The Media Development Authority has fined Singtel $90,000 for a pay-TV disruption earlier this year that affected 11,000 subscribers.

The two-hour disruption, its second in two years, started at about 10pm on Feb 3. Those affected were unable to boot up their set-top boxes or access on-demand content, the MDA said in a statement after the market closed yesterday.

Investigations revealed that Singtel was first alerted to the screen-freeze by customers calling its hotline.

Failure of a hard disk controller card caused the backend computer server it was housed in to become unstable, affecting the distribution of signals to four other computer servers that carry content. In a statement yesterday, Singtel apologised and said it has taken "the necessary steps to prevent a recurrence".

The biggest penalty ever meted out by the regulator for a pay-TV problem was $220,000 for a nine-hour TV disruption on May 15, 2013. About 26,000 Singtel subscribers could not start up their set-top boxes owing to a glitch.

It was previously fined $180,000 for a pay-TV breakdown on May 13, 2012, and $80,000 for two disruptions in October and November 2011.

Irene Tham