Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Jun 12th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!
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Christopher SlaughterCEO |
The sheer inevitability of an 84-year-old man deciding to slow things down a little gives a lot of the headlines a “Dog Bites Man” feel, but then again, it is Rupert Murdoch we’re talking about. The transition has been anticipated for years, decades even, but it will still be examined — and second-guessed — in excruciating detail. But despite the quite-clearly-enunciated succession plan, expect a lot more coverage from a range of different perspectives, as befits this sort of milestone moment at one of the world’s most important media conglomerates. Historic, to say the least. |
Sara MaderaDirector, Member Relations & Marketing |
If you were wondering when the tipping point for smartphones would be, Ericsson has your answer: 70% of the world will be using smartphones by the year 2020. The latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report has hit the streets, and is as loaded with forecasting and insights as ever. Mobile video will grow 13-fold worldwide between now and 2020, at a rate of 55% a year, and the Asia-Pacific region will only broaden its global dominance of smartphone data traffic. |
Mark LayVice President, Singapore |
Technological innovation has put us on the cusp of virtual reality becoming a market reality. “The Dawn of Virtual Reality” provides a fantastic summary of where we are at and where we could go. Leading this is Oculus Rift that was purchased by Facebook for over $2 billion last year. The Rift consumer headset (announced just yesterday) is expected to be on sale in the first quarter of 2016 with a price tag rumored to be around $350. Other big manufactures have also jumped into the frey with Sony, Samsung and HTC joining the race. Recently, Google and GoPro announced the Google Jump Camera Rig that combines 16 GoPro Cameras operating in sync to produce 360 degree 3D videos. Google’s Jump Assembler is software that combines these videos into the equivalent of five 4K TV’s playing at once. Exactly how cool with this technology be? For you to get a taste, buy a Google Cardboard Viewer (maybe $20 bucks), download Google Cardboard app for either iOS or Android (free) and start experiencing this for yourself. The options for our industry are numerous: fully immersive TV shows, travel documentaries, action videos (think Red Bull TV on steroids), movies and virtually sitting in the stands of any live sporting event… from the comfort of ones own home. Is there a market for us here? I think so. |
John MedeirosChief Policy Officer |
Ah, ‘tis the season. The bidding is starting for the next three years of English Premier League broadcasting rights. No surprise… in Thailand, True Visions has let it be known they are very much in the biddingthough they have no plans to pay outrageous amounts. (In the last three-year cycle, the amount bid by competitor Cable Thai Holdings (CTH) was jaw-dropping.) |
Christopher SlaughterCEO |
When I read about Virgin Media’s eleventh courtroom victory out of eleven patent lawsuits filed against it by Rovi, I was reminded of the massive importance of discovery in the modern media industry. There are loads of companies focused on the critical areas of search, recommendation, and curation, and while I’m not saying we need to take Netflix as a model for everything, it’s worth noting that the company employs some 800 people and spends more than US$150 million a year on recommendation technology alone. Even YouTube, just ten years old, felt it needed to “rewire” itself to upgrade its recommendation capabilities, tapping deep into parent company Google’s vast digital resources to help it do so. We’ve come a long way from 1992 and that Bruce Springsteen song, “57 Channels (And Nothing On)”… or have we? |
Anjan MitraExecutive Director, India |
Even as India’s Department of Telecoms fails to clear ambiguities over net neutrality and regulator TRAI is yet to release recommendations on OTT services, Indian companies are increasingly smelling the digital coffee. One of India’s largest film studios, Eros International, was stopped by shareholders from starting a traditional TV channel, favouring a push to its Netflix-type paid service, ErosNow. India-based entertainment firms like Star, Zee and Sony are betting big on the potential of online. Hooq, a joint venture of SingTel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros, is slated to launch its services soon. At Indian Rs 4,35,00 million in advertising and over 40 per cent growth rate, digital is hot, a keen observer of media pointed out. |
Kevin JenningsProgramme Director |
Malaysian – based Internet TV service iflix has announced plans to set up a development centre in Kuala Lumpur in association with the Scandinavian group Vimond Media Solutions. Staffed with product management and R&D teams they will concentrate on developing mobile TV products. iflix, part of Kuala Lumpur-based Internet investment firm Catcha Group, launched in Malaysia late last month with free trials, and said it is also now available in the Philippines with local telco PLDT having earlier invested US$15M. |
Christopher SlaughterCEO |
Online, schmonline, TV is still the most effective advertising vehicle out there. A new report from market analytics firm MarketShare (registration required) tracks the five year period from 2010 to 2014, a time when television increasingly came under fire from a proliferation of new media opportunities. Nonetheless, the study shows TV outperforming digital and offline channels at driving key performance metrics like sales and new accounts. |
Jane BuckthoughtAdvertising Consultant |
Some 455 million digital TV homes were added around the world between end-2010 and end-2014, taking the total to 1.05 billion, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The number of pay-TV subscribers reached 878 million by 2014, up from 718 million in 2010. Asia Pacific increased by 106 million, or two-thirds of the global additions, during this period to bring its total to half a billion. |
John MedeirosChief Policy Officer |
Content owners sometimes complain about finding unauthorized copies of their works on Youtube, but apparently Youtube’s Content ID system makes them relative angels, compared to Facebook, which doesn’t offer any way for content owners to monetize viewing. Among other lines in what was called a “tweetstorm” of criticism, the head of content network Fullscreen said “I love FB (Facebook) video but getting very tired of seeing our videos ripped there with no way to monitor or monetize…” |
Mark LayVice President, Singapore |
The tech giant Facebook is now out of the space race, having decided to scrap plans for satellite internet. According to tech news site The Information, Facebook’s concerns were that it will not recoup costs. What effect this will have on facebook’s internet.org project is unknown. They are still looking to use high-altitude long-endurance planes and “lasers”. Not to worry, Those Magnificent Men [and] their Flying Machines, of Sir Richard Branson of OneWeb and Elon Musk of SpaceX, still have grand plans of developing constellations of small communications satellites for internet access. |
Anjan MitraExecutive Director, India |
And while Asia — South Asia more so — grapples with ways and means to bring about coherence and business-friendly environs for hitherto untapped digital services and also try arrest growing online piracy, European Union has some radical views. Speaking recently at Midem, EU’s Andrus Ansip opined existing copyright legislation and geo-blocking are pushing people to piracy. EU’s solution: providing good legal options is the best way to tackle piracy. |
Kevin JenningsProgramme Director |
Software and OTT Technology provider Kaltura has said it intends to use its latest injection of capital to extend its operations into several key Asian markets – China, Japan, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.Backed by Intel, SAP and Nokia, Kaltura have also notably strategically secured regional funding from India’s Nexus Venture Partners and Japan’s Mitsui & Co. which the company believes will help them with their plans for APAC expansion. |
Christopher SlaughterCEO |
Everything that’s old is new again — or at least, you might believe thatbased on all the TV series reboots in the works. And while it’s one thing to celebrate the past, sometimes, things that have died are best left in the grave. |
