIME Chairman says his experience with that company also played an integral role in preparing him for what needs to be done to ensure ReadyTV’s success. He says having been “responsible for launching Cable & Wireless’ Pay TV operations in Barbados, and having negotiated international TV broadcast rights agreements globally for the WICB for so many years, will also influence and be beneficial to my leadership of ReadyTV”.

Dehring says his high level of confidence and belief in the success of ReadyTV also lies in the fact that he has a very strong team with wide-ranging and relevant expertise and experience working on the company board and in the operations.

Company directors include Chairman Peter Reid; David Cassanova; Orville ‘Shaggy’ Burrell; former Cable and Wireless Caribbean CFO Gerard Borely; and Trinidadian national Magnus Johansson.

ReadyTV Roll Out
The testing phase for the new service is set to last for a few months, mainly to test the network and support systems and get feedback from as wide a cross-section of consumers as possible.

Those customers will be selected primarily based on geographic location so that DISL can gauge its network performance over a wide coverage area.

Dehring says ReadyTV is all about affordability, convenience and value for the ReadyTV brand. “If you want an affordable cable TV option, all you will have to say is, ‘mi ready’ and ReadyTV will answer the call.