Hong Kong, 1 November 2012 – The multichannel TV sector must embrace the entire market value chain from content creation to end user subscribers if it is to make an effective approach to defeating endemic content piracy, said Tom Keaveny, President & MD, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific during a panel discussion at the CASBAA Convention 2012 in Hong Kong.
For Richard Freudenstein, the CEO of Sydney-based subscription-TV operator Foxtel, it is not the “cost” but the “under supply” of relevant content that is the most pressing item in the Australian market. In addition, set-top boxes are not as expensive as imagined by some operators who should make “security” a central part of their operating culture.
Desmond Chan, General Counsel of Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, added that piracy-driven innovations such as the Android-based “TVPad” set-top box, are encouraging unauthorized Chinese-language content to be illegally pulled down from the Internet. Andrew Marshall, SVP, Legal & Business Affairs and General Counsel at ESPN STAR Sports noted that the impact of piracy “is potentially crippling”, especially with pirate operators streaming free-of-charge, advertising-loaded content such as high value cricket.
Besides piracy, the Convention 2012 examined the still unfulfilled market potential of Indonesia, via innovations in sports programming and VOD. Bettina Cavenagh, a CASBAA Consultant working for Clarity Research of Jakarta, provided a positive overview of the market again illustrating the huge room for growth.
Cam Walker, Territory Head of Indonesia for FOX International Channels sees the successful entrance of new platform players underscoring the optimism. Alex Lambeek, CEO the Aora platform, said his company will tap into the B-C consumer segment. Adi Kusma, President Director, Biznet Networks interestingly observed that when laying fibre, consumers demand IPTV regardless of content.
Meanwhile, during another segment of the Conference 2012 programme, Peter Hutton, the MD, of ESPN STAR Sports, believes quality delivery systems are an important “battering ram” for IPTV operators to attract new consumers. But it can also be challenging, added Arjan Hoekstra, MD, Eurosport Asia Pacific describing today’s subscribers as “wanting more”, including statistics, interviews and athlete profiles.
Promotion and education is important to improve demand said Conor Woods, GM, Asia-Pacific, Setanta Sports while Laurent Dumeau, CEO, TRACE Sports HD argued that this may be difficult if budgets are being exhausted by purchasing rights.
However, Scott Levy, SVP & MD, NBA Asia, cautioned against providing “too much information”, as this may enable match-fixing.
Meanwhile, Saul Berman, Partner & VP, Global Strategy Consulting Leader, IBM Global Business Services cautioned against relying on content alone. “It’s also about the experience and how to make it interesting and enjoyable for consumers.” He advised industry players to give consumers what they want. “The revenue is there,” he added.
The Convention ended on a look at the future of the multichannel industry, featuring Rohana Rozhan, CEO of Astro in Malaysia, Richard. Freudenstein of Foxtel; Shuichi Mori, CEO, J:COM; George Chan, Group MD, PCCW; Sompan Charumilinda, Executive Vice Chairman, True Visions and Rohit Jain, Deputy CEO, Videocon d2h. Key points includes tough economic conditions, growing competition, fragmentation and the need to adopt new technologies, as well as subscriber demand for the latest local and global content. A consumer culture conditioned on free TV in Japan and a tough PTV market in Thailand were among other challenges discussed.
The CASBAA Convention 2012 is supported by FOX International Channels, Turner, Eurosport, Dolby, A+E Networks, AMC/Sundance Channel Global, APT Satellite, ABS, AsiaSat, Bloomberg Television, Brightcove, Conax, Discovery Networks APAC, Disney Media Distribution, Elemental Technologies, Ericsson, euronews, Food Network Asia, France 24, HBO Asia, Intelsat, Invest Hong Kong, Irdeto, ITV, MEASAT, Movideo, NBA, NBCUniversal, now TV, Paul Weiss, Playboy Plus Entertainment, PwC, SES, Sony Pictures Television Networks, TBN Asia, ThinkAnalytics, Time Warner, True Visions, TV5MONDE, Verimatrix, Viacom International Media Networks, WarnerTV and YouTube.
For a third year running, leading sponsor Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) has also shown its support for the CASBAA Convention by sponsoring a Community Outreach Programme. Complimentary passes have been offered to local SMEs in the TV sector and tertiary students of relevant courses to attend the event for networking and knowledge exchange. CreateHK is the dedicated office set up by the Hong Kong SAR Government to promote local creative industries.
For more information on the CASBAA Convention visit: http://www.casbaa.com/events/events-calendar/details/314-casbaa-convention-2012
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About CASBAA – http://www.casbaa.com
Established in 1991, CASBAA is the Association for digital multichannel TV, content, platforms, advertising and video delivery across Asia. Spanning 18 geographic markets, CASBAA and its Members reach over 445 million connections through a footprint ranging from China to Australasia, Japan to Pakistan. The CASBAA mission is to promote the growth of multichannel TV and video content through industry information, networking exchanges and events while promoting global best practices. To view the full list of CASBAA members please visit here.
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