September 21, 2012: Luxembourg-based SES has loaned a satellite to Thailand’s Thaicom. The move is seen as part of a possible wider co-operation with Thaicom.

The SES satellite is NSS-5, which has been operating for most of its life at 20 degrees West, more or less over the Atlantic Ocean where its C and Ku-band payload provided a link between the Americas and Europe. Its mission there wrapped up in July when the satellite was replaced with the newer and more powerful 72-transponder NSS-7 craft, itself launched in 2002.

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/09/20/ses-looks-to-co-operate-with-thailand/

September 16, 2012: SKYCABLE proudly presented its digitized cable television for the first time in Baguio City.

The company presented the features of its new technology during a press conference last Thursday.

Regional Marketing Head Gidgette Faustino revealed the five plans, which are P280, P399, P499, silver, and gold of the digitalized cable television.

She said with the innovation, a viewer can explore, discover, control, and customize his television channels, adding the viewer can pause, record, and playback movies or shows either live or not.

She said the P280 is the cheapest plan that contains channels like the dzMM teleradyo, CNN, Cinema One, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Velvet, BTV, Balls, Lifestyle Network, Star World, Knowledge Channel, and National Geographic channel.

Faustino said the P399 plan contains more channels from HBO.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2012/09/16/skycable-goes-digital-243149

Sep 20, 2012: The Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has welcomed the conviction of Sydney resident Narender Narwal for the theft and illegal on-sale of subscription television (STV). Narwal appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court where he was convicted for making and selling unauthorised decoders. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, fully suspended, on entering a good behaviour bond of five years and fined $15,000.

Narwal’s arrest and conviction resulted from an Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation supported by STV industry investigators, with assistance from anti-piracy experts from Irdeto, who provided on-site support and technical evidence for the AFP. Narwal was involved in the sale of unauthorised set top boxes programmed to provide a network of people with access to stolen STV channels through an illegal system that used the internet to hack into encoded broadcasts.

http://www.content-technology.com/asiapacificnews/?p=3230&utm_source=C%2BT-Mail+AsiaPacific-21-09-12&utm_campaign=C%2BTmail+21-09-12&utm_medium=email

September 21, 2012: Pay-TV firm Astro Malaysia has set an indicative price range of RM2.70-3.00 per share for institutional investors for its initial public offering (IPO) that could raise up to RM4.56 billion (approx €1.1bn) according to reports.

The IPO, which is expected to be listed by end-September or early October, would be Malaysia’s third-largest this year after share sales by Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd in June and IHH Healthcare Bhd in July.

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/09/19/astro-sets-price-range-for-ipo/

Worldwide Pay-TV Subscribers to Grow 5%, Despite Growing Shift to Internet TV Services in the US, Says ABI Research

Singapore – 19 Sep 2012 – ​The global pay-TV market continues to grow despite a decline in the North America pay-TV market in 2012. ABI Research forecast that global pay TV subscribers will reach 858.1 million at the end of 2012, a 5% year-on-year increment from 2011. The key growth will be driven by the Asian-Pacific market which is expected to add more than 27 million subscribers in 2012.

Cable TV operators in United States have been facing a continuous decline in pay-TV subscribers. In the first two quarters of 2012, Cable TV operators lost nearly 0.8 million subscribers, although their broadband subscriber base has continued to grow. IPTV, which has less penetration than cable or satellite in the US market, gained around 0.6 million subscribers during the same period.

“As broadband adoption grows, it is likely that pay-TV subscribers are switching to Internet TV services. Internet TV services are cheaper than traditional pay-TV services or even free of charge. Services such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. are cheaper alternatives for pay-TV subscribers especially in these uncertain economic times,” said Sam Rosen, practice director of TV & video. ABI Research expects that the overall pay-TV subscriber base in North America at the end of 2012 will decline 0.2% from 2011.

Read more at ABI Research

NPD: 18% Of Consumers Watch Online Video Daily On TVs; China’s Urbanites Watch The Most Of All

(August 23, 2012) Online video — helped along by the rise of tablets, better broadband and a flood of content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and many others — has seen a huge rise in usage in the last few years; and while PCs remain the most common way to consume it, thanks to consoles like the Xbox, even TV screens are becoming popular for online video consumption.

According to a new study out from NPD surveying 14,000 consumers across 14 countries, some 18% of users are accessing online video on TVs on a daily basis, with some 25% accessing it several times a week, with movies driving much of that growth.

Similarly, it noted that tablets and smartphones are also continuing to see more usage for online video. The fact that overall PCs have a higher penetration than tablets may be the reason why PCs — both laptop and desktop — still prove more popular than tablets and smartphones as a place to watch online video. But as we have seen before, when people do have tablets, some are actually spending more time watching video on them than they are PCs, by as much as 30% more.

Read more at TechCrunch

(September 17, 2012) Government-owned Prasar Bharati, the country’s largest broadcaster, had decided to sue the Television Audience Measurement (TAM) agency, citing an alleged inaccurate representation of data on Doordarshan’s coverage, said an official. The legal suit would be filed in India within a week, the official added.

The decision came in the wake of New Delhi Television (NDTV)’s legal action against TAM early this month. The private broadcaster had sued TAM in a New York court over the agency’s rating methods. TAM is a joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar Media Research. A spokesperson at TAM declined to comment on the issue.

The ministry of information and broadcasting recently wrote to TAM for a report on the measures taken to improve the ratings system, by increasing the coverage and third-party audit. It also asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to recommend guidelines to set the benchmark for other rating agencies.

Read more at Business Standard

Till now, 49 per cent FDI was allowed in cable TV and DTH while it is 74 per cent in HITS

(September 14, 2012) In a major decision to liberalise the broadcast sector, the government on 14 September decided to raise FDI cap to 74 per cent in various services of the sector, except the TV news channels and FM radio where the cap of 26 per cent will apply.

The decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will apply to broadcast carriage services providers, including Direct-to-Home, Head-end in the Sky (HITS), Multi-Service Operators (MSOs) and cable TV to bring about uniformity.

Till now, 49 per cent FDI was allowed in cable TV and DTH while it is 74 per cent in HITS.

Read more at Businessworld

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Sep 13, 2012: The United States looks set to go ahead with a graduated response system for ISPs to discourage illegal file sharing, after several delays.

Originally set to launch in December 2011, and then in June this year, the Copyright Alert System is now reportedly set to come into effect at the end of this year, according to the Centre for Copyright Information, the organisation in charge of implementing the system.

The system will cover three-quarters of all American internet users, and is a collaboration between ISPs and the recording and movie industries.

It features a six-stage warning scheme with notices that users have to acknowledge, or face measures such as reduced speeds.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/315354,us-to-launch-six-strikes-copyright-system-this-year.aspx

September 11, 2012: Satellite and cable TV operators offering channel-grouping services will no longer be allowed to charge content providers whose channels they air, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission has decreed in its new draft of regulations for broadcasting licences.

Yesterday, the NBTC’s broadcasting committee approved three drafts of three classes of broadcasting licences – for infrastructure, network and service providers – and another set of draft rules to import, produce and distribute set-top boxes to pay-television operators. This was done after the public-hearing process was completed last week.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/TV-operators-can-no-longer-charge-content-provider-30190144.html