China video sites piracy spat

December 16, 2011 – China’s two largest video-streaming sites, Tudou and Youku are heading for court after Tudou announced that it is taking action – together with its license partner Cti TV – over alleged piracy of a popular TV series on Youku.

To view the full article, please visit http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2011/12/16/china-video-sites-piracy-spat/

(19:22) New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) With members of parliament voicing concern over objectionable content on TV channels, the government Tuesday said it was open to an all-party meeting to discuss the issue, but made it clear it was against issuing any diktat.

“I have no objection if a law is made after an all-party meeting is convened by the prime minister in which views of everyone are taken in writing,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said while replying to a supplementary during question hour in the Lok Sabha.

To view the full article, please visit http://www.tvnext.in/news/131/ARTICLE/4712/2011-12-13.html

Urged on by Hong Kong’s TVB, police in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville raided a shop selling set top boxes which allowed consumers to receive a full bouquet of illegal TV programming from internet servers in China.

Investigations continue, and court cases will result later, with the shop’s managers liable for penalties including large fines and up to 5 years in jail.

TVB’s complaint was based on its Chinese-language content (sold legally in Australia through a subscription-based service), but the pirate boxes could access full bouquets of programming coming from China.  (For a start, forensic investigators identified – in addition to several TVB channels, full streams from CNN, ESPN, MTV, Discovery, National Geographic, HBO, Fox and BBC, as well as a large library of VoD programming including movies not yet released on legal DVDs.)

A full English-language report and photos can be viewed here

TVB also issued a (Chinese-language) press statement, which can be downloaded here

December 03, 2011 – India’s government has decided to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit from 49% to 74% in the cable distribution platform. This follows the node given by the Cabinet for implementation of the complete digitization process.

A draft note to this effect, prepared by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, has already been sent to various ministries for their comments and inputs. They include information and broadcasting ministry and the department of telecommunications.

To view the full article, please visit http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/1/Article/8623/Digitization_:_Govt_to_raise_the_FDI_limit_to_74__in_the_cable_industry_.htm

Posted: Monday, Dec 05, 2011 at 2159 hrs IST

New Delhi: After DTH operators, now broadcasters face spectrum crunch and lack of Indian satellites. With its 12-year life having ended four days ago, there is panic among three-dozen regional and national broadcasters hosted on Indian Space Research Organisation satellite INSAT-2E.

Launched in April 1999, INSAT-2E’s 12-year life span has now ended as a result these broadcasters now face a real threat of a blackout unless they manage to shift to foreign satellites.

To view the full article, please visit http://www.financialexpress.com/news/channels-face-blackout-as-insat-2e-span-ends/883949/

US and Australian movie and television studios have challenged a landmark court ruling in Australia that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) cannot be held accountable for illegal video downloads by its customers.

The studios want Internet providers to be punished if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to stop customers from downloading free copies of pirated movies, which costs the studios millions in profits. Without that legal risk, the ISPs have less reason to police their own network for potential copyright infringement.

To view the full article, please visit http://www.advanced-television.com/index.php/2011/11/30/studios-mount-iinet-piracy-ruling-challenge/

Underdeclaration of cable TV subscriptions is a major problem in some Asian markets, and also in other regions. One Latin American government, concerned about losing tax revenues from the cable-TV industry, has proposed revoking the operating licenses of cable-TV operators who underdeclare. See the story here:

http://www.advanced-television.com/index.php/2011/11/25/warning-issued-to-colombian-pay-tv/

The Star has run a series of articles examining the pay-TV landscape in Malaysia. 

To view the articles, please visit the following links:

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/26/business/9973062&sec=business

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/26/business/9973008

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/26/business/9974017&sec=business

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/26/business/9976684&sec=business

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/26/business/9978424&sec=business

For the past few days, rumors have been swirling that along with its limitation of “entertainment” programs, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) will also be implementing a new regulation that bans all advertisement during TV dramas. Yesterday SARFT management bureau chief Li Jingsheng announced that SARFT will indeed be banning ads during TV programs.

The detailed regulations will be announced sometime later this month, but it seems that advertisements will be allowed, but only during the time when one show has finished and the next show has yet to begin. Shows will no longer take breaks in the middle of episodes for advertisements.

To read the full article, please visit: http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/SARFT-Banning-TV-Ads-During-pennolson-108585167.html

The Australian producers of acclaimed drama The Slap have succeeded in shutting down a Netherlands-based piracy website used by some 40,000 Australian and New Zealand expats to watch local shows illegally.

The site, diwana.org, is run by an Australian expat and is popular with expats and others based overseas seeking to access Australia and New Zealand TV content, which is often difficult to access internationally.

To read the full article, please visit http://www.advanced-television.com/index.php/2011/11/15/aussie-expat-tv-torrent-site-shut-down/