November 30, 2012 – THE 12-member Media Convergence Review Panel formed by the Government in March took this as their starting point: that consumers can now access media content across geographic boundaries, anywhere and however they want it.

Singapore’s media regulations, however, have traditionally been structured along the various platforms that have emerged over the decades, including television and radio, films, arts performances, newspapers and other printed matter.

To ensure that policy and licensing rules in Singapore stay relevant, the panel has issued a 64-page report, which tackles the problem on several key fronts.

Read more at Straits Times

(November 27, 2012) NEW DELHI: Terming piracy as prime reason for the decline of the home video market, the government today said it will launch an anti-piracy awareness drive in the 12th Five Year Plan period.

The drive will give special focus on piracy on the Internet where mechanisms of regulation do not exist, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said in a statement.

“Government today approved a scheme under 12th Five Year Plan for carrying out an anti-piracy initiative in the audio- visual sector. This new scheme of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has an outlay of Rs 2 crore for the Plan period 2012-17,” it said.

Read more at The Economic Times

TV networks urge tighter tax rules on online giants

November 26, 2012 – The commercial free-to-air networks have lobbied the government to impose tougher tax rules on inter­national online giants, including Google, Apple and Facebook, in an attempt to create a “level playing field” beyond the media reforms set to go before cabinet as early as today.

It is understood that senior executives in the sector have raised their concerns about tax in recent discussions with government officials, including Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and his office.

The main priority of the powerful free-to-air lobby is to have licence fees reduced and the scrapping of reach rules preventing mergers with regional broadcasters. But they have argued that lower tax rates have handed an unfair advantage to online companies including Google which are grabbing an increasingly large share of the $12 billion local ad­vertising market.

Read more at the Australian Financial Review

November 22, 2012: Online retailer Amazon has struck a deal with Nintendo that will allow gamers to watch movies including The Avengers and TV series including Sons of Anarchy on the Wii U console.

The deal will see Amazon’s Instant Video app available on the console, which means that more than 140,000 movies and TV episodes will be available.

The arrangement will initially launch in the United States but Amazon is expected to roll out its service internationally.

Movies include Brave, The Amazing Spider-Man, Men in Black 3, The Hunger Games, and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted as well as TV series including The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Revolution, and Big Bang Theory.

http://www.digitaltveurope.net/30218/amazon-strikes-deal-with-nintendo/

November 19, 2012: BitTorrent has reached deals with 20 CE manufacturers, bringing both legal and pirated content into the living room.

Speaking to Multichannel News, BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker confirmed that the company’s deals are for TV models that will launch, as early as this holiday season, in Europe and Asia. “You may not see them as much in the US,” he said.

Among the 20 companies, Vestel is most likely one of the partners. At this year’s IFA in Berlin, Vestel was showing its first BitTorrent prototype.

Read more at Multichannel News

November 17, 2012: Cable operators have been bleeding basic video subscribers over the past few years, and a research firm predicts that satellite pay TV revenues will exceed cable’s for the first time by 2016.

“Ongoing challenging economic conditions in the key revenue-generating markets of North America and Western Europe have resulted in slowing subscriber and revenue growth in the cable TV market,” said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research.

“Subscribers are far less loyal than they used to be. The cable TV industry is characterized more by churn than cord cutting, as subscribers take advantage of introductory pricing on satellite and IPTV subscriptions that’s 30-50 percent below their cable bills. DirecTV, Verizon, AT&T, and Virgin Media have all set their sights on existing cable subscribers, and they’re seeing their subscriber bases increase as cable TV subscriptions shrink.”

Read more at CED.

2012/11/20: Walt Disney is to close its Internet movie service, Disney Movies Online, suggesting the site did not have the flexibility to keep up with user demands. A banner on the site’s homepage that the service would be closed as of December 31st.

Site users were able buy and rent movies from the Disney library, including films made by its subsidiary Pixar. It also allowed people who purchased physical discs to stream the movies from the website.

The site allowed visitors to buy and rent movies from the Disney library, including films made by its subsidiary Pixar. It also allowed people who purchased physical discs to stream the movies from the website.

However, the site did not attract many customers and had limited capabilities. Users couldn’t download their digital movies for offline playback, there was no support for connected devices such as game consoles, and it only offered movies for streaming on Web browsers.

A notice on the site advised that people who had already redeemed disc purchases could continue to stream the movies on the site through the end of the year. People who bought movies on the site previously are being offered refunds.

Read more at Advanced Television

http://advanced-television.com/2012/11/20/disney-closes-movies-online-service/

NBC Universal is closing several international channels. The channels – part of NBC Universal’s international television group – include thegeneral entertainment Universal Channel in Japan and Greece, Turkey.

The Syfy channel in Russia will also close while Universal and Diva will still operate, reports TBI. The closures will mean job losses to add to the 450 already announced at NBCU in the US.
Earlier this month NBCUniversal renewed a channel deal with BSkyB for channels including Universal Channel, E! Entertainment, Syfy, The Style Network and Movies 24 on the pay TV platform.

Read more at Advanced Television

http://advanced-television.com/2012/11/20/nbc-shuts-international-channels/

SINGAPORE (November 20, 2012) – Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, today announced a strategic alliance with Singapore-headquartered Informate Mobile Intelligence. The strategic alliance, called Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights and covering Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, will combine Nielsen’s consumer and marketing expertise with Informate’s technology and domain expertise to provide marketers with absolute clarity on how consumers are using their mobile devices and consuming mobile content.

The Nielsen and Informate alliance, which expands on the companies’ existing Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights offering in India, announced in July 2011, will help device manufacturers, mobile media content providers, network operators and consumer brands by providing data, analysis and actionable insights on consumers’ smartphone usage across a range of areas, in particular focusing on usage of smartphone features, apps, and network numbers.

Read more at The Asia Media Journal

Former ABU officer, Letchumi Achanah, joins The Media Alliance and Redraw The Line team

20 November, 2012 – Singapore – The Media Alliance announced today the addition of Letchumi Achanah, a former Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Projects Officer, to its team. Letchumi is tasked with advancing the Redraw The Line climate change awareness campaign.

Letchumi has extensive broadcast media experience gained from working at the ABU, where she handled development communications with multilateral organizations including the UN ISDR, the ILO, UNESCAP and the ADB for international projects including the Climate Change Solutions Campaign, the Early Warning Broadcast Systems Initiative and Disaster Risk Reduction. These projects were geared towards empowering broadcasters to educate the public on climate change and also prepared the broadcasters for their communication roles in the event of a disaster.

Letchumi was also heavily involved in the recent London 2012 Olympics, during which the ABU production team delivered a total of 3,000 hours of live and recorded coverage via terrestrial and satellite means to 23 countries.

In addition, Letchumi has held senior editorial and production positions with Astro, Malaysia’s leading satellite pay-TV operator, and at Asia Media Monitors Pvt. Ltd. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from the University Putra Malaysia, where she majored in broadcasting.

Letchumi joins the Redraw The Line team to intensify media and entertainment partnerships towards increasing broadcast content and developing public entertainment events designed to raise the awareness of climate change issues.

Redraw The Line is a public awareness campaign responding to the challenges posed by climate change. The campaign was created by The Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness (The Media Alliance) and Ogilvy & Mather Advertising with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The goal of the campaign is to mobilise a “critical mass” of people, communities and cities to take positive action and drive the demand for clean energy, transport and environmentally sustainable consumption. Redraw The Line draws on the participation of (1) Media, Entertainment and Creative Industries; (2) Advertising, Creative and Entertainment Industries; (3) Private-Sector Sponsors; (4) Multilateral, Bilateral and Development Agencies; and (5) Tertiary Academic Institutions in target countries.

“The addition of Letchumi to our team is significant. Not only have we gained an individual with a proven track record, but she also has strong relationships and contacts among the multi-lateral and broadcast sectors,” said Craig Hobbs, CEO of The Media Alliance. “We’re very happy to gain the involvement of such a professional while providing her a platform to continue the good work she did while with the ABU.”

For additional information contact:

Craig Hobbs
Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#15-12 West Tower
Great World City
Singapore 237994
Phone: + 65 9864 2994
Fax: +65 6491 5121
craig.hobbs@mediaalliance.asia

BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANISATION

Redraw the Line is a call to action that inspires people to believe they can make a difference to problems of climate change. Our goal is to mobilize a ‘critical mass’ of people, communities and cities to take up positive actions that address the main drivers and impacts of climate change. As part of the campaign, we will highlight women and youth as leaders and the first line of defense in the battle to contain climate impacts. Currently, Redraw The Line is active in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam and will be expanding to other countries in Southeast Asia in the coming year.

The Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness (‘The Media Alliance’) is a Singapore-based non-profit organization formed through the involvement of a group of Asia-regional media industry executives and their companies. The Media Alliance has come together to leverage a valuable media “inventory” or media space for the delivery of critical pro-social messaging through Public Service Advertising, entertainment and editorial content. The Media Alliance also leverages the contribution of creative expertise of advertising agencies in the production of high-quality campaigns designed to achieve maximum target audience penetration. The Media Alliance stakeholders include (1) Media Companies, including print, broadcast, online, outdoor, cinema and in-flight which provide media space for pro-social campaigns; (2) Advertising & Creative Agencies, which contribute in-kind creative and production services (3) International Development and Donor Organizations working in sustainable development; and (4) Private-sector Companies supporting Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.