 |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
|
| The pay-TV industry came together in Bangkok on Tuesday this week for CASBAA’s ”Thailand in View” conference. Speakers commented that there was still plenty of room for pay-TV in Thailand’s crowded media ecosystem, especially as most Thais are still watching TV via satellite. But speaker after speaker noted that the real killer competition is from online pirates. Internet champions like to say their ecosystem fosters innovation, but the small, local, innovative legitimate online TV providers in Thailand said they are fighting for their lives because the government is “too busy” to deal with online piracy. I see the same theme was struck at the Content Asia conference in Singapore last week, with Singtel’s head of content saying declines in pay-TV consumption aren’t due to competition from OTT, they’re due to people watching illegal streams. |
 |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
|
| In Australia, Foxtel has announced a rejigging of its OTT service offering to include no-contract and equipment-free packages, confirming it will take the fight directly to streaming services such as Netflix and Stan. The changes definitely shake things up at Foxtel Play, but stop short of embracing an à la carte pricing model. The new strategy comes six months into new CEO Peter Tonagh’s tenure, and as he said in a recent interview, “From here it is all about execution. I expect we will be measured now on the things we bring to market.” |
 |
Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
|
|
| Liberty Media has confirmed it is buying the racing business Formula 1 for US$4.4bn in one of the biggest deals in sports history. The move ends months of speculation and could mark a turning point for the sport which while still immensely popular, has lost some of its appeal to younger audiences and still has to make real headway in the American TV market. Incumbent Bernie Ecclestone will remain as chief executive but Chase Carey, who continues to serve on the board of 21st Century Fox, will become the new chairman. Liberty Media has stakes in several sports and entertainment businesses, including the Atlanta Braves. Owned by the billionaire John Malone, Liberty will initially purchase a minority stake in F1 and a full takeover is planned once regulators approve the deal. |
 |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
|
|
| A few interesting things going on in the world of VR and video. Oculus wins Emmy for VR animated short Henry. “One of the more interesting things about virtual reality is that it is going to be the first consumer medium whose distribution platform is native to the internet.” CNN is getting in on it with a very interesting Youtube VR piece “The Fight for Falluja”. Crackle Plans to Produce Virtual Reality Originals. Four things marketers should know about VR: the novelty is fading but so is motion sickness. And lastly, Baywatch (2017) director, Seth Gordon let us know if Hollywood is ready for VR. What…huh…yes, you read that right, Baywatch the movie with The Hoff and Pam in the cast!! |
|
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
|
| And if you are concerned about all the hype about VR, you can relax… the technology is rising nicely along the Slope of Enlightenment. The technology boffins at Gartner have released their updated 2016 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, which shows that VR has moved out of the Trough of Disillusionment it was in last year, and is steadily moving toward to the Plateau of Productivity. Other updates: self-driving cars are starting to fall from the Peak of Inflated Expectations, and computer-brain interfaces are just getting past the Technology Trigger phase — which means over the next decade, give or take, LITERAL headphone jacks will be in the news for a change. |
 |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
|
|
| The biggest competitive threat to pay-TV and video on-demand providers in Asia is not new entrants to the market like Netflix, but it is piracy. For CASBAA it’s like déjà vu. But what’s heartening that governments in Asia are waking up to this online threat. For example, India recently announced that online streaming would be covered under the new Copyright Act and any breach would be dealt as per law. However, cautioning Indian law enforcers from going overboard, Bombay High Court recently ruled it was inaccurate to suggest that merely viewing an illicit copy of a film is a punishable offence under the Copyright Act. |
|
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
|
| CASBAA is happy to welcome Metrasat, a division of Indonesia’s Telkom, as our newest member. Telkom last week announced its new MediaHub, in partnership with fellow CASBAA member company Rapidcast (and the “about” para at the end of the release has a good capsule description of Metrasat and its parents, for those who are curious about org charts.) Meanwhile, I spied a commentary from a leading terrestrial broadcaster in Jakarta, bemoaning that excessive regulatory micromanagement is damaging the industry. (And – contrary to what he says, it’s a big problem for pay-TV as well.) |
|
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
|
| Lots happening at YouTube lately, including a bunch of seriously pissed-off creators who have had their videos “de-monetised” (i.e., ads pulled because of their videos’ subject matter), leading to the creation of the hashtag #YouTubePartyIsOver. All this is happening as the streaming behemoth sets its sights on the big (-ger) screen, launching a new app to work better with smart TVs and streaming devices like Apple TV and Roku; and unveiling the first of twenty new full-length television shows, documentaries, and films on its paid subscription service YouTube Red. |
|
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
|
|
|
|
|
Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
|
|
| Hot on the heels of new defamation laws, the governing party of the Maldives has issued a strongly worded directive against Al Jazeera, and has threatened to use the controversial laws against anyone involved in producing, broadcasting, rebroadcasting or even anyone who assists in publicising what government officials say are false allegations of corruption in an Al-Jazeera documentary called “Stealing Paradise”. Al-Jazeera had already pulled out a number of journalists from the country due to safety concerns and has also cancelled a screening of the documentary both in Malé and at the Royal Society of Arts in London, but insisted they would still broadcast the programme. |
|
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
|
| The launch-pad explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket drew huge press commentary. Of course, any such development leads to immediate financial squabbles. Then there’s the possibility that competitors might benefit. Lots of other companies (including SES, KT, Echostar and even Facebook) stand to lose momentum. The internet fact-free machine went wild, with reports that an alien UFO had shot down the rocket (because they don’t like Facebook????) Shoddy journalism even infected the New York Times, which couldn’t resist speculating darkly that the incident “raises questions” about SpaceX’s future. (Elsewhere in the Times, there was a very good denunciation of such innuendo journalism.) |
|
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
|
| You’ll forgive me if I’ve been a little giddy lately, but Thursday, September 8 marked the 50th anniversary of Star Trek’s debut episode back in 1966. To be fair, celebrations started during the Labor Day long weekend last week, but real Trekkies waited until the actual day to break out their Spock ears. The anniversary has been marked by the release of a complete Blu-ray box set of all the original series, the spin-offs, and the movies, a set of four commemorative stamps by the US Postal Service, and sparked countless geeked-out barroom arguments about the “best” episode in the series. NASA got in on the act, praising the series for being “more faithful to science than any other science fiction series ever shown on television.” (Then again, NASA’s been suckers for Trekkies for years — remember how fans got them to re-name the Space Shuttle Enterprise, back when it was launched in 1976?) Fair to say the show has boldly gone where no TV show has gone before… qaStaHvIS yIn ‘ej chep! |
|
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
|
| Yep, it’s true. CASBAA is directly responsible for launching the “career” of Hong Kong’s third-best band. And now URANUS: The Movie is coming soon. Sorry. |
