October 2,2012: HANOI – Vietnam Television (VTV) and the Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) have petitioned relevant authorities not to grant business licenses to telecom firms to join the local cable television industry.

The move came after Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Viettel and FPT Corporation announced plans to join the cable television sector.

VTV and VNPayTV said in the petition that investment of the three groups into the industry is out of their core business areas. They said that if relevant authorities issue licenses to the new members, it is just a waste of public money.

However, certain officials and experts disagree with the television association’s stance.

Pham Hong Hai, head of the Telecom Agency under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said that if the three telecom companies make investment in the cable television sector, it is still not non-core investment. Based on their technical infrastructure available at home, the more services enterprises in the cable television industry offer, the better the industry will be, he said.

http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/business/ict/25846/

Oct 03, 2012: Legislators yesterday urged the government to restrict the broadcast of junk food commercials on children’s TV channels, as well as at hours when children’s programs are aired on other channels.

A study by the Child Welfare League Foundation showed that children in Taiwan are exposed to an average of 8,325 junk-food commercials a year. On average, each child sees a junk-food ad every 6.6 minutes when watching TV.

The frequency of junk-food ads increases during times when meals are usually eaten — 1.6 the number of times they are aired during other hours.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/10/03/2003544271

04 October 2012: Endemol has signed new deals in Asia for global hits The Money Drop and Fear Factor; the latter marking a comeback in Asia through Malaysian broadcaster Astro Ria.

Launching later this year, the 13-part Fear Factor celebrity series will be filmed in Cape Town and produced by Endemol Malaysia Entertainment Group in conjunction with Endemol South Africa.

Astro Ria has also ordered a 26-part second series of worldwide hit The Money Drop, which will air in a prime time spot later this year. The new Malaysian series will once again incorporate the Play Along game, where viewers at home can mirror the white knuckle decisions made by players in the studio. Both this game and the returning Stand Alone were hugely popular during the first series.

http://www.onscreenasia.com/article/endemol-inks-new-format-deals-with-astro/10782

October 1, 2012 – Those who possess illegally downloaded of music or films in Japan can face prison term of up to two years and fines of nearly 2 million yen ($25,650), according to a new law which takes effect immediately.

Read more at Advanced Television

September 29,2012 – In what is a fairly significant development for the digital cable ecosystem in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has fixed the upper limit of Rs 100 per month for Multi System Operators,who will have to offer a minimum of 100 free to air channels comprising of at least 5 channels of each genre namely news and current affairs, infotainment, sports, kids, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment in Hindi, English and regional language of the concerned region, in addition to 18 channels of the Public Broadcaster and Lok Sabha TV under the Basic Service Tier (BST).

Read more at Medianama

25 Sep 2012 – UEFA has announced that pay television operator Singtel has been awarded media rights for the next three seasons of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Media rights for the 2012–15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League in Singapore have been awarded to Singtel.

Pay television operator Singtel will broadcast two live UEFA Champions League fixtures each matchnight on its channels Mio Sports 1 and Mio Sports 2, as well as a highlights programme to be shown at prime time each matchweek on Mio Sports 1.

Read more: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/events/marketing/media-rights-and-services/news/newsid=1866918.html?rss=1866918+Singtel+handed+Singapore+media+rights

28 Sep 2012 – Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco’s Video & Collaboration Group, predicts that Internet TVs and other consumer IP devices will be powerful and ubiquitous enough within about 10 years to receive any pay-TV service directly – eliminating the need for service providers to deploy set-top boxes.

The hardware side of the equation is becoming a commodity, he said in an interview at the Cisco campus, and the company’s strategy from here on out is to be “set-top agnostic.”

Read more: http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/09/21/cisco-vp-stbs-will-die-in-a-decade/

28 Sep 2012 – Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp has got the clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of ESPN’s interest in the Asian sports broadcasting joint venture company ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), which owns Star Sports, Star Cricket and ESPN.

In June this year, ESPN, owned by the Walt Disney Company, and Star, owned by News Corp, had call off their joint venture 16 years after it was formed. The two companies had entered into a definitive agreement under which STARTV-ATC, an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp was to buy ESPN’s 50% equity interest in ESS. The proposed acquisition would result in change in ownership of the ESS India Subsidiaries upon the completion of the transaction. The deal also meant that News Corp will have full control of ESS which operates 25 television networks and three broadband networks covering 24 markets in Asia, while Disney will exit from sports in Asia.

Read more: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/news-corp-gets-cci-nod-for-stars-acquisition-in-ess/188524/on

28 Sep 2012 – In a keynote at The Next TV Summit, Alex Carloss, head of entertainment at YouTube/Google, stressed that the company is looking to partner with traditional content providers as well as fund new source of online content as part of its YouTube channel initiative.

He argued results have been very promising, with around “20 channels now averaging one million views a month and maybe 25 channels have [signed up] 100,000 subscribers since launch.”

Carloss also focussed on a shift to mobile consumption that would impact their approach to creating original digital content over the next year. “The transition to mobile will change how to program to these audiences.”

Read more: http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/09/21/youtube-we-do-want-partners/

28 Sep 2012 – Television and radio broadcasters have raised concerns that they will face higher operating costs if the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission imposes a 2-per-cent licence fee.

Dialogue on this issue became heated among broadcasters and related business operators at a public hearing held by the NBTC yesterday on the draft regulations for broadcast-licence fees.

If the regulation comes into effect next month, radio and television broadcasters – including digital terrestrial, satellite and cable television operators – must pay 2 per cent of their gross revenue for the licence and another 2 per cent to the Universal Service Obligation fund. The USO fund is for research and development into broadcasting and telecommunication services, overseen by the NBTC.

Industry representatives said the proposed licence fee would add a high cost to their businesses, possibly causing some of them to fail in the near future.

Read more: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Proposed-2-NBTC-licence-fee-too-high-broadcast–30191270.html