Ever since TM introduced HyppTV, it has been marketed as a value-added feature, bringing a number of channels to your TV via your home fibre. While there are definitely those who prefer free internet TV to unreliable satellite TV, there seems to be a more sinister reason why Unifi isn’t offered as a ‘barebones’ package without HyppTV.

Browse TM’s webpage, and the cheapest Unifi package on offer is ‘Unifi30’ for RM179/month. It advertises ‘free HyppTV’ and 21 free channels along with your choice of either Varnam, Aneka or Ruby channel sets.

But it isn’t as generous an offer as it seems. Open up your TM contract and read the extremely fine print. Somewhere between the lines, you’ll find not ONE but TWO early termination fees. Because TM bundles ‘free HyppTV’ in the package, you are imposed an additional RM300 termination fee for that service on top of the standard RM500 fee.

This is regardless of whether you requested for it (you can’t opt out of HyppTV), whether you have a TV at home or whether or not the set top box was ever taken out of its packaging.

Yes, some will say that it’s actually useful to them, and this is true. But why force all new Unifi users to accept HyppTV? Why not offer a cheaper, barebones package without HyppTV? After all, TM has said that its mission is to make broadband available to the masses.

Once again, what starts off looking like a freebie ends up being yet another money-grabbing opportunity by Malaysia’s favourite monopoly.