14 November, 2014

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Nov 14th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

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Christopher Slaughter CEO	Oh dear, now President Barack Obama has weighed into the fight over net neutrality in the US. Of course, the current political environment there means that it didn’t take long for things to get ugly but whether it will actually affect the FCC’s policy, or just be another polarised political debate remains to be seen. Meanwhile, from the Department of Gross Oversimplifications, a NY Times columnist boils the discussion down to: “Is access to the Internet more like access to electricity, or more like cable television service?” It’s not often that I suggest reading the comments on a blog post, but for this one, it’s kind of worth it.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Lesson for Asian Governments: Bans on pay-TV Ads kill small independent channels. And it works the other way, too — our own Asian example was Thailand, which banned pay-TV ads for years, until 2008. And when the ad ban was lifted, there was a sudden flowering of new content offerings, with many independent channels entering the market.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	My 6-year old Samsung 52 inch (thick screen) TV is starting to show signs that it will fail soon. Should I buy a cheap 1080p model or a new, super-thin, 4K, curved, sexy beast? Salon suggests that I should be “terrified” bringing home ANY new TV. And The Wall Street Journal is suggesting I wait for 4K. So, Christmas this year or my birthday in June? It all really depends on how fast the lines of dead pixels grow.
Sara Madera Director, Member Relations & Marketing
Desmond Chung Associate Director, PR & Communications	It appears we have hit upon something good at CASBAA! To combat online piracy and raise awareness of the availability of legitimate content, the MPAA is launching a new search site – WheretoWatch.com – to make it easy for consumers to find the shows and movies they love online, in movie theatres, on television and in stores. Closer to home, we launched our very own digital TV content guides for Singapore in 2012 and Australia earlier this year!
Christopher Slaughter CEO	That noise you heard at Mipcom? The sound of footsteps, coming up behind you? Yep… turns out Netflix is looking seriously at Asia. We already knew about Australia, but it sounds like Japan and Korea could be on the cards. Still… there is some skepticism about whether 2015 will be the year, or whether we’ll continue looking our shoulders for a while longer.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Here’s an interesting round-up of the OTT market in Europe. It includes lots of (different) views on the ongoing negotiations between rights owners, pay-TV platforms, and stand-alone OTT operators. An analyst from Arthur D. Little sees Apple, which dominates online music, as a big disappointment in the OTT space. “They don’t seem to have a new strategy. The music model is a transaction model, and that will be hard to move into the video space. Video will be a subscription business. Competition will focus on the size of catalogues. Having a big catalogue is important.”
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	Samantha Bookman outlines how discovery of OTT content is not yet easy or clear, but apparently it’s a lot more engaging to it’s viewers. HBO, CBS, Starz: is everyone going OTT? According to CFO John Nallen, not Fox. I really like this smart initiative from the MPAA called Where to Watch that provides a guide to find out where to watch any movie or TV show legally. Maybe discovery of OTT content isn’t that hard after all.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Vietnam is increasingly joining the rest of Asia as a modern and competitive TV market. Unfortunately, that means Vietnamese pay-TV operators are having the same headaches as operators in more developed markets. In Ho Chi Minh City, the operators complain about over-regulation and are at the same time quite concerned that their high-end clientele is cutting the cord in favor of pirate internet feeds.

Some additional links you might be interested in:

7 November, 2014

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Nov 7th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

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Christopher Slaughter

CEO

It’s been anticipated for some time now, but regulators in China are finally tightening the screws on online video providers. According to a report in the China Daily, full seasons of all foreign TV shows must be submitted to censors before being made available online, a move that will certainly slow the release of most programmes. But there are also concerns that the move could also affect licence fees, and act as a spur for increased piracy. And the chill is already starting to set in, with some video companies removing their apps from online stores.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Youku Tudou CEO Victor Koo’s address at the CASBAA Convention last week, speculation is emerging about a possible tie-up with Internet giant Alibaba. And almost in response to Koo’s CASBAA speech, Youku Tudou competitor iQiyi announced its own plans for 2015 including increased investment in original content.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Last issue, we reported on Google’s new algorithm that downrates pirate websites, based on the number of US DMCA piracy complaints the company has received. It seems to be working: the Torrentfreak website (which presumably has good contacts with the pirates) says the number of hits on major pirate sites has declined sharply. Interestingly, the number of DMCA complaints has rocketed up, since content owners now have a huge incentive to flood Google with complaints, in order to get their nemesis websites downrated.

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

At the CASBAA Convention this last week James Rosenstock (EVP, Global Corporate Development; President, Discovery Education International) had a great interview with Stephen Engle of Bloomberg. Before the interview a very impressive showreel ran, showing Discovery’s many channels, business units, brands, etc. all over the world. What this really boils down to for investors is a 10% increase in 3Q earnings, with a net income was $280 MILLION! Folks, THIS is where James is getting all that cash for all the acquisitions he was talking about.

Anjan Mitra

Executive Director, India

Lobbied hard by a certain section of the industry, MIB may have succumbed to the demand of pushing back digitisation deadlines for Phase III & IV to December 2015 and December 2016, respectively, but that shouldn’t stop the industry from continuing with digital cable’s roll-out. And, that’s exactly what a leading Indian MSO, Siti Cable, is suggesting. VD Wadhwa , Zee group’s cable arm chief executive, also president of newly formed All India Digital Cable Federation, feels the industry can start with voluntary digitisation; albeit with a little help from TV channels. Big question is: can Siti Cable convince other MSOs to its line of thinking? We shall Zee.

Sara Madera

Director, Member Relations & Marketing

Per the Emmys this year the big networks owned the sitcom and pay TV ruled everything else. Based on the fall lineup, Variety is now pondering the Death of the American Network Sitcom. Maybe there is an opportunity here for a pay TV Emmys sweep?

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Taiwan’s NCC is considering an interesting regulatory initiative: requiring OTT apps to get licensed as telecom services. This is part of a trend of Asian regulatory agencies grappling with the implications of free-wheeling Internet business models. If it comes to pass, let’s hope the licensing criteria include respect for IPR!

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

If I had a nickel for every conversation I had at the CASBAA Convention about OTT, I could retire….again. A hot topic, yes. Controversial, yes. How will it play out around the world and here in our back yard: well, everyone has an opinion but the jury won’t be in for a long time. For an idea of Who Are the Winners and Losers in Pay TV’s Unbundled Future, click here. Those folks that think that OTT is not going to take over the world tomorrow may enjoy…

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Now here’s an interesting note: an analyst accuses Netflix of using its market power to “shakedown” the telecommunications industry (including cable operators in the USA). The report says “Netflix has played a shrewd PR and policy game to paint itself as the fragile underdog to regulators, journalists and the public while it fiercely lobbies for regulation against the telecom and content industries.” Ah yes the tech industry seems to be full of fragile underdogs…….

Michael Steel

Regulatory Assistant

Wow! Is this really what cable boxes used to look like???? Where’s the Facebook button?

Some additional links you might be interested in:

24 October, 2014

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Oct 24th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

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