(Jul 17, 2013) The State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has eliminated 20 items for government approval amid efforts to streamline government functions.

Read more at China Daily

Based on forecasts for 97 countries, on-demand TV revenues from movies and TV programs (and excluding revenues from other sources such as sports and adult and also excluding SVOD packages and online TV & video (OTT)) will reach $6.0 billion in 2018, up by 44% from $4.2 billion in 2012.

On-demand TV generated just 2.3% of the $184 billion total pay TV revenues in 2012. However, the on-demand proportion will grow to 2.9% of the $203 billion total in 2018. Growth in on-demand TV revenues in some mature markets will not be enough to compensate for falling subscription revenues.

Top 10 countries by on-demand TV revenues ($ million)

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The US accounted for 37% of global on-demand TV revenues in 2012, but this proportion will fall to 30% by 2018 – despite its revenues climbing by 16%.
Simon Murray, report author, said: “The US is undoubtedly the most sophisticated on-demand TV market, with a long-standing consumer acceptance of the concept. Furthermore, the US has the highest rates of cinema attendance per capita in the world by some distance, which reveals a love of movie-watching.”
He continued: “However, on-demand TV is growing fast outside the US. For instance, China will more than double its revenues between 2012 and 2018. Indian revenues will almost triple over the same period.”

North America and Western Europe together accounted for 73% of global on-demand TV revenues in 2012. Despite revenues growing by 20%, these two regions combined will take only 61% of the global total by 2018.
Revenues in Asia Pacific (up by 113%), Eastern Europe (up by 89%) and Latin America (up by 129%) will rocket between 2012 and 2018. On-demand TV revenues in the Asia Pacific region will more than double between 2012 and 2018 to $1,457 million. Asia Pacific’s proportion of on-demand TV revenues will grow from 16% in 2012 to 24% in 2018.
Digital cable on-demand TV revenues are forecast to increase by $1 billion between 2012 and 2018 to reach $2.77 billion. IPTV on-demand TV revenues will nearly double over the same period to $1.00 billion by 2018. Satellite on-demand TV revenues will also rise, but only by 22% over the same period to reach $1.79 billion – or nearly $1 billion lower than digital cable. Most of the digital terrestrial TV on-demand revenues will be confined to Western Europe, principally Italy.

For more information about the On-Demand TV Revenue Forecasts report, please contact: Simon Murray, simon@digitaltvresearch.com

(Jul 15, 2013) A new report from Digital TV Research has found that in 2012, on-demand television generated just 2.3% of the $184 billion total for pay TV revenues.

However, the on-demand proportion is forecast to grow to 2.9% of the $203 billion total in 2018.

Read more at MediaTel

(Jul 12, 2013) So they’re not selling. But what are Hulu’s owners going to do with the video service now?

The immediate response to that question, via people who provide answers on behalf of Hulu’s owners, and translated a bit for public consumption: They are going to invest in Hulu’s potential as a “subscription video on demand” service.

That is, they see real value in building up its Hulu Plus paid offering. Which is competing for eyeballs, time and consumer dollars with Netflix and Amazon.

Read more at All Things D

(Jul 12, 2013) The number of pay TV households (analog and digital) reached 772 million in 2012, up from 585 million in 2008, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Read more at MediaTel

(Jul 11, 2013) Brett Martin has always been a magazine writer, not a TV critic. But after writing a behind-the-scenes companion to The Sopranos for HBO in 2007, he felt sure that something profound was happening in the world of television: Since the late 1990s, a wave of hour-long dramas had been scrapping the rules of traditional TV by introducing complicated characters and raising the quality–in terms of production, writing, and visuals–to a cinematic level.

In his new book, Difficult Men, Martin calls this era the “Third Golden Age” of TV (following its early days in the ’50s and the birth of network dramas in the ’80s).

Read mroe at The Atlantic

(May 23, 2013) Cinema has historically considered itself superior to television, with executives and critics frequently sneering that a movie or documentary has a “made-for-TV” feel. But a number of significant Hollywood film-makers – including David Lynch, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone – have moved to the junior medium for mini-series or documentaries and now Steven Soderbergh has paid a compliment, if a slightly qualified one, to home entertainment. “In terms of cultural real estate,” Soderbergh said at the Cannes film festival, “TV has really taken control of the conversation that used to be the reserve of movies. It’s sort of a second golden age of television, which is great for the viewers. … If you like your stories to go narrow and deep, TV is exciting.”

Read more at The Guardian

(Mar 18, 2013) For those eyeing up teetering piles of unopened DVD boxsets, considering a PVR overspilling with whole series as yet unwatched or negotiating the daily minefield of spoilers about shows it’s impossible to keep up with, news that we are watching more TV will be both unsurprising and vaguely panic-inducing. Unsurprising given the great stacks of stuff demanding to be watched; panic-inducing given the great shortage of time there seems to be to devote to it.

According to a new study from TV Licensing, the average Briton now settles down to watch a little more than four hours of telly a day – an almost half-hour increase on 2006 viewing habits. But why? What’s keeping us glued to the telly?

Read more at The Guardian

October 29, 2013/WASHINGTON, D.C.: The MPAA has compiled a list of the world’s “most notorious” markets for the illegal distribution of film and TV content, with Ukraine, Canada, China and Russia home to some of the worst-offending pirate websites as well as widespread DVD counterfeiting.

The MPAA provided the report in response to a U.S. Trade Representative request for information on the worst piracy markets outside of the U.S.

“The American motion picture and television industry is a major U.S. employer that supports approximately 2 million jobs and over $104 billion in total wages in all 50 states,” said MPAA chairman and CEO, Senator Chris Dodd, in announcing the report. “The rogue overseas marketplaces highlighted in the filing undermine the people who work hard to create the movies and TV shows audiences love, and jeopardize the billions of dollars they contribute to the U.S. economy. The MPAA commends the USTR’s commitment to protect and enforce intellectual property rights abroad and, in so doing, protect U.S. jobs.”

Read more at World Screen

National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) yesterday said the commission’s ruling on Want Want China Times Group’s purchase of cable TV services owned by China Network Systems (CNS) remain unchanged and that the transaction would not take effect until the group fulfilled each and every requirement issued by the commission.

Shyr made the comments during a review at the legislature’s Transportation Committee of how Want Want China Times Group plans to fulfill the requirements.

The preconditions include that group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) and his family members, as well as his business associates in the deal, must completely dissociate themselves from the operation of CtiTV News. In addition, China Television’s (CTV) digital news channel must be turned into a non-news channel. As a TV network, CTV must have an independent editorial system as well.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/12/20/2003550579