Legends Mark Triumphant Debut on Warner TV

HONG KONG (January 26, 2016) – Superhero fans around Asia tuned in en masse to catch the premiere of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on Warner TV last Friday, January 22. In Singapore, it ranked No. 1 in its timeslot, generating a 78% share among the 13 English Entertainment Channels for the Cable 20-44 demographic and led the nearest competitive channel by more than four times*.

In the Philippines, it was Warner TV’s No. 1 transmission for 2016 YTD in the key 20-44 demo**. Its encore airing on Saturday night primetime was the No. 1 transmission across English entertainment channels for the entire week of January 17-23, 2016 for both Cable 2+ and Cable 20-44***. It generated 1.18 TVRs for Cable 20-44, leading the nearest competitive channel by more than 2 times****.

Marianne Lee, Vice President of General Entertainment Content at Turner International Asia Pacific, said: “Warner TV has recently been really successful in attracting younger audiences, in particular amassing a sizeable fan base for our DC Comics-inspired shows. Viewers who already tune in for iZombie, ARROW, Gotham and The Flash are rubbing their hands with excitement at DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The show builds on the best of all of these – delivering a hugely impressive cast, a big-budget feel and a legendary storyline.

“This 16-part show is really the springboard for DC this year on both small and big screens. On Warner TV, in addition to all our returning series, there is also Supergirl flying in later this year. High-profile Warner Bros. theatrical releases from the DC universe in 2016/7 include Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, The Justice League Part One and Wonder Woman.”

The impressive start for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow mirrored the show’s performance on The CW in the U.S. just hours before the Asia debut. It premiered to 3.14 million total viewers and a 1.2 rating, resulting in the network’s most watched Thursday in more than three years, and achieved its best demo number in the timeslot for two years.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow features an all-star cast playing an ensemble of the most legendary (but also ragtag) characters in comic book history as they battle against a diabolical threat against the world. It brings in characters from sister-series The Flash and ARROW. New episodes air every Friday, the same day as the US, on Warner TV at 9pm.

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Data sources:
*Kantar Media Singapore. Ranking among rated English Entertainment Package Channels on StarHub TV for Cable 20-44, including Warner TV, AXN, Star World, Universal Channel, Fox Channel, Fox Crime, Animax, MTV Asia, HITS, Life Time, Syfy Universal, Comedy Central Asia and Diva Universal. Jan 22, 2016 Fri 21:00-21:49.
**Kantar Media Philippines, national. Ranked by average ratings – across all transmissions on Warner TV for 2016 YTD during Jan 1-24, 2016 among Cable 20-44.

***Ranked by average rating across all transmissions on AXN, Fox Channel, Star World, Warner TV, Diva Universal, Lifetime, Universal Channel and Sony Channel for Cable 2+ and Cable 20-44 during Jan 17-23, 2016.
****Ranking among AXN, Fox Channel, Star World, Warner TV, Diva Universal, Lifetime, Universal Channel and Sony Channel for Cable 20-44 during Jan 23, 2016 Sat 20:10-20:59.

For media enquiries, contact:
James Moore
Director of Communications
Turner International Asia Pacific Limited
+852 3128 3720
James.Moore@turner.com

About Warner TV
Warner TV offers viewers in Asia the chance to get into it, with an unprecedented mix of hit TV series and blockbuster movies. Its line-up boasts the world’s biggest franchises, first-run exclusives for the region and fan-favorites across a wide range of genres from action, comedy and drama. Warner TV is also home to feature films from the legendary studios of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Warner TV is a brand available across Asia Pacific, and is created and distributed by Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc., a Time Warner company. Visit WarnerTVAsia.com and Facebook.com/WarnerTVAsia for more information

About Turner Asia Pacific
Turner creates and distributes award-winning brands throughout Asia Pacific. In the region, Turner runs 64 channels in 13 languages in 38 countries, including CNN International, CNNj, CNN, HLN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, POGO, Toonami, World Heritage Channel, Warner TV, Oh!K, TCM Turner Classic Movies, truTV, WB, MondoTV, TABI Channel and HBO in South Asia. Turner also manages distribution for HBO Defined and HBO Hits in India. Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company.

BBC World News Announces Full Encryption across APAC

26 Jan,2016 – The BBC today announced the encryption of the SD feed of its award-winning 24 hour international news channel, BBC World News, across the APAC region.

The move aims to bring the SD feed in line with the HD offering and counter piracy by ensuring that consumers can now only view the channel through approved suppliers. The encryption has been through a two month testing phase and will be enforced across all 119 sites in the region by the end of January.

Colin Lawrence, BBC World News Director of Distribution, said, “We are constantly looking for ways to improve the service we offer our partners and affiliates across APAC and this is the latest in a long line of investments we’re making to further strengthen our international news offering in the region and ensure that our commercial relationships are fully protected. ”
In September, a new state-of-the-art digital newsroom and studio opened in Singapore and saw all of BBC World News’ Asia broadcasts switch to HD. The facilities, which are the main hub for BBC World News and bbc.com in Asia, bring the BBC’s news, business and digital teams together.

The BBC also appointed Karishma Vaswani as its new Asia Business Correspondent and launched bbc.jp – a Japanese-language version of its global website bbc.com.

Last month, BBC World News won an Asian TV Award for its investigative journalism piece on the illegal trade of stolen Chinese babies – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-31834743
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___________________________________________________________________________
For more information please contact Virginia Braynsmith on Virginia.Braynsmith@BBC.com or call 6507 4234.

Notes to Editors
BBC World News and BBC.com, the BBC’s commercially funded international 24-hour English news platforms, are owned and operated by BBC Global News Ltd. BBC World News television is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, and over 433 million households and 1.8 million hotel rooms. The channel’s content is also available on 178 cruise ships, 53 airlines and 23 mobile phone networks. BBC.com offers up-to-the- minute international news and in-depth analysis for PCs, tablets and mobile devices to more than 85 million unique browsers each month.

BBC Advertising sells advertising and sponsorship solutions on behalf of the BBC’s worldwide commercial portfolio across broadcast, online and mobile platforms globally.

Viacom appoints VP of strategy and business development

25 Jan, 2016 – Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has appointed Amit Arora (pictured) as vice president of strategy and business development, Asia, with immediate effect.

Arora will be based in Singapore and serve on the Asia leadership team, reporting to Mark Whitehead, executive vice president and managing director for Asia. He will also be working closely with the global strategy team in New York. In this newly created role, Arora will drive the cross-business growth strategy and business development opportunities in Asia to help shape the organisation’s decision-making.

Most recently, Arora was with BBC Worldwide in Singapore as head of business development and strategy, Asia. He joins VIMN Asia with 15 years of experience in the media, telecom, cable and technology industries including business development, analytics and strategic advisory roles in well-known media businesses such as ABC Television/The Walt Disney Company, Turner Broadcasting, and Time Warner Cable in the U.S.

22 January 2016

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

Brought to you by:

Christopher Slaughter CEO	Another week, another couple dozen stories about Netflix: between slamming NBC’s efforts to develop Netflix ratings during the Television Critics Association winter tour, and its well-received but lower-than-last-year Q4 earnings report, the company — as usual — has been getting a lot of ink. There’ve been more musings about its delayed entry into China, a "thought-piece" about how it is “the most feared force in Hollywood”, and a closer look at its content strategy and acquisition negotiations. Oh, and it’s also been called out for an inconsistent stand on net neutrality, and been scoffed at for thinking it can stop VPN users from accessing the US-based service.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Singapore announced this week a merger of its previously-separate regulatory bodies, MDA and IDA. The new regulator, to be called IMDA, will come into existence later this year, under the leadership of MDA’s current CEO, Gabriel Lim. Everybody seems to be favorable to the change; officials were quick to promise that a review and streamlining of the laws governing broadcasting and telecom will follow soon. I hope that’s true; in Hong Kong the bureaucratic merger took place four years ago, and we’re still waiting for promised legislative reforms.
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	Cross border content in Europe continues to be a big fight; in the latest development the European parliament voted another resolution pressing the European Commission to force content owners to offer their content across borders. MEPs say the geo-blocking of online access to goods and services on the basis of their IP address, postal address or the country of issue of credit cards is unjustified in the EU’s “single market” and it should stop. The parliament is angry that its previous resolutions along this line have not been fully implemented; as the European Commission has so far taken a more middle-of-the road approach, which we described in News Views a couple of weeks ago. So we can see if this week’s resolution has any more effect.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Meanwhile, another European body, the Competition Directorate, opened another front in the war against single-country content licensing, summoning content providers and Sky to hearings in Brussels to defend themselves against claims that EU antitrust law requires they license content for distribution across the entire Union. The major movie studios and Sky are resisting; commentators said that the entire basis of the content industry in Europe is at play, and they may well be right. “The fundamental problem with (the EU’s) initiative is that if you push it forward, it breaks down the whole licensing model, and therefore the whole value chain on which this industry has been built…”
Christopher Slaughter CEO	Hong Kong’s proposed new copyright law — which CASBAA has been working on for ten years now — is proceeding at a snail’s pace through the Legislative Council, as a result of all manner of ridiculous procedural jiggery-pokery. However, the legislators stalling the bill stuffed up their timing this week, allowing the pro-government bloc to pass the bill’s second reading (it needs to pass three votes to be ratified). But don’t expect to see it zoom ahead now; more tomfoolery is promised, which is producing a growing impatience to get it over with.
Anjan Mitra Executive Director, India	Seemingly (and that’s a very important word) the gloves are off. Indian telecoms and broadcast carriage regulator has castigated Facebook publicly for not only twisting facts, but also trying to take undue advantage of a consultation paper floated by the regulator on the issue of differential pricing and net neutrality. However, an interesting observation came from a critic who observed public now sees the Internet not just in market terms, but as a social phenomenon that requires public interest regulation. Now, in India regulation of any sort, in public interest or not, always has 50 shades of grey.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) is happening in Miami this week. A few interesting stories have come out about it. The show kicked off with a Lively Debate About Pros and Cons of Peak TV. Speaking about TV executives, one panelist said, "We seem to be the only part of the culture that bemoans an abundance of quality programming.” In the Rights, Deals and Negotiation segment: “With non-traditional television development, there’s a huge opportunity to use digital platforms as an incubator…” On the OTT panel: "You always hear people say, "digital wants to be TV and TV wants to be digital, but it is actually coming together."
Yegee Chun Regulatory Assistant	The rollout of “smart homes” in full swing, in a niche market of early adopters led by Google-owned Nest, Samsung’s SmartThings, and Apple’s HomeKit. For pay-TV operators, this could mean an opportunity to develop their own software to run connected objects and integrate a TV/broadband service, which this author believes would reduce churn. AT&T and Comcast have hopped on this bandwagon, though the latter experienced problems earlier this month when researchers found a simple way to hack its home security system.
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	Jack Myers, chairman of marketing intelligence firm MyersBizNet, thinks that this year we will see “the beginning of a long-term trend of marketers returning to legacy media,” including TV and radio. Meanwhile in China, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, categorised as Fast-track Asia, recorded the highest growth rate among all the regions, at 9%, in the global market between 2015 to 2016.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	What’s happening with pay-TV powerhouse ESPN these days? The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) had an in depth article with President, John Skipper. Fierce Cable did a good summary of it with Skipper saying, "We are still engaged in the most successful business model in the history of media, and see no reason to abandon it.” To hear Skipper’s views on Apple, Sling TV and sports rights, the Q&A page is open to view, which also includes a nice little get-to-know-you video of Skipper.
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	The Australian government has announced it intends to introduce changes to media ownership rules in the next six months. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, says media laws should reflect today’s world as current legislation is gradually being rendered redundant by new technology and the choices being offered to consumers. Australia’s media ownership laws have remained unchanged for over a decade. The laws prevented cross media ownership of newspapers, television and radio broadcasting licences that served the same region and limitation on foreign investment across those sectors. While the extent of the proposed change to the legislation is still under wraps, the government has said that broadcastsers must remain viable but there are two elements that need changing: the reach rule, which stops the big free-to-air networks from buying regional affiliates if it means they will then reach more than 75% of the population; and the two-thirds rule, which prevents proprietors from owning print, television and radio networks in one market.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	China’s censors are at it again – ordering popular programs off of internet broadcasting platforms. It seems the problem with one of the most viewed shows, “Go Princess Go,” is that it depicts time travel. Or maybe it’s a problem that the “princess” starts out the series as a “playboy,” and has a sex change operation. Either way, clearly a threat to the nation.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	In Korea, the proposed merger between SK Telecom and CJ Hellovision continues to roil the waters. Rival telcos KT and LG have been furiously lobbying against the deal, which is under review by regulators. Everybody seems to agree that the outcome is crucial for the future of South Korea’s communications operators.
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	An interesting report from the research company Parks Associates claims one third of U.K. broadband households had subscribed to an OTT video service as of Q3 2015. Parks Associates claimed that OTT video usage in the U.K. favors broadcasters with the most popular OTT video sources in the U.K. including BBC’s iPlayer, ITV Player, All4, and Demand5—all catch-up or on-demand offerings from broadcasters. New OTT video market entrants, especially those with paid services, will have to provide unique value in order to make substantial gains. That said, around 20% of UK broadband households have recently used a Netflix service, despite the free OTT catch-up options.
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	Pakistani authorities have lifted a three-year ban on Google-owned YouTube following the launch of the site’s local version. As well as Pakistan, YouTube has also launched homepages for its users in Nepal and Sri Lanka, with each homepage featuring a localized languages and domains. Unlike Nepal and Sri Lanka though, the new Pakistan version includes a backroom agreement which will allow the government to strictly monitor the site and can remove and block any material they deem offensive.

Some additional links you might be interested in:

Member News

Bloomberg & Business Broadcast News end licensing deal in India

22 Jan, 16 – After seven years of partnership, Bloomberg L.P. and Business Broadcast News have decided to end their media licensing agreement in India on 31 March, 2016.

Both parties have mutually ended the licensing agreement and will pursue their respective new business strategies.

While Business Broadcast News will continue to operate the TV channel with fresh branding effective 1 April, subject to regulatory approval, Bloomberg will announce a new media partner in due course of time.

Ericsson launches broadcast business intelligence toolkit

22 Jan, 2016 – Looking to offer TV and media firms a way to make big business from big data, Ericsson has unveiled a data analysis toolkit which it claims allows companies to aggregate, analyse and act upon large amounts of data.

The broadcast technology and services provider says that in the current multiscreen, on-demand broadcast world, content owners, broadcasters and TV service providers require an analytics solution capable of delivering accurate business intelligence. Indeed, it goes so far as to suggest that to remain relevant, media players need to not only ensure their delivery channels are performing optimally, but also understand what their users want, what they value most and what they don’t need or appreciate.

AsiaSat, Harmonic partner for 4K channel

21 Jan, 2016 – AsiaSat is set to launch its second free-to-air ultra high definition (UHD) channel on AsiaSat 4 in conjunction with video delivery infrastructure supplier Harmonic.
The channel, named 4K-SAT2/HVN, will launch across Asia on 1 March 2016, with 4K video content from Harmonic’s video library, as well as content from NASA TV’s new UHD channel. Operating in 2160p60 resolution with HEVC Main 10 profile, the channel will utilise an end-to-end UHD video processing system from Harmonic.

“With the cost of UHD TV sets dropping dramatically over the past year, demand for UHD content in Asia is expected to grow exponentially in the next couple of years,” said Sabrina Cubbon, vice president, marketing & global accounts, AsiaSat.

Tata Sky’s programming cost up 16% in FY15

Tata Sky, a joint venture between Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox, saw a 15.96 per cent jump in its content cost for the financial year ended 31 March 2015.

The direct-to-home (DTH) operator paid Rs 1,046.83 crore (Rs 10.47 billion) in programming fee to broadcasters, up from Rs 902.73 crore (Rs 9.03 billion) a year ago. Programming cost amounts to the money that a DTH operator pays to the broadcasters for offering their content on its platform.

Tata Sky content cost Incidentally, Dish TV shelled out Rs 800.8 crore (Rs 8.01 billion) as programming cost. Its contest cost grew just 2.87 per cent over FY14. Videocon d2h’s content cost rose 40.5 per cent to Rs 846.01 crore (Rs 8.46 billion) in FY15.

AsiaSat gets nod to provide video services in China

19 Jan, 2016 – The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) has given the go-ahead for AsiaSat 6 to distribute broadcasters’ video to cable headends in China.

19 Jan, 2016 – The first to take up the satellite operator’s service is Shanghai Interactive Television (SiTV), a subsidiary of Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media. The company has signed a contract with CITICSat, the exclusive marketing rights holder for AsiaSat 6 capacity in China, to broadcast ten high definition (HD) pay-TV channels.

“AsiaSat satellites have been serving this market with high quality satellite services since 1990. This new permit marks a major breakthrough for AsiaSat with our re-entry into the video services market in China. We are thrilled to work alongside CITICSat in offering broadcast clients in China a better choice for high quality satellite capacity to support advanced HD broadcasting,” said William Wade, president and CEO of AsiaSat.

Anchored By Top Performers ONE and AXN, Sony Pictures Television Networks Continues To See Growth Across Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE, January 21, 2015 — Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks, Asia continues to dominate the pay TV landscape in key Asian markets with AXN and ONE leading the pack in their respective genres.

Trendsetter and Korean powerhouse ONE is the top-rated international channel collectively in Singapore and Malaysia during primetime, ahead of movie, kids and other entertainment channels*. In Indonesia, ONE is among the top entertainment channels on pay TV giant Indovision, ranking number two among 120 total channels.**

ONE’s success is attributed to its powerful mix of hit programming and marketing, including Korean celebrity fan meet-ups across the region. In May 2015, the channel launched the hugely successful “Ppali Ppali” primetime belt which ensures Korea’s most popular series are delivered within 24 hours of the original broadcast. After the launch, “Ppali Ppali’s” ratings surged more than 30 percent as viewers responded with vigor to the express delivery.

AXN grew its market dominance in 2015 as the top-rated English general entertainment channel in Southeast Asia — collectively in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines — by more than doubling the primetime ratings of the next English GE channel*.

Buoyed by a diverse programming lineup with wide audience appeal, including the record-breaking “Asia’s Got Talent” and new FBI drama series “Quantico”, AXN’s ratings grew by 28 percent in the region. In September 2015, AXN refreshed its brand identity to include a dynamic new logo and on-air graphics, and a promise to redefine action as an attitude, not a genre.

Virginia Lim, vice president of content and marketing, SPT Networks, Asia, said, “The strength of our English and Asian entertainment portfolio is meeting a growing demand across the region for premium content from both genres. We’re taking this content beyond the linear screen, so it becomes part of viewers’ lifestyles via social conversations, large-scale events and other unforgettable experiences.”

Sony Channel, the stylish female-skewing companion channel to AXN, also gained momentum in 2015, improving its ratings by 277 percent*. The channel is home to some of Hollywood’s hottest series including the critically acclaimed “How to Get Away with Murder”, starring Viola Davis, and “Madam Secretary”, starring Tea Leoni. This month, Sony Channel kicked off its comedy nights, which features a different series each weeknight at 8:20pm, with titles like “Younger” and “Odd Mom Out”.

Japanese anime channel Animax grew its loyal fan base to 11.2 million in 2015 up from 10 million in 2014 in Southeast Asia***. Offering the biggest anime titles simulcast with Japan, Animax fans fell in love with the newly-launched, SPT Networks-created OO-Kun, a mischief-making blue raccoon that now features his own line of merchandise and short-form animation.

In October 2015, SPT Networks, Asia launched GEM, a joint venture channel with leading Japanese broadcaster, Nippon TV. Specializing in premium Japanese entertainment amongst others, the channel enjoys exclusive access to Nippon TV’s coveted content library of premium content. The channel is currently available in four markets and is set to expand its footprint in 2016.

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Christopher Slaughter

CEO

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Christopher Slaughter

CEO

Anjan Mitra

Executive Director, India

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

Yegee Chun

Regulatory Assistant

Jane Buckthought

Advertising Consultant

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Jane Buckthought

Advertising Consultant

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme