21 October, 2016

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Oct 21st. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Christopher Slaughter CEO Netflix managed to suck a lot of the oxygen out of the room again this week, with its better-than-expected Q3 earnings report and the resulting massive surge in its stock price.  (You can watch the whole Reed-and-Ted Show here.) The company reported adding 3.2 million subscribers outside the US, where some 40% of its revenues come from now; however, as at least one critic pointed out, “Netflix needs its US business to perform perfectly to bankroll its global ambitions.  And it’s far from perfect.”  Meantime, it’s been noticed that Netflix is spending a LOT of money on programming (as is Amazon), although the company is also promising that doesn’t mean it will raise subscription prices… yet.

 

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Thailand is going through a difficult phase; no doubt about it. Firstly, the country has lost its collective royal father, and remains in deep mourning. (I was in Bangkok on the day HM the King passed away, and I’ll tell you that things got real quiet, real fast.) Sadly, information flow has suffered, as the government lashes out against nay-sayers. Pressure was ratcheted up on international news channels, (accused of being “manipulative and provocative”) and also on internet service providers. Now the government is after social media sites to remove lots of negative stuff; it remains to be seen if Facebook, YouTube, Line, etc. will comply. There has also been a bit of excessive sensitivity, like government denunciations of press reports because they gave numbers of mourners that were disrespectfully low. And there have also been some sudden personnel movements, which the government swears are “not related to the current situation in the country.”

 

 

Andrew Lin Regulatory Assistant

Those regulations suspending entertainment broadcasting for 30 days are expected to have a negative effect on advertising, which is forecast to decrease by 5% in the fourth quarter. Businesses across the country are also expected to pull their ads as they observe the period of mourning — a marked difference from usual, since the end of the year is normally a season of festivities (and ad campaigns) in Thailand. 

 

 

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Meanwhile, legislation to reform Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is nearing final approval. The revamped Commission will have 7 members instead of 11, and the Broadcasting Committee (the 5-member panel that really made the decisions about our industry) is being eliminated, in favor of a more flexible decision process. The new NBTC will also have to share its license and auction receipts with the Digital Economy ministry. (We wish that instead of sharing the spoils, they’d cut the fees charged to pay-TV operators, which are too high.) It will be interesting to see who the new Commissioners are, and if they adopt new policies – the old ones are being blamed for a rush to mediocrity in programming.  Anyway, the Commission is to be independent, and spokesmen assure us that the stiff requirements for new NBTC members will ensure high-quality decision-making. (The legislation defines any military man of the rank of lieutenant general or higher as meeting the standard, of course. Those guys always make high quality decisions.)

Christopher Slaughter CEO

 

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

Over the last couple of years here in Asia we have seen a number of bold announcements from LeEco.  On Wednesday, the company made its official US debut to a crowd of roughly 1,700 employees, Silicon Valley insiders and media where they announced ‘more products than you’ve ever seen’. “LeEco wants to dominate: big screen televisions, smartphones  online video streaming services, an online marketplace to buy its services, self-driving cars, virtual reality headsets, and Internet-connected bicycles.” LeEco said the streaming service would include content from MGM, Lionsgate, VICE, A+E and Showtime, among others.

 

 

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

I made the mistake of commenting last week in front of a Japanese TV exec that not much Japanese content was being pirated in the rest of Asia.   I had sumo and dramas in mind, but he politely (of course) told me that Japanese animé content was wildly popular and it is in fact being widely pirated.   Of course he was right.  Gomen nasai.

 

 

Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme

Laos based DTH operator InfoSat-Laos, has signed a multi-year transponder agreement with Thaicom 8 for the launch of its new DTH platform. The Ku-band satellite deal will enable the platform operator to make more than 15 channels available, in both SD & HD format.  The deal also underscores Thaicom’s ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) strategy.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

It seems that a couple of the piracy sites ordered blocked by a UK court last summer actually originated in the Philippines. They were run by a fellow named Rainier Tamayo and he gave the sites eponymous names (like rainiertamayo.com ). So he wasn’t hard to identify. So the Philippine police arrested Tamayo and they’re throwing him in the clink (not The Clink, that’s in London) for 6 months to 12 years. Maybe next time he’ll choose another name (is www.intheclink.com already used?)

Christopher Slaughter CEO

Things are about to get even MORE interesting, now that Google has reportedly signed a deal to carry CBS on the web TV service it’s planning; discussions are reportedly well underway with Disney, Fox, and Viacom, too.  The live streaming service will provide a skinny bundle of channels for between US$25-40 a month, and is expected to launch early next year.

 

 

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Don’t you hate when you’re trying to load a website, and the bloody ads delay and delay and delay and hang up the page loading?   And you’re not going to look at the silly ad videos anyway, right?   Well, in India the TRAI is getting ready to ride to the rescue against autoloading video ads.   Of course, Indians are most upset because hundreds of millions of them are accessing the internet through mobiles, and “data is expensive,” to quote a TRAI official.   There’s no guarantee regulatory action will actually be taken, but in general the TRAI is not shy about snapping the whip.