October 15, 2012, NEW YORK: YOU On Demand has secured the VOD rights in China for a range of current, library and upcoming feature films from NBCUniversal International Television Distribution.

The offerings will be available to subscribers of YOU On Demand’s TVOD and SVOD platforms. Through the agreement, customers gain access to movies such as Despicable Me, It’s Complicated, Wanted, Public Enemies, Couples Retreat, Snow White and the Huntsman and more. “NBCUniversal’s diverse and quality films demonstrate YOU On Demand’s commitment to delivering the best premium content to our customers,” said Shane McMahon, the chairman and CEO of YOU On Demand. “We are excited to have NBCUniversal’s titles appear on the YOU On Demand platforms.”

http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/2012-10-15-you-on-demand-nbcuniversal

October 17, 2012 – Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英), head of Next Media Ltd., told employees at the company’s Taipei headquarters yesterday that he is leaving Taiwan for good.

“This is not a place for me. I have no regrets. This is life. You try something and you have to bear the consequences. Failure is also part of life,” Lai told Taiwan Next Media employees who lined up to get his autograph and take photos with him.

When asked by a reporter from Next TV Broadcasting Ltd., Next Media’s TV arm in Taiwan, whether he will come back, Lai answered in English: “I won’t be back.”

“Take care, keep up the good work … This society needs you,” Lai said as he signed autographs.

Lai’s comments came hours after Formosa Plastics Group confirmed that its president, Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵), agreed to join Jeffrey Koo Jr., former vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co., in buying the Taiwan media outlets of Next Media Ltd., a Hong Kong-based group.

“There is a deal,” said a senior executive at the Formosa Plastics Group’s administrative office on condition of anonymity.

But the deal still has to be approved by the board, the executive added.

Local media reported Tuesday that Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒), son of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. Chairman Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松), asked Wang and a Singapore-based private equity fund to join him in buying Apple Daily, Next Magazine, Next TV and Sharp Daily for NT$17.5 billion (US$599 million).

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2012/10/17/357922/Next-Medias.htm

October 19, 2012/NEW DELHI: News broadcasters on Thursday said they were willing to pay a ‘reasonable’ carriage fees once digitization of cable services is introduced. Their willingness was indicated after a settlement was reached between broadcasters and cable operators at a meeting chaired by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief Rahul Khullar last week.

‘Carriage fee’, which broadcasters pay to Multi System Operators(MSOs) and Local Cable Operators(LCOs) for taking their channels to viewers, has been a contentious issue which had pitted broadcasters on one side and MSOs and LCOs on the other. Broadcasters have now agreed to enter into agreements with MSOs for an initial period of one year for a fee (inclusive of marketing fees, tiering fees, packaging fees) ranging from 50 paisa to Re 1 per set top box subscriber per channel, per year.

Read more at The Times of India

FCC Program Access Rules Called Obsolete, Regulators Let Them Expire

October 15, 2012 – The FCC program access rules included in the 1992 Cable Act have expired because they are no longer needed, U.S. regulators claim.

The FCC chose not to extend the rules that required cable operators to make programs available to rival satellite TV broadcasters.

It appears that sports programs are vulnerable to not being shown without the rules. Under the rules, cable providers had to sell their sports programs showing local teams to satellite TV providers at reasonable prices, The Wall Street Journal said.

Cable providers now own or co-own 57 regional sports networks, according to The Journal – using data from the FCC. For instance, Comcast owns sports networks in Philadelphia, Houston and in the New England states.

Originally, there was concern that cable operators would not sell programs to competitors, Media Mughals said. Now, providers will file individual complaints if a cable operator denies access to a channel.

Read more at TMCnet

(Oct 16, 2012) – Soccer fans are up in arms again over their access to football matches on Singapore’s pay television channels.

As SingTel has once again clinched a three-year deal with the Football Association Premier League (FAPL), SingTel mio subscribers are rejoicing, while StarHub consumers are left wondering once again if they should switch or suffer an additional TV subscription to watch the matches.

In the meantime, many football fans are asking – didn’t the Media Development Authority’s (MDA) August 2011 cross-carriage rules dictate that content should be available across all pay TV providers?

Read more at Today

In a move that has blindsided StarHub, SingTel’s mio TV has swooped in on broadcast rights for the next three seasons of the Barclays Premier League (BPL) on a non-exclusive basis.

This means it is not obliged to share content with its competitors. It also scored its goal a day before the rest of Asia.

mio TV, which also holds the current package of BPL rights, told BT yesterday that it had approached the Premier League for the rights before the tender was due to be open for bidding to Asian broadcasters today.

“We knew that the rights would come up for bidding around this time, so we went in pretty early to have discussions with them. They’re our partner anyway and over the last few years, we’ve been talking to them. As October approached, we increased the intensity of discussions with them,” Allen Lew, SingTel’s CEO of Group Digital Life, told BT last night.

When contacted, StarHub spokeswoman Jeannie Ong said: “We are surprised that Football Association Premier League (FAPL) did not conduct a tender for Singapore, departing from all past practice. We will be seeking clarification from FAPL before deciding on our next course of action. We will be keen to acquire the BPL only if the price is right.”

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/top-stories/mio-blindsides-starhub-scores-big-bpl-coup-20121011

Robert Kyncl, global head of content at the Google-owned video site, tells the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that a majority of channels would likely remain ad-supported.

ABU DHABI – YouTube is looking at giving its original content channel partners the option to charge users for subscriptions, Robert Kyncl, global head of content at the Google-owned online video site said here Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/youtube-original-content-subscriptions-charge-abu-dhabi-400912

11 October, 2012: Foxtel has reached an agreement to buy the Showtime movie channel owner Premium Movie Partnership, taking the offering in-house.

The move comes just four months after the successful merger with Austar, as the pay-TV provider looks to beef up its offering.

Under the terms of the deal the Showtime channels will be directly controlled and managed by Foxtel, with the majority ofexisting staff offered roles at the new organisation.

The Showtime channels currently fall under the movie subscription package on Foxtel, and include new TV  shows such as Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, as well as new movies.

http://www.bandt.com.au/news/media/foxtel-snaps-up-showtime-channels

2012-10-10: Ulsan resident Kim Min-yong is not an avid television watcher, but he was surprised to find his analog TV not working when he turned it on two months ago.

“All it showed on the screen were black and white lines and I couldn’t get it to work although I tried struggling with the antenna and the remote control,” he said.

This is what is most likely to happen to those who fail to follow the government’s announcement that it will cease analog TV signals and make the transition to digital broadcasts.

Ulsan was the first region on Aug. 16 to make the analog-to-digital broadcast transition. Other areas like North Chungcheong Province, South Gyeongsang Province and Busan ended their analog broadcasts soon after, with the country set to complete the digital broadcast transition by the end of this year.

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20121010000829&cpv=0

MELBOURNE, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Australia’s competition regulator blocked Seven Group Holdings from bidding for pay-tv stakeholder Consolidated Media Holdings, clearing the way for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to go ahead with its $2 billion agreed offer.

Free-to-air television operator Seven, headed by rival media mogul Kerry Stokes, owns almost a quarter of Consolidated Media and wanted the firm for its stake in dominant pay TV-operator Foxtel and content provider Fox Sports.

The Australian regulator said any deal by Seven would make it too strong a bidder for commercial sports rights.

“The proposed acquisition would put Seven Network in a position of advantage over other free-to-air networks in relation to …. the acquisition of sports rights,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said on Thursday.

It “would significantly reduce the ability of Seven Network’s competitors to acquire such content,” he added.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/10/10/seven-accc-idINL3E8LA65W20121010