March 8, 2015 – Mr Tan Tong Hai, 51, has scored several firsts in his illustrious career of 26 years.

His most recent one – launching Singapore’s first and only free local sports pay-TV channel SuperSports Arena in 2010 – won the chief executive of StarHub the IT Leader of the Year award last night.

It is the first time a telco executive has won the award, which is given out by the Singapore Computer Society (SCS).

Read more at Asia One Business

March 7, 2015 – When Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”) hit the central Philippines in November 2013, it destroyed everything including land-based communications infrastructure. Satellite operators were quick to respond by freeing up space on overcrowded networks, which enabled emergency crews to coordinate the massive relief effort.

Read more at inquirer.net

March 7, 2015 – SES has selected Arianespace to launch a communications satellite ordered as part of a three-spacecraft procurement announced last month, after assigning the other two payloads for launches aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

The SES 15 communications platform will blast off on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in the second quarter of 2017, officials said Friday…

Read more at Spaceflightnow

March 2015 – Pay TV revenues in the Asia Pacific region (22 countries) will grow by $10 billion between 2014 and 2020, according to Digital TV Research. The Digital TV Asia Pacific Forecasts report estimates that pay TV revenues will reach $41.52 billion by 2020.

Cable TV will remain the highest pay TV earner, with revenues at $23 billion by 2020. Digital cable TV revenues will grow by 63% between 2014 and 2020 to $22.54 billion, with analog cable TV falling from $6.20 billion to $0.56 billion…

Read more at digital TV Research

March 4, 2015 – Discovery Communications has moved quickly to appoint an industry veteran to oversee its global production efforts, following Eileen O’Neill’s decision to turn down the role.

Marc Graboff has been named president of global business and legal affairs, production management and studios for the company…

Read more at C21Media

March 2, 2015 – Netflix is planning to go it alone in its attempt to break into the booming China market, a move that could make it tougher to get into the notoriously difficult China market but ultimately was a more streamlined option.

Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos told Chinese reporters in Shanghai that the House of Cards producer was also planning to look at exporting content produced in China to the rest of the world, Reuters reported…

Read more at the Hollywood Reporter

December 19, 2014 – The China TV Drama Industry Report, released at the Shenzhen International TV Fair recently announced some interesting findings.

Findings from the report shw that 2014 saw the number of TV dramas aired in prime-time decrease by around 25% over the year previous. Industry analysts note that the reason is likely due to SARFT regulations last year limiting the number of satellite channels that could broadcast a drama at the same time.

Read more at CMM-I

February 10, 2015 – According to Andrew Wajs, CTO at multiscreen, revenue assurance and media protection solutions specialist Irdeto, tackling next-generation content distribution, protection and monetisation challenges requires more than just technology, with operators needing to take a more holistic, end-to-end approach to thrive…

Read more at Advanced Television

20 Dec 2014 – MAI-listed Solution Corner (1988) Plc (SLC) has promised not to buy any more shares in Nation Multimedia Group Plc (NMG) or become involved in the company’s management.

The two sides made a gentleman’s agreement after the SLC board on Wednesday approved the purchase of a 12.27% stake in NMG and 225 million warrants (NMG-W1) for 1.042 billion baht.

Along with the NMG investment, SLC would buy 10 million newly issued shares of GMM Grammy Plc at 13.50 baht apiece.

Read more at Bangkok Post