- Lawrence Ng
StarHub's Legal TV Box Store at Sim Lim Square Is Pretty... Legal
StarHub recently opened its Legal TV Box Store at Sim Lim Square, a place people usually visit to purchase pirated set-top boxes that stream shows illegally. At the store, you can try out StarHub's TV+ Box, which provides consumers with a fully integrated over-the-top streaming and linear viewing experience.
According to a StarHub spokesperson, the pop-up store was launched to encourage shoppers to favour legitimate content sources. StarHub collaborated with The Secret Little Agency (TSLA) in order to make the Legal TV Box Store a reality. A TSLA spokesperson said that the agency pulled out all the stops to prepare the store so that customers can enjoy "the awesomeness of StarHub's TV+ offer".
"If you're headed to Sim Lim Square, it would likely be to purchase an illegal TV box. So it was only natural to create the Legal TV Box Store," said the spokesperson.
Singaporean experiential marketing company PPURPOSE was also a part of the pop-up store's creation.
As of 1 September 2021, more than 1,000 people visited the Legal TV Box Store, which will remain open until 19 September. The initiative started a month after StarHub announced that it will offer customers S$120 worth of subscriptions and products to those who will turn in their pirated set-top boxes. In exchange, they will receive a free two-year rental of StarHub TV+ Box as well as a plug-and-play Android TV-based media player with support for Ultra HD 4K and fast Wi-Fi connectivity.
The TV box swap campaign began in July 2021, the same month when the Ministry of Law called for revisions to the Copyright Act, proposing that it should be repealed with the new Copyright Bill to "stay abreast of changes in how content is created, distributed and used". The changes seek to ensure that the law will increasingly incentivise creativity, protect creators and set new rules for the permitted use of intellectual property.
Written by Sophia Lopez