Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending September 29th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Christopher Slaughter CEO In the UK, the Royal Television Society has held its annual conference in Cambridge, featuring a keynote presentation and conversation with 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch. (If you’ve got 47 minutes, it’s a great session, but if you just want to know about the bid for Sky it’s at about 24 minutes in.) Another great RTS session was with A+E Networks President & CEO Nancy Dubuc; again, it’s a bit of a time commitment, but again, some great insights: “When we lost ‘Law and Order’, overnight, we went from #1 or #2 to #30, and we had no choice but to reinvent.”

Clare Bloomfield Director, Policy & Research

The battle against piracy in Europe continues, with mixed results. In Belgium, new draft legislation is being pulled together under the Deputy Prime Minister to block access to illegal download sites, whilst in Holland, the Court of Appeal has ruled that ISPs need to block The Pirate Bay, bringing Holland in line with most other EU countries. However over in the UK, prosecutors who were waiting for a long anticipated court case against a shop owner arrested for selling fully loaded Kodi boxes have been thwarted when he suddenly changed his plea to guilty, thus denying a key opportunity for legislators to finally get a ruling on IPTV boxes under the UK Copyright Act.

Clare Bloomfield Director, Policy & Research

The EU Commission is getting in on the piracy action, and has just published a new set of guidelines outlining how online service providers should tackle illegal content, including piracy. Their communication titled “Tackling Illegal Content Online” is non-binding, but the Commission doesn’t rule out future legislation if significant progress isn’t made. Whilst the proposals go above and beyond current legal requirements and place the majority of the burden on the ISP, there remain concerns about the impact on both small ISPs and freedom of speech.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

The Apple TV has made its return to Amazon after being removed a couple of years ago. Amazon doesn’t normally allow the sale of media players that don’t support its own Prime Video app so with Apple TV making its way back onto Amazon, the availability of the Prime Video app on Apple TV could be imminent. Meanwhile Amazon has taken the wraps off and launched its new Fire TV with 4K and HDR capabilities. It’s a dongle-based
competitor to Google’s Chromecast Ultra but the upgrade comes on the heels of Apple announcing its own 4K black box with and a new pricing scheme for 4K content a few weeks back so it’s pretty clear where Amazon are looking.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

Some key stories in the OTT world this week. ITV’s Faz Aftab, the online head of the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, had some interesting insights into online and traditional TV viewership…“82% of TV consumption was still via live TV.” And this is a market with high broadband penetration and speeds. Amazon started streaming NFL games this week and it’s all about collecting ad data. “Amazon will track sales data after each ad so that it can tell a brand exactly how many people purchased or looked up its products after seeing its ad.” Netflix’s Biggest Critic Responds With His Own Paid Service. FX Networks CEO John Landgraf creates FX+ so customers could watch all his shows on demand, stating “we shouldn’t be licensing exclusively”. These stories and heaps more at the CASBAA OTT Group Newsfeed.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Usage of OTT streaming apps has skyrocketed in India. According to a report by App Annie, India’s top 5 OTT services saw 100% growth in their monthly user base in the first half of 2017, compared to a year ago. The upsurge in the number of monthly active users has been driven by improvements in internet speeds – India has seen its average internet speed increase from 3-odd Mbps to 6.5 Mbps in the last 18 months. Data has also become more affordable, as new entrants, such as Reliance Jio, have increased the competitive intensity of the Indian telecom market. Industry leaders are optimistic about the future of the OTT video content industry, as Indians’ video consumption habits become increasingly data driven and mobile oriented.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

More troubles for former employees of defunct Thai pay-TV operator Cable Thai Holding Public Company (CTH). The Department of Special Investigation is launching an inquiry into CTH after the Thailand Cable TV Association accused the firm of engaging in share speculation and deceiving its shareholders. I’m no Harry Markopolos, but this seems to be a version of the old pump-and-dump…with a sell-more-shares and steal-the-proceeds twist.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Ahead of the launch of the year’s biggest computer games – FIFA 2018 – research from YouGov reveals that close to four million Brits have watched eSports. The report finds that 7 per cent of British adults (approaching four million people) have watched competitive video gaming. Multi-national research shows that Britain is behind other markets when it comes to viewership. In China, 45 per cent of  adults with online access have watched eSports while the figures in in the US, and Germany stand at 12 & 11% respectively The research shows that a solid proportion of existing spectators are reasonably enthusiastic about watching eSports again and the scale of viewership, particularly in China, should see the sector boom.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

And for all of you Star Trek fans out there, you’ll no doubt be thrilled to hear that a new spin-off Star Trek: Discovery recently debuted on CBS’s OTT service, leading to the highest ever sign-up day to CBS All Access on record. Live long and Prosper.

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending September 22nd. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Kevin Jennings Vice President Cable operators face many challenges, but Liberty Global’s Mike Fries (and former CASBAA Convention Keynote speaker) has called out Amazon as the biggest threat to the industry. “We are standing in their way,” according to Fries, who finds it an uncomfortable thought that he does not know what Amazon’s game plan is regarding video. And forgive the plug, but talking of the CASBAA Convention, have you registered for this years event yet? Still not convinced on what Mike Fries says? See Mark’s piece below.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Following the approval of new broadcasting regulations in Australia last week, the Australian government has now released a set of draft copyright regulations (its current copyright laws will expire next April). Included in the draft, the government has asked carriage providers and rights owners to voluntarily help develop an anti-piracy code. While Australia currently has site blocking provisions in place, in recent years, it has struggled to come up with broadly-supported anti-piracy measures for industry. This difficulty was highlighted by the failure of its “three strikes” rule in 2016. This time round, the government has included provisions that will hopefully address some of the weaknesses in the previous code, including a provision that requires that the code not impose substantial costs on carriage service providers. The new regulations are open to consultation until October 6th.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

And staying with former CASBAA Convention speakers, AsiaMX CEO Basil Chua says he wants to crack what he sees as the advertising industry’s root problem—a disconnect between buyers and sellers—and make it quicker and easier  to get results. Currently his programmatic services are up and running in Thailand and Malaysia with several Pay-TV and FTA channels in the mix and they have their sights on going live in Indonesia by year end.

Christopher Slaughter CEO

In the US, disappointing news for cable companies as a recent report from eMarketer suggests that cable customers are abandoning cable TV quicker than anticipated and spending less time in front of the TV, all of which is having a negative impact on advertising spending. 

Anjan Mitra Executive Director, India

A few weeks ago Tetra Pak released their 2017 “Connected Consumer” Report with some interesting findings, including data suggesting that the average global connected consumer spends 4.4 hours per day online, more than 56% of which is spent on mobile. According to Tetra Pak, in India, consumers spend a staggering 82% of their time on their mobile phones and there has been a rise of 23% of internet users spending an average of 8 hours per day online. A new collaboration between Irdeto and TataSky – the launch of a new Android-based OTT service – is hoping to cash in on this trend.

Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant

Meanwhile according to Deloitte’s 2017 “Global Mobile Consumers Survey: UK Cut”, UK smartphone viewing has increased 500% since 2012. Smartphone ownership amongst UK adults (18-75) is now at 85%, and more than half of adult smartphone owners watch at least one video on their phone per week. This number is even higher for youth (16-19) – 79% report watching at least one video per week, and 54% were found to do so daily. Increasingly, consumers are also using their smartphones for watching long-form video, and some even use their device for live TV viewing (although this number is still modest). No matter how you look at it, the smartphone is becoming undeniably important for video.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

OTT News Roundup for the week: The Fox+ streaming platform launched in Taiwan partnered with telecommunications operator Chunghwa Telecom with a 6-month exclusive deal. Amazon continues in its endeavour to become the Pay-TV operator to the world by scooping up smaller TV channels with minimal distribution in order to build itself into a video destination for every imaginable niche, with a particular focus on millennial audiences. This should definitely not go un-noticed but others may think differently wondering, Can the Everything Store Still Become the Everything Streaming Service? And to finish off, an open letter from the founder and CEO of Afrostream. For anyone planning or operating an OTT service this article documents one man’s journey very nicely. I have a feeling that Tonjé Bakang will be back. Many more stories, continually updated, on the CASBAA OTT Group Newsfeed.

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending September 15th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer This week, we made a splash in Singapore, talking about online piracy. If you want to know more, the press release, other documents, and press clips can be found here. For a chuckle, don’t miss this sardonic take on the news. And then also read this sadder, more impassioned take on the issue, from neighboring Malaysia.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

People asked me, afterwards, if there was evidence that the kinds of enforcement we advocate really have positive effects.  Catching up with reading on the plane home, I caught a headline about a new report from the UK IPO office, documenting that the multiple campaigns underway there against online piracy have been bearing fruit. But the report also documents the extent of the challenges with respect to ISDs, observing that “At its cutting edge, IP crime is innovative,” and that “organised criminals…who distribute set-top boxes are aware of recent developments in the law…. Given recent judgments on the sale of pre-programmed set-top boxes it is now unlikely criminals would advertise the devices in a way which is clearly infringing by offering them pre-loaded or ‘fully loaded’…” A separate report described the types of things pirates do to block enforcement of the laws against them. The conclusion: society cannot rely on outdated pre-IT era laws for copyright; updated laws are necessary.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

OTT News Roundup: If you didn’t make it to All That Matters conference in Singapore this week, you can get an overview of the session on OTT through, How to monetize your OTT platforms: Tips & tricks from Singapore’s Big 3 players. A decent piece on iflix and how OTT players are taking aim at DTH. Aravind from Media Partners is all over the story.  Although the headline is complete clickbait, “Cable Apocalypse:Cord Cutting Accelerates, Sends Shockwaves Through Traditional TV”, it’s worth looking at the charts to see the actual numbers. Yes, “Apocalypse” is a bit of an overstatement. An interesting look at skinny bundles and who is getting left out. To finish off, the trailer from HBO’s soon-to-be-released 9th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm…“Larry’s Back & Nothing Has Changed”. These stories and more, continually updated, on the CASBAA OTT Group Newsfeed.

Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant

Global advertising expenditure is forecast to grow 4% to $558bn by the end of 2017, driven by digital display formats, in particular social media in-feed ads and online video. The distinctions between online video and traditional television are being eroded said Jonathan Barnard, “and the two work together much better than they do separately”. ”Essentially, television supplies reach, while online video offers targeting and personalisation; together they accounted for 48.5% of expenditure on brand advertising in 2016, up from 43.7% in 2010, and Zenith forecast their market share to rise to 49.3% in 2019

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Regulators in Hong Kong had to be pushed by a lawsuit from TVB, but they have finally acknowledged that the world of advertising is changing! The Communications Authority (CA) announced that they would review the city’s outmoded “product placement” rules for broadcast advertising. Hopefully, the review will result in a meaningful liberalization. Note that the authorities make no attempt to regulate product placement nor any other aspect of online advertising. Maybe this regulator is waking up to smell the coffee – if not the fried chicken!

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Sweeping changes to Australian broadcasting regulations were approved by the Senate on Thursday afternoon. Proposed only four months ago, the changes are meant to bring broadcasting regulations up to date so that they continue to effectively regulate the industry, which has undergone massive changes over the past couple of years. In particular, the amended regulations acknowledge the increasing competition from global online content providers. The reforms include: the removal of licensing fees for free-to-air broadcasters; the relaxation of media ownership rules; increased restrictions on gambling advertising; and amendments to the anti-siphoning scheme, among others. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also promised to investigate global media giants, such as Google and Facebook, to assess their impact on the local broadcasting industry. For a more detailed review, a full list of the reforms can be found here.

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending September 8th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending September 1st. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending August 25th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending August 18th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Kevin Jennings Vice President This week saw the Australian government tip-toing its way thru the broadcast reform bill which  has moved one step closer after securing a deal with  burka-clad One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.  The move  will force the ABC to be more transparent about staff wages and “fair” and “balanced” in its reporting, provide greater community radio funding and foreign ownership reporting. The government phrased it slightly better, acknowledging they had agreed to pursue a number of measures to ensure the public broadcaster increased its regional focus, financial transparency and political impartiality. Earlier, in a move designed to cut One Nation from negotiations, the Green Party stepped up their demands and declared it will only back the package if funding for the ABC and SBS is increased by “millions”. Negotiations over the media reform bill, which has broad  industry backing, have reached a critical stage but with Labor opposed to the legislation, the government will need to gain the votes of the Greens or One Nation and the Nick Xenophon Team  (who are themselves holding up the bill and pushing for tax breaks) to drive the reforms through parliament.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Australian courts have issued a pair of major site-blocking orders, answering pleas from Foxtel and Village Roadshow. Reactions were predictable: Foxtel was happy. The tech press was shocked, shocked that so many sites could be “alleged” to be pirate. Industry group Creative Content Australia said taking out these sites blocks 95 percent of traffic to infringing sites (okay, my skepticism alarm went off at that.) CCA also launched a major effort to deter consumers from seeking out substitute pirate sources. 

Christopher Slaughter CEO

Let’s mix some metaphors. Apple is finally reaching into its rather substantial pockets to essentially dip its toes into the waters of original content creation; after years of rumors, the other shoe has finally dropped. Granted, a billion dollars is still a billion dollars, but the tech giant will probably only buy about ten original series with that cash, and will still only be spending a fraction of what Netflix, Amazon, and HBO shell out annually. (Although it’s an open question as to whether Netflix’s US$7 bln spend is rescuing or ruining Hollywood.) Granted, the company certainly has the money to burn if it so chooses, but some critics also question whether Apple’s risk-averse corporate culture will prove a liability in the decidedly edgier world of modern TV programming.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

After the tsunami of BIG news in the OTT space last week it took a lot more effort to uncover interesting stories for you this week…and here they are. Turner has signed a three-year, multi-platform deal for U.S. rights to UEFA European soccer games beginning with the 2018-2019 season and as a core pillar plans to launch a new stand-alone premium sports streaming video service. An interesting look at Nielsen’s Total audience initiative “as the notion of “TV” has fractured, becoming video entertainment delivered across dozens of devices through countless over-the-top apps, video on demand, DVRs, mobile services as well as broadcast, basic and premium cable/satellite services.”  For the massive sports fan, ESPN’s new Apple TV app lets you watch four screens of live sports at the same time….naturally, while tweeting on your phone.  And to finish off, a couple critical looks at the recent launch of Facebook Watch with The 6 Most Important Things To Keep Your Eye On and Are They Smarter than the TV Guys?  More OTT related news at CASBAA OTT Group Newsfeed.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Taxes, taxes, taxes…….last week I noted that Facebook’s office opening in Jakarta was all about getting them to pay taxes. Now the word filters out that – despite the enormous ad revenues they earn in Indonesia and everywhere else – their Jakarta office is licensed as a “management consulting” outfit. Hmmmm.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Vietnam is one step closer to its goal of fully transitioning to digital broadcasting by 2020. On Tuesday, analogue TV signals were switched off in 15 cities and provinces across the country. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) had given citizens advanced warning about the termination of analogue services, and has also set up a support program to help poor households manage the transition.

Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in the UK has formally called on YouTube and Facebook to work with it and ISBA to bring safety, measurement and viewability of online video up to acceptable industry standards.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

In uneasy coexistence with the business of international broadcasting there is always an element of “state messaging,” sometimes called propaganda. This week’s ham-fisted Chinese attempt at anti-Indian propaganda drew attention to the use of online media by state-owned media outlets to advance political agendas. It’s mildly funny in a racist sort of way, and totally transparent. But one has to wonder – who is the audience for such Chinese attempts to wield “soft power”? Bhutan???? (Twitter, Facebook and Youtube are all blocked in the mainland, so it’s clearly supposed to be “external” messaging.) Or is it a “united front” effort aimed at ethnic Chinese millennials in the western world?

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

India’s TRAI say it has successfully developed an interoperable set-top-box (STB). The new STB is compatible with multiple Pay-TV service providers, and would allow consumers to only purchase a single box, instead of having to replace their box each time they switch providers. The TRAI cites increased technological innovation, improvements in service quality and sector growth as benefits of this new technology, and hopes that it will also help to reduce e-waste in India. However, both industry members and government officials have voiced their concern over how the regulator will manage the issue of piracy that is inherent with this type of technology. Before the STB are released to the public, the TRAI will carry out an industry consultation, workshop and pilot implementation project, which will hopefully address the concerns about piracy.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

The Thai authorities have ordered the “red shirt”-oriented satellite TV broadcaster Peace TV to suspend operations for a month. But relax, everybody, it has nothing to do with politics.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

I’m not usually one to talk about American politics or the U.S. President but this caught my eye, and imagination.  The first high-profile political thriller to broach the Trump era could be coming from an unexpected direction — China.   Award-winning Chinese auteur Wang Quan’an has signed to write and direct American Wall, a U.S.-set feature that will delve headlong into the current politically charged moment. Wang is no stranger to scandal himself and is likely to deliver an explosive interpretation.  Dubbed “a tale of greed, vengeance, sex and ambition,” the film is set around President Donald Trump’s infamous U.S.-Mexico border wall…

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending August 11th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore The BIG news this week is that Disney will be launching two streaming services. “Disney’s online entertainment service will begin in 2019…and starting next year, an ESPN online service, which the company had said was in the works, will feature 10,000 live events a year, including Major League Baseball, hockey, soccer and tennis, as well as college sports.” Other notable parts of the announcement include a big paring back of content licensed to Netflix though “U.S. Netflix members will have access to Disney films on the service through the end of 2019, including all new films that are shown theatrically through the end of 2018.” Also, Disney has now taken control of streaming tech company BamTech, upping their ownership from 33% to 75%.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

And here’s this week’s piracy news: A U.S. judge says posting links to overseas pirate content sources can constitute a criminal copyright conspiracy, in the case of the founder of Kickass Torrents (now in Poland, fighting extradition). A Sydney man was given an 18 month suspended sentence for operating a card-sharing piracy network that supplied more than 8,000 people with free Foxtel TV.   (Two others were previously sentenced, and one got six months of hard time behind bars.) And for this week’s comedy relief, check out the storefront pic of this pirate box seller’s establishment. Charged with selling lots of fully-loaded Kodi boxes, the shopfront’s owner claimed he had no liability for infringement, as people were just finding the illegal content on the internet.  Even Torrentfreak points out that putting “Free Sky, Virgin, etc.” on your storefront might be regarded as “seriously incriminating.” In the end, the dude pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.

Christopher Slaughter CEO

There’s a lot of attention in the Philippines to the issue of how to expand broadband access (and how to improve the quality of connections for those who have access.) Official stats report there are 24.4 million broadband connections in the country, but only 2.4 million of those are carried on wires – which means the other 22 million connections are at the mercy of hiccupping wireless links. Netizens have blasted the telcos for high prices and poor service. Telcos have been highlighting their efforts to improve connectivity, and saying the government’s red tape is to blame. Politicians have been talking about administrative reforms for a sector they call “dysfunctional”, as well as increasing the opportunity for foreign investment, to stimulate competition. Philippine market leaders will discuss what this all means for the video industry, in CASBAA’s Philippines in View conference, on August 30 in Manila. It promises to be interesting.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Regulating OTT services continues to be a hot topic in Southeast Asia. Indonesia held a public consultation on possible draft OTT regulations (replacing another draft issued last year). (Lots and lots of emphasis on getting social media OTT services to pay taxes on money earned in-country.) But there are still lots of unanswered questions. (Sorry, that report’s only in Bahasa; you’ll have to use your translation app.) Along that line, Facebook is opening an office in Jakarta. A Minister said that “taxes and responsible content” were the goals of “localizing Facebook”. Meanwhile, in Thailand, the focus is purely on content. The NBTC was reported to have changed its mind, and to be no longer seeking to regulate OTT VOD as broadcasting. But at the same time, local ISPs were given until Monday to remove or block 1,800 pages of offending content from Facebook and YouTube. Apparently, the platforms did it, to ensure their services weren’t blocked by ISPs. There does seem to be a bit of confusion, though, as it seems the Ministry of IT had a different list of 3,726 pages to block……

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Interesting news from Nielsen in the US which has reported that TV viewing that takes place in a bar, gym, airport or office, can be just as important to networks and advertisers as at-home watchers. The measurement firm found that in early 2017 Americans spent an average of an additional two hours viewing the news away from their homes, the second largest increase in this type of time spent viewing for the genres analysed. Among viewers 18-34, out-of-home (OOH) viewing contributed an 8% increase from in-home viewership. When expanded to the 18-49 demographic, OOH viewing added a 6% increase among those viewers. Here’s Nielsen’s own list of take-aways from the data.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

More streaming news this week. No Disney-style announcement from Fox but, James Murdoch Says He’s “Open Minded” About Creating A Fox SVOD Offering. CBS will roll out a sports-themed, 24-hour livestreaming network later this year, CBS Corp. chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves announced, saying the still-unnamed sports network is “part of our ongoing OTT strategy.” Facebook has updated it’s home page to highlight it’s move into video. “The “Watch” tab and several dozen original shows will start rolling out to a small group of U.S. users tomorrow.” And finally, an interesting look at how No OTT Service Has Figured Out How To Achieve Service & Monetization Parity Across Traditional & Online Broadcasts. More OTT related news continually updated on the CASBAA OTT Group Newsfeed.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

In a week that saw iflix secure over US$130 million in funding, the OTT service provider also launched its VOD platform in Cambodia in partnership with local telecom operator, Smart Axiata. Cambodians are now able to access iflix’s catalogue for a monthly subscription fee of 3 USD. Smart and iflix will aim to cater to Cambodian consumers by working closely with local content producers to offer original Khmer content, and by providing Khmer subtitles for their entire catalogue by the end of the year. Both companies have emphasized their commitment to promoting the Cambodian TV and film industry, and believe that their partnership will help to combat the growing problem of online piracy, which is a significant threat to local content production.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Hats off to India’s MIB. Confronted with an apparently serious problem of wildcat cable channels from some MSOs promoting objectionable content, the Ministry has chosen to enlist the industry in a serious consultation about how to deal with the problem. (India now has 890 licensed TV channels; the offenders are not among them.) Seeking cooperative solutions is a much better approach than going at problems from the start with hammer-and-tongs.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Online SVOD services are a big hit in Australia. According to a recent Telsyte survey, more than 3.7 million Australians are now subscribed to a streaming video on demand (SVOD) service, which represents a whopping 30% increase from last year. What’s more, the survey estimated that SVOD subscribers are set to surpass traditional Pay TV subscribers as early as June 2018.

Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant

Walk into nearly any bar, gym, airport or office these days and you’re likely not only to find a television, but also viewers of all sorts with their eyes glued to the glass—from sports fans urging their teams on during a big game to money men tracking the financial markets to travelers monitoring news and weather reports. Nielsen analyzed data to see what content Americans are consuming beyond the comfort of their own couches.

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending August 4th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Christopher Slaughter CEO The deal has been in the works for weeks, and now it’s done; Discovery is buying Scripps for US$14.6 bln in cash and stocks. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Scripps CEO Ken Lowe are both delighted with the deal, which they say provides synergies that will help the combined company’s negotiating leverage with pay tv operators. The deal is not without its critics, however, who point out that it doesn’t change the fundamental issues in the current operating environment, even though it does lift the merged company higher in the pay TV industry league tables – even as Zaslav says Discovery is not “out of bullets” for other acquisitions. Next up, shareholder and regulatory approval, but both are widely expected to give the green light, and things are expected to be complete early next year.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Sadly, a Singapore court threw out a pirate site-block petition from PCCW, which operates the Viu TV OTT service in Singapore as well as other regional markets. The court didn’t challenge application of the site-blocking law, but it said PCCW did not have standing to sue, as it was neither the owner nor the exclusive licensee of the Korean content that is being pirated. (The fact that it had authorization from the copyright owners to sue on their behalf wasn’t good enough.) The result demonstrates the very high bar, and the very high costs, that current copyright laws impose on anyone attempting to restrain online piracy.   (Oh, and somebody should tell the court that exclusive carriage contracts are against public policy in Singapore!)

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Other piracy tidbits: Another nasty legal battle is joined in Canada, pitting the cable industry against the owner of Kodi box piracy support site TVAddons.com. One judge ordered the cable plaintiffs to give back the domains seized a couple of weeks ago, but the judges in the Court of Appeal countermanded the restoration, saying the case should continue. Dueling lawyers for the foreseeable future, oh joy.  A study in Portugal concluded (as other ones have, in other countries) that site blocking is effective in producing major reductions in use of piracy websites. And Google seems to have awakened on the right side of the bed last week….they removed a host of streaming piracy sites from their search results (in the USA) and also stopped promoting torrents through a “best torrent site” feature.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Figures from analytics research companies monitoring the YouTube Live TV app launched a couple of months ago in the US indicate that around 2 million people have installed the YouTube TV app. The live TV service is aimed at a younger generation of cord cutters and installs seem evenly split between iOS and Android devices. No word yet on whether the 2 million downloads is translating into subscribers — many users may have simply installed the app out of curiosity or could be on free trials that never convert to paid subscriptions.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

Some interesting stories on the OTT front this week. NBCU’s Steve Burke is “skeptical that it’s (OTT) going to be a very large business or profitable business for the people that are in it, and they’re off to a relatively slow start“. At the same time research firm TDG finds that Hulu Subscribers Prefer Hulu to Traditional Pay TV. Amazon has outbid Sky for exclusive ATP Tour rights in the UK…except the four grand slams. And, FreeWheel, the Comcast-owned ad-tech company has found that viewers on TV-connected streaming platforms complete 98% of all video ads.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Hong Kong’s oldest pay-TV network, i-Cable TV, continues its downward spiral as its revenues decrease and costs increase. Earlier this May, CASBAA wrote about how the ailing company had been rescued by its minority shareholders and the consortium, Forever Top, after its longtime majority shareholder, Wharf Holdings, announced in March that it would stop funding the pay-TV network. Now, i-Cable TV has released its first-half results, reporting that its losses widened by 4% and its revenues shrank by 10%. Clearly, the network’s new shareholders have their work cut out for them.

Anjan Mitra Executive Director, India

Historically speaking, the cable TV distribution business in India has been a bit like the Wild West, which has changed somewhat in recent years as regulations and digitization admittedly have brought about transparency. Monopolies still remain in some pockets, though. The Punjab government vowed to break such an alleged monopoly owing to local political patronage, which the cable industry termed as a political witch-hunt. It now seems a good proposal is going awry even as newer players like Nxt Digital enter the state. Not only is the local government in the north Indian state finding it difficult to tackle monopoly issues, a local politician has proposed levying an extra entertainment tax on DTH and cable TV connections, which everybody believed had got subsumed in the newly-rolled out GST. To make matters even more worrisome, the Punjab government is studying a government-controlled MSO model prevalent in another state, Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, regulator TRAI’s suggestions on barring government bodies from getting into broadcasting and such services’ distribution is still pending at MIB for approval. So much so for change!

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Sky Television, in NZ, has instigated a $1.47 million civil suit against the operator of an ISD network.  The pirate operator issued a press statement saying he would fight the suit, public opinion was sure to support him, the box just allowed people to see what they want, and it was all legal because the streams came from other countries. Somehow, actually paying people who labour to produce the content didn’t enter into his thinking.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

The Indian government maintains they are not going to set up a new entity to regulate TV content. One report translated this as “no pre-censorship of TV shows.” (India is not China, after all.) The government will continue to rely on self-regulation by the TV industry. But it is also energizing post-broadcast review mechanisms to make sure the Programme Code is followed.

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending July 28th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Christopher Slaughter CEO We talked last week about the Game of Thrones juggernaut; turns out the buzz around Season 7 has resulted in a quadrupling of downloads and tripling of in-app revenues for HBO Now in the US. But no good deed goes unpunished; anti-piracy research company Muso says the GoT premiere was viewed illegally more than 90 million times worldwide. Here in the region, hats off to Hotstar for turning piracy into promotion; their “Torrents Morghulis” (loosely translated from the High Valyrian as “All Torrents Must Die”) campaign might not have stopped the pirates dead, but it highlighted the fact that there are legitimate means of accessing the show online. Oh, and apropos of exactly nothing, it turns out Hot Pie is actually a baker in real life.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

The consumer risks of piracy were in focus this week. A gaggle of U.S. state attorneys general warned of malware on piracy sites, in a series of public service ads. Torrentfreak speculated on how a malicious actor might use Kodi add-ons to infect millions of ISDs. CASBAA’s warning about the same thing got picked up by the Malaysian press. In London, police seized a bunch of ISDs and warned they could have electrical flaws that might lead to home fires. And on the other side, Torrentfreak warned pirates that – at least in theory – they also face the risk of……getting caught.  

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

UK enforcement report: Site blocking against “Kodi” ISD networks will continue through the next soccer year. The Premier League won a High Court order allowing the experimental Kodi box blocks to continue (after the season resumes) through 2018. This involves a highly innovative process of cooperation between ISPs and rights owners which permits roving site blocks – when a new IP address with game transmissions pops up, it gets blocked. The PL has been very happy with the results – and millions of lads who want their pirate footy are depressed. Meanwhile, copyright federation FACT was busy: criticizing a magazine for brazenly promoting illegal Kodi uses which even the Kodi developers have denounced, and then working with Derbyshire police to close down an ISD network known as BulkyTV. (The promoter was arrested, and lamented that he was facing “time inside.”

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Embattled al Jazeera faced more censure this week after drawing the wrath of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netenyahu has accused the Qatar-based television news network of inciting recent violence in the city of Jerusalem and Temple Mount. The Prime Minister said he had spoken to law-enforcement authorities demanding the closure of al-Jazeera’s offices and if the closure wasn’t forthcoming he would introduce corresponding legislation to expel al-Jazeera from the country: a move that would also align Israel with the group of Arab states cracking down on Qatar.

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

Regulatory uncertainty looms in Thailand. The 6-year term of the 11 incumbent NBTC commissioners will come to an end on October 6th, upon which they will lose most of their authority to regulate broadcasting and telecommunications in Thailand. Under a new NBTC law, the government must select a new set of commissioners to replace the outgoing ones – a process that would likely take months. What has Thai broadcasters worried is that the government has yet to initiate the selection process. Without a new set of commissioners in place, there would be no regulators able to make or enforce decisions about important regulatory issues come October 6th. This has led some broadcasters to come forward and urge Prime Minister Gen. Prayut to use his ruling powers to appoint a new board of commissioners, or at least to allow the current regulators to retain their decision-making authority until their replacements have been identified. In all cases, the clock continues to tick.

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer

Apart from the uncertainty over the regulators, there’s also a lot of uncertainty over the future of Thailand’s two dozen digital terrestrial TV operators. Competition is intense, and pundits are saying only 10 will survive. (Also buried in that article is an interesting gem:  According to Nielsen, Turner’s joint-venture Boomerang channel – carried on satellite, not DTT – is one of the top 10 digital channels in Thailand!)

Cathryn Chase Regulatory Assistant

In an effort to ramp up its anti-piracy initiative, Facebook recently purchased Source3, a startup focused on IP protection and management services. The acquisition has been viewed by many as part of Facebook’s effort to promote itself as a video sharing platform. For Facebook, this has typically been a hard sell to content producers — sites that deal with a lot of user-generated content, such as Facebook, are often prone to rampant copyright infringement. Without effective anti-piracy measures in place, content producers have less incentive to share their products on Facebook’s platform. So, how will Source3 help Facebook change this? Essentially, the startup has developed technology that can recognize branded IP in user-created content and online market places, which then allows content owners to either take action against infringers of their copyright, or simply monitor their online presence. This new technology will build on Facebook’s existing Rights Manager software, which it introduced last year. While Facebook’s problem with piracy is far from being resolved, this deal is certainly a step in the right direction.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

In a week where South Korea announced the successful deployment of its latest  broadcast & telecommunications satellite, plans have been revealed to launch a self-developed multifunctional satellite in 2021. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) will develop the rocket and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) will develop the satellite, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. The KAI’s CEO was quoted as saying “Our satellite technology has advanced to the level where we can stand shoulder to shoulder with major satellite-developing countries”.