Eutelsat consolidates its presence in Middle East with the acquisition of NOORSAT

Eutelsat Corporate – Oct 13, 2017 10:28 CEST

Paris, 13 October 2017 – Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) has acquired NOORSAT, one of the leading satellite service providers in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group.

Established in 2004, NOORSAT is the premier distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving blue-chip customers and providing services for over 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat’s market-leading Middle East and North Africa neighbourhoods at 7/8° West and 25.5° East.

The acquisition of NOORSAT fits with Eutelsat’s broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighbourhoods where it can create value. It will allow Eutelsat to strengthen the long term commercial development of its market-leading video positions in the Arabic world and increase its direct access to end-customers, facilitating stimulation of High Definition TV take-up and the upselling of incremental video services.

Michel Azibert, Eutelsat Chief Commercial and Development Officer, said: “NOORSAT’s capabilities and market knowledge will further consolidate our longstanding position in the dynamic Middle East video market. By integrating NOORSAT’s service platform and teams we are underlining our commitment to serving customers in one of the key markets within in our global footprint.”

Eutelsat has acquired 100% of NOORSAT for a consideration of US$75 million, debt free and cash free. The acquisition will add upwards of US$15 million to Eutelsat’s consolidated revenues on an annualised basis after the elimination of the capacity leased by Eutelsat from NOORSAT. Its slightly dilutive impact on Eutelsat’s EBITDA margin will be absorbed within the current margin objectives.

About Eutelsat Communications

Founded in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the world’s leading satellite operators. With a global fleet of satellites and associated ground infrastructure, Eutelsat enables clients across Video, Data, Government, Fixed and Mobile Broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their location. Over 6,600 television channels operated by leading media groups are broadcast by Eutelsat to one billion viewers equipped for DTH reception or connected to terrestrial networks. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat assembles 1,000 men and women from 32 countries who are dedicated to delivering the highest quality of service.

Eutelsat Communications is listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ticker: ETL).

For more about Eutelsat go to www.eutelsat.com

Press
Vanessa O’Connor Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91 voconnor@eutelsat.com
Marie-Sophie Ecuer Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91 mecuer@eutelsat.com

Investors and analysts
Joanna Darlington Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30 jdarlington@eutelsat.com
Cédric Pugni Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30 cpugni@eutelsat.com

13 October, 2017

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending October 13th. 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:

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Among other issues, at this year’s CASBAA Convention, Nov.6-8th. We’ll be talking about the problem of malware embedded in piracy sites. In the last week, a new angle has gotten attention: it seems that piracy websites, including the notorious Pirate Bay, are embedding javascript programs called “miners” in their pages, which hijack the user’s computing power to make it part of a botnet mining for cryptocurrency. (The user isn’t told, and any currency that is actually “unearthed” is kept by the pirate site.) Cloudflare booted at least one pirate site off its network, stating that it regards miners as malware, plain and simple. Such criticism doesn’t erase the greed of the Pirate Bay boys, though; they’re still doing it. (C’mon Cloudfare – boot PB too!)

Clare Bloomfield

Director, Policy & Research

The growing focus of the industry on Infringing Website Lists (IWL) in Asia gained another entry this week from Malaysia who followed the earlier examples in Vietnam and Hong Kong. Indonesia is also getting ready to publish their version, a sign of the growing concern by the industry that governments aren’t doing enough to tackle the increasing issue.

Kevin Jennings

Vice President

….And talking of copyright infringement and all things bad, some of China’s broadcasters seem hell bent on blatantly plagiarising Korean programming and content. This is nothing new but it seemed the situation was getting better after crackdowns by authorities when the Seoul-Beijing relationship was good. But when it’s on bad terms (currently because of the THAAD anti-missile dispute), the problem relapses and regulators become helpless. This means that China’s content plagiarism is not a sheer matter of business, but a willful byproduct of political dynamics between the two countries. This week Korean officials cited 29 confirmed cases of plagiarism by Chinese broadcasters using data from the Korean Communications Commission.

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

OTT, Internet TV, Streaming Video, call it what you like…here are some of the interesting stories for the week. Janice Lee of PCCW had a sit-down with ScreenDaily to talk about their Asian content-focused streaming strategy. Turner’s David Levy Talks New OTT Platform, Consumption Habits, Access…“the greatest time to be in the media business, but it’s also the scariest time to be in the media business”. No arguments here. The latest edition of the Ericsson ConsumerLab and Media study has identified two major tipping points for TV viewing in three years’ time with linear and VOD viewing almost equal, and half of all viewing being done on a mobile screen. Warner Bros., Universal, Sony Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox have all signed on to Disney’s Movies Anywhere. It’s both a cloud-based digital locker and a one stop-shop app, connecting to iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, or Vudu accounts. Slick. And if you didn’t know it already, AI is changing how you watch TV. More OTT stories at CASBAA OTT Group NewsFeed.

Clare Bloomfield

Director, Policy & Research

The debate on how OTT vs Pay-TV should be regulated continues with much of the industry keen to get restrictions on Pay-TV lifted rather than OTT more heavily regulated. CASBAA is currently updating our regional comparison which will be published next year, so watch this space.

Kevin Jennings

Vice President

In Bangladesh the High Court is wading into the Pay-TV arena and has asked the government to explain why the courts should not take action to stop TV Commercials being shown for Bangladeshi viewers on foreign television channels. In the public interest litigation (PIL), court officials said that broadcasting advertisements for Bangladeshi viewers on foreign TV channels in the country is prohibited under the Cable TV Network Operation Act 2006. Officials also claimed that some unscrupulous local operators are airing commercials on foreign TV channels illegally which is hurting the domestic industry as well as denying the country of revenue. More to come on this as we wait for the government’s response.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

In the USA, TVB, CCTV and Dish TV won another case against an ISD reseller for the TVpad box. The guy (named Bhalla), in central Florida, lost a previous judgement in 2016 and tried to hide through bankruptcy. No way, said the court; you were willful and malicious and cannot use bankruptcy to hide. “Bhalla knew that the TVpads and the infringing apps would be used by customers to gain free access to CCTV and TVB’s channels and protected programs, the court said.” The dude now needs to pay US$4.4 million for copyright infringement! Unlike the TVPad masterminds in Shenzhen, this guy lives in the USA and may actually be forced to pay up.

Jane Buckthought

Advertising Consultant

Research from Childwise show a noticeable shift towards personal ownership of devices owned by young children. As ever-advanced devices come to market; when the time comes to upgrade, parents appear more willing to hand down older devices to their children, considering them a great way to keep small children entertained and provide a learning benefit. The findings also reflect the growing prevalence of on-demand services, with more than four out of five households now using services such as YouTube and Netflix to some extent. By age three to four, the majority of pre-schoolers are using video-on-demand services to access TV shows, with specialist YouTube channels for children now factoring in to the mix.

Cathryn Chase

Regulatory Assistant

Back in September, the Canadian Government approved a $400 million investment in Canadian content from Netflix. The announcement was met with criticism – many accused the American streaming giant for pursuing the deal as a result of valuable tax incentives, while others tied the transaction to the company’s recent hike in subscription fees. Netflix is now trying to set the record straight. According to the SVOD platform, no tax deals were part of the approval to launch their Canadian production unit. In fact, as a foreign company, Netflix is exempt from paying Canadian taxes. Compared to its Canadian competitors who face taxation and regulation, this gives Netflix a clear competitive advantage. But this issue is not unique to Canada — regulating OTT services, and bringing traditional broadcasting regulations up to date is something that countries around the world (including those in APAC) must grapple with as viewing habits continue to evolve.

Member News

Additional News

APT Satellite Executive Director and President Cheng Guangren Accepts APSCC ‘Satellite Executive of the Year’ Award

Tokyo, 10 Oct 2017 – Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC) announced today that it named Mr.Cheng Guangren as the ‘Satellite Executive of the Year’. APSCC is the largest and most influential organization in satellite industry in Asia Pacific. Its Award Committee is the leading international awards organization honoring outstanding organizations and individuals for their collaboration, guidance, support and contribution to the industry.

Since Mr.Cheng was appointed as the Executive Director and President of APT Satellite Company Limited (APT Satellite) in June 2008, his leadership has directly resulted in the outstanding performance of the company. During 2009-2017, APT Satellite totally purchased 9 satellites, including 6 new satellites namely APSTAR-7, APSTAR-7B, APSTAR-9, APSTAR-5C, APSTAR-6C and APSTAR-6D, and three in-orbit satellites namely APSTAR-2R, APSTAR-9A and one for orbital slot bring-into-use. Meanwhile, APT Satellite has continuously achieved brilliant financial performance, with revenue CAGR at 11.8% in 2009-2016. Especially for the year 2016, given the global satellite industry slowed down, APT Satellite still recorded positive result in revenue and EBITDA, while the leverage ratio keeps at low level of 25%.

About APSCC

APSCC (Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council) is a membership based non-profit international organization representing all sectors of satellite and space-industries including satellite service providers, manufacturers, launch service providers, risk management companies, broadcasters, and government organizations. APSCC membership is open to any organization involved in the satellite industry with interests in the Asia-Pacific. The overall objective of the APSCC is to promote communications and broadcasting via satellite as well as outer space activities in the region through conferences, forums, workshops as well as exhibitions. For more information: www.apscc.or.kr

About APT Satellite

Based in Hong Kong, APT SATELLITE COMPANY LIMITED (“APT Satellite”) is a satellite company operating a fleet of five satellites, namely APSTAR-5, APSTAR-6, APSTAR-7 and APSTAR-9. APSTAR-5C and APSTAR-6C are currently under construction, they will replace APSTAR-5 and APSTAR-6 respectively in 2018. The footprints of the fleet cover Asia, Middle East, Oceania, and most part of Europe and Africa, extending services to over 75% of the world’s population. Currently distributing 600+ TV channels around the world including HBO, Disney, Sony Pictures, NBCU, RTL-CBS, EBU, GMA, TVBI, TVn, Celestial Tiger etc, APT Satellite is also supplying transponder capacity to a variety of DTH platforms, as well as to media networks for video contributions across the world. For more information: www.apstar.com

Media Contact
APT Satellite Company Limited
Power PAN, Director of Marketing
Tel: +852 2600 2100
Email: panli@apstar.com
Olive LAI, Marketing Manager
Tel: +852 2600 2100
Email: olivelai@apstar.com

September 2017

CASBAA Convention 2017

The CASBAA Convention 2017, being held from 6-8 November 2017 at Studio City in Macau, highlights the latest innovations in the multichannel TV Industry from across the Asia region, and around the world. With a content, technology, finance and regulatory agenda, the CASBAA Convention 2017 provides the most balanced representation of the needs of all stakeholders, plus a networking forum in which develop new business opportunities. For more information, and to register as a delegate, visit www.casbaaconvention.com.

So what are you waiting for?

Tickets booked before 27 October (Fri) will enjoy the regular rate. (Late bookings are more expensive.)

The details

Members – Individual: US$1,700

Members – Group: US$1,530

Non-members – Individual: US$2,300

Non-members – Group: US$2,080

For Registration: Mandy@casbaa.com

For Sponsorship: Adela@casbaa.com

CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter with Golden Village CEO, Clara Cheo, who hosted the launch briefing.

Singapore Media Event to Launch the Sycamore Study on Online Piracy

On September 12th, CASBAA hosted a media event to launch the Sycamore study on online piracy in Singapore. The event was well-attended, with nearly 50 representatives from media companies based in Singapore and elsewhere in the region there to hear the results of the study. The audience also included journalists from half a dozen local media outlets.

The main presentation was given by the study’s main author, Anna Meadows, from Sycamore Research. Meadows delivered an engaging 30-minute presentation on the online piracy ecosystem in Singapore, with interesting insights into the motivating causes behind piracy behaviour. Some of the most striking findings included that at least 39% of Singaporeans actively pirate video content, and 14% admit to using an Illicit Streaming Device (ISD). The main reasons driving people to pirate were summarised in three key points: it’s easy, it’s socially acceptable, and the risks are misjudged. The presentation was followed by an open Q&A session in which Meadows and Chief Policy Officer John Medeiros (CASBAA) answered questions about online piracy in the region.

Tickets booked before 27 October (Fri) will enjoy the regular rate. (Late bookings are more expensive.)

The event generated very substantial press coverage on online piracy in Singapore. For links to the press articles and more information on the study, please visit the CASBAA website: http://www.casbaa.com/resources/casbaa-publications/singapore-piracy/

Update on the Vietnam Content Alliance

On 14th September, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) published a list of 83 Vietnam-hosted or -operated piracy websites. The MIC did not state what action would be taken against those sites, but they could undertake various enforcement / regulatory measures including imposing administrative sanctions, taking the websites down, or terminating the host account and domain names.

MIC’s published list of egregious piracy websites was no doubt influenced by the recent efforts of the Vietnam Content Alliance (VCA), a coalition made up of Vietnamese and international content producers and distributors including CASBAA, VTV, BHD, K+, 21st Century Fox, Motion Picture Association, and the Korean Copyright Commission. In the last nine months the VCA, amongst other initiatives, has:

Hosted a government / industry workshop entitled “Promoting Online Safety and Protecting Brand Integrity” during Telefilm 2017, which involved numerous local and international speakers and included the launch of a Veri-Site / VCA study of the top 50 piracy websites in Vietnam. The workshop and the Veri-Site study received substantial media coverage.
Engaged with MIC and local / international ad networks to adopt the VCA’s Infringing Website List (IWL) and prevent advertising dollars from funding these egregious piracy sites.
Presented anti-piracy initiatives at a Thanh Hoa workshop chaired by Vice Minister Hoang Vinh Bao and Mr Nguyen Thanh Lam (MIC/ABEI’s Director General), which included over 200 participants.

Latest Data for CASBAA OTT Group and Research Committee

Both the CASBAA OTT Group and the Research Committee had presentations from Media Partners Asia, covering the results of their Asia Pacific Video Consumer Study. At the OTT Group meeting, Aravind Venugopal, MPA Vice President, offered a closer look at the growth drivers for premium online video. The study covers a sample size of more than 15,000 internet users across Australia, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. For a copy of the presentation please visit the OTT Group Resource Page (member login required).

The CASBAA Research Committee met with Vivek Couto and Anurag Gaur, who kindly presented the MPA Consumer Study,as well as with Sam Lee Yi from Smarthub Analytics (Starhub) also shared his learnings with the group, flowing from their huge viewer database which understands viewers consumer preferences, behaviour and location.

New Members

This month we welcome:

TV18

TV18 Broadcast Ltd is one of India’s popular television broadcasting networks. It is one of India’s leading news networks comprising channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-News18, News18 India and IBN Lokmat along with 10 regional news channels under the brand ETV.

Upcoming Events

10-12 Oct – APSCC 2017 Satellite Conference & Exhibition
12 Oct – TAG Meeting (Hong Kong/Singapore)

17 Oct – OTT Committee Meeting (Hong Kong/Singapore)

17 Oct – Satellite Committee Meeting (Hong Kong/Singapore)

27 Oct – Research Committee Meeting (Hong Kong/Singapore)

6-8 Nov – CASBAA Convention (Macau)

17 Nov – Regulatory and Antipiracy Committee Meeting (Hong Kong)

30 Nov-1 Dec – Asian Television Awards (Singapore)

Switch on with CASBAA and our Members’ video:

www.youtube.com/user/CASBAA

For PR enquiries, contact pr@casbaa.com

For membership enquiries, contact membership@casbaa.com

CASBAA is the association for the multi-channel audio-visual content creation and distribution industry across Asia. The CASBAA mission is to promote industry growth in the region. In so doing, it seeks to:

Represent: via government advocacy and interaction with trade organisations

Inform: via conferences, roundtables, newsletters & publications

Connect: via networking
opportunities and informal gatherings.

To view the full list of CASBAA members, please visit here

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For PR enquiries, contact pr@casbaa.com For membership enquiries, contact membership@casbaa.com CASBAA is the Association for digital multichannel television, content, platforms, advertising and video delivery across Asia. The CASBAA mission is to promote the growth of pay-TV and video content through industry information, networking exchanges and events while promoting global best practices. To view the full list of CASBAA members, please visit here. You have received this email from CASBAA as you are currently part of the Association’s database. If you do not wish the Association to use your personal data for direct marketing, you may make a request below.

ZEEL to expand its television music portfolio by acquiring 100% shareholding of 9X Media Private Limited and its subsidiaries

Mumbai, October 6, 2017: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (“ZEEL”) (BSE: 505537, NSE: ZEEL.EQ) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 9X Media Pvt Ltd and its subsidiaries from New Silk Route and other shareholders for an all cash consideration of Rs. 1,600 million.

9X Media, along with its subsidiaries, operates a bouquet of six music channels – 9XM (Latest Bollywood), 9X Jalwa (Evergreen Hindi), 9X Jhakaas (Marathi), 9X Tashan (Punjabi), 9XO (English), 9X Bajao (Hindi Classics). On completion of the acquisition, these channels will be added to ZEEL’s current portfolio of 33 channels. The acquisition is in line with the Company’s strategy to cater to diverse audience by offering targeted products. Besides significantly expanding its Hindi music portfolio, it gives ZEEL access to the regional music genre. It also increases its regional footprint with foray into the Punjabi market. 9X Media’s bouquet of channels have established a strong viewership on the back of the unique brand identity created over the years. In addition to strengthening ZEEL’s television bouquet, these channels will complement the music label and movie production businesses. 9X Media’s popular Bollywood news portal, SpotboyE, will also be a part of the transaction. The Company is confident of utilizing network synergies to bring down the costs and significantly improve the profitability of these channels.

Mr. Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEEL said, “Continuing with our strategy of expanding into regional markets and niche genres, we are pleased to announce this acquisition which strengthens our music portfolio. Music is an integral component of consumer’s entertainment pie and we will offer our consumers a wider array of choices through these channels. 9X channels enjoy leading market shares in their respective segments and will benefit immensely from our network’s strength to achieve higher growth potential and cost synergies. I am confident that these channels will make our entertainment bouquet even more compelling for the audience.”

6 October, 2017

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending October 6th. 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:

Kevin Jennings

Vice President

Rupert Murdoch has stepped up his attack on tech companies such as Google and Facebook over their increasingly dominant market position, which is eating into the revenues of traditional publishers such as News Corp. and undermining their business model. In a message to shareholders published in News Corp’s annual report released on Wednesday, the media tycoon vowed to continue to contest the “abuse of the marketplace” by some big tech companies “wherever possible”. Without naming the companies, Murdoch said the tech giants were “using their dominance to the detriment of many”. Meanwhile, apparently in an effort to defend itself against such allegations, Google announced that it would end a controversial policy that required publishers to make available for free three articles daily, or see themselves demoted to Farbackistan on Google’s search pages.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about Kodi boxes this week. (European and North American discussion of ISDs is dominated by references to Kodi, as use of that software is much bigger in those regions than here in Asia) You may recall that the Kodi “add-on” domain TVAddons is under legal pressure in Canada and the USA. For their part, the actual developers of the Kodi software (and owners of that trademark) say they wish TVAddons would shut down because “it brings misery to everyone”. (Especially those trying to do a legitimate business, which includes Kodi) Of course, the online piracy community didn’t like that. The legal actions against TVAddons have begun to attract denunciations from Big Internet’s mouthpieces, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who say notice-and-takedown should be sufficient to deal with piracy. (And….didn’t ya know? The TV industry is waging “war on general-purpose computing”. Gag.) Interestingly, the Silicon Valley commentators pretend that the majority of the plug-ins on TVAddons were “completely legit”. Ha! We’ll see what the courts have to say about that.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Brian Thompson, one of the ISD sellers who became a poster-child defendant after pleading not guilty to copyright violations in January, decided to throw in the towel and to guilty to selling loaded ISDs and to advertising them as ways to get around cable/satellite charges. And in the US, reps for the video industry have been warning the government about the threat posed by illicit streaming devices, MPAA made a comprehensive submission to the US Trade Representative, and the International Intellectual Property Association went further and pointed the finger at China, as “the main source of this problem spreading across Asia” which “should take immediate actions against key distribution points for devices that are being used illegally”.

Clare Bloomfield

Director, Policy & Research

In Thailand the NBTC continues its work whilst also undergoing the selection process for new commissioners, as the term for the current ones expires on 6 Oct. The current focus of the NBTC, which will be taken forward by the new commissioners, is on the auction of the 1800- and 850-megahertz spectrum licences which expire on 30 Sept 2018. As yet, however, there is no word on when the new NBTC will be in place. For now, the existing Commissioners continue in office, except for Chairman Thares Punsri, who has turned 70 and has to retire.

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

Way too many great stories in the OTT realm this week. Take a look at what Disney is doing with its new DisneyNow app that combines live TV, on demand, games and music. A fantastic story about FloSports…I see a buyout here. Hollywood Reporter has an in-depth piece on Youtube and how it plans to take on Netflix and Hulu. The always vocal Chief of FX, John Landgraf, responds to Wall Street’s “irrational exuberance” over platforms like Netflix and Apple with a prediction that the future of content will reward artists, not algorithms. Pundits posit about How Netflix, Amazon Could Really Disrupt Legacy Networks: Buy Sports Rights. And, closer to home, the ever likeable Cam Walker will be leaving iflix in mid-October. These stories and tons more at the CASBAA OTT Group NewsFeed.

Cathryn Chase

Regulatory Assistant

In the US, a study commissioned by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has found that anti-piracy measures taken by members of the digital advertising industry have reduced ad revenue for pirate sites between 48% – 61% over the past year. The study, conducted by Ernst and Young’s Media and Entertainment Advisory, estimated that digital ad revenue linked to infringing content was about US$111 million last year, but that without industry efforts pirate site operators could have potentially earned $102-107 million more in revenue. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong an alliance of the creative industry announced launch of an Infringing Website List designed to hit piracy revenues in the SAR.

Clare Bloomfield

Director, Policy & Research

In India, a recently published report by KPMG indicates the strength of the OTT market which will challenge the approaches of both content providers and enablers in order to embrace the potential. This will involve looking at revenue models to capture the shift to mainstream consumption as well as a need for the industry to develop better measurement of the digital business.

Jane Buckthought

Advertising Consultant

India is not the only one to see an increased consumer embracing of the digital world, a recent report found that online TV episode and movie revenues for 138 countries will reach $83 billion in 2022 and whilst the US remains the clear front-runner, its market share will decline as China’s rises by 2022.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

After Fake News, now in the government relations arena we have Fake Comments. Following reports a couple months ago that more than a million of the pro-net neutrality comments to the FCC were likely fakes (from addresses in France, Russia and Germany linked to the email domains Pornhub. com and Hurra. de), now there’s a study that 80% of recent comments were generated by bots, and they were anti-NN. Maybe the idea of internet-based comments needs to be discarded, with a return to pen and ink. That will certainly reduce the numbers to more manageable levels. (Full disclosure: I’m also in favour of paper ballots (only) in elections, as they can be secured and re-counted)

Cathryn Chase

Regulatory Assistant

Issues related to tilted playing fields keep arising around the world. In India, regulators complained that OTT operators were not following anti-smoking rules, according to which licensed broadcasters and cinema operators are required to insert anti-tobacco spots into programs that show smoking. In Thailand, regulators said they wanted to know more about a telco’s joint venture with Japanese social media platform Line, which sees Line-branded voice and data service exempt from data caps over the telco’s network. (But Line has no licence) And in Canada, Netflix announced it would make a big investment in Canadian content. (Ostensibly, that has no regulatory motivation, but you can be sure that one of the move’s main purposes was to head off regulations that would subject it to the same type of local content requirements levied on other operators in Canada)

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

And finally, it seems Kim Dotcom is not happy this week. The US Supreme Court declined to review the government’s seizure of his assets. That makes three levels of the US courts that have ruled against him. No wonder he’s fighting extradition as hard as he can…..

Member News

Additional News

Small Screen’s Big Delight: Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival 2017 brings hidden gems of Cinema Closer to TV Viewers

Judicious mix of critically acclaimed, award winning masterpieces as well as fresh, never seen before content
Brings India’s finest Film Festival experience exclusively to TV

Mumbai, 4 October 2017: Here’s some pleasant news to kick start the festive season from Tata Sky, India’s leading content distribution platform known for launching interactive services specially customized for the Indian market. It’s time for The Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival that has it all – screening films from both the remotest corners of India and countries across the globe, award winning, critically acclaimed masterpieces, spread over two months, that you can watch from the cosy environs of your home. These films are exclusively available on Tata Sky and curated in association with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star.

Panel Discussion on Hidden Gems of Indian Cinema

After a successful 2016 Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival Service, wherein 20+ films were made available to Tata Sky’s subscribers at no additional charge – the company today announced a bigger and better Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival 2017 catering to film connoisseurs. In doing so, Tata Sky will bring India’s finest cinema that may not have otherwise reached audiences across the country exclusively for its subscribers.

Arun Unni, Chief Content Officer at Tata Sky said at the launch, “The response to Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival last year indicated that there is a sizeable audience for high quality and critically acclaimed cinema, encouraging us to further explore and bring forward these hidden gems of cinema. Tata Sky sees itself as a content and audience discovery platform where our objective is to expose a wider audience each year to high-quality films. Our scale allows us to support great art and good talent an all India platform, especially to regions outside the major cultural centres, where access to film festivals is difficult otherwise.”

From Left to Right Onir Tannishtha Chatterjee Arun Unni Anupama Chopra and Guneet Monga

He continued, “In our view, this service goes beyond being just a place for viewers to find great cinema. It also acts as an additional platform of exhibition for the film business.”

Key features of Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival 2017 are as follows:

Exclusive & curated Film in association with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star for TV: close to 30 films will run for a duration of 2 months
Mix of critically acclaimed, award winning masterpieces as well as fresh, never seen before content
Languages: Hindi, English, Punjabi, Marathi, Assamese, Manipuri, International (with subtitles)
Period: 2 months (1st October to 30th November)
Available on: Channel number: #302 in HD & #303 in SD (simulcast)

Anupama Chopra, Director, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star said: “We really value our partnership with Tata Sky. Cinema is India’s grand passion. There are so many wonderful filmmakers creating compelling stories. This unique platform enables these stories to reach new and varied audiences. The Mumbai Film Festival on Tata Sky serves both story tellers and movie lovers. Let the celebration of cinema begin!”

Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival – Promo Films:

Anupama Chopra – https://youtu.be/DwZJXOzpEhQ
Smriti Kiran – https://youtu.be/rir5yUpFqDw
Kiran Rao – https://youtu.be/h4nHPmO_U4A

Choicest of films:

HE NAMED ME MALALA, USA 2015 – English

HARAAMKHOR, India

2016 – Hindi

TRAPPED, India

2016 – Hindi

ALIGARH, India

2015 – Hindi

KAAGAZ KI KASHTI, India

2016 – Hindi

BIOSCOPE, India

2016 – Hindi

LA CAGE, France

2016 – French

KHOYA, India

2015 – Hindi

VENTILATOR, India

2016 – Marathi

BLUE BICYCLE, Turkey

2016 – Turkish

FANDRY, India

2012 – Marathi

HUM CHITRA BANATE HAIN India, 2016 – Hindi

CITIES OF SLEEP, India

2015 – Hindi

KOTHANODI, India

2015 -Assamese

FAITH CONNECTIONS, India 2013 – English, Hindi

I, DANIEL BLAKE, UK, France,

Belgium

2016 – English

REMEMBERING KURDI, India

2016 – Marathi

GANGOOBAI, India

2012 – Marathi

QISSA, India

2013 – Punjabi

NATRANG, India

2012 – Marathi

CHAURANGA, India

2014 – Hindi

KAPHAL, India

2013 – Hindi

PLACEBO, India

2014 – English

ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES

India, 2015 – English, Hindi

AMMA AND APPA, Germany

2014 – English

MOR MANN KE BHARAM

India, 2015 – Hindi

KATIYABAAZ, India

2013 – Hindi

About Tata Sky

Tata Sky Limited (‘Tata Sky’) is a joint venture between the Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox. Incorporated in 2001 and launched services in 2006, Tata Sky is India’s leading content distribution platform providing Pay TV and OTT services. With the objective of connecting to the best content in the world on any budget, any screen, anytime and anywhere, Tata Sky was the first to launch multiple products and services that redefined the subscribers viewing experience in the country.

Tata Sky has been a pioneer in the HD Set top box segment having significant market share in the category. It has been continuously adding new channels and platform services across various genres and languages to beef up its content offering to cater to all segments of the audience. Tata Sky currently has its footprints spread across 1.5 lakh towns with over 17 million connections in India. For more information on Tata Sky, visit www.tatasky.com

For Further information contact:

Tata Sky:
Nida Paloba – 09821017561
Nida.paloba@tatasky.com

Aditya Ravi – 09821299550
Aditya.ravi@tatasky.com

Adfactors PR:
Arun Thankappan – 09930860706
arun.thankappan@adfactorspr.com

Gaurav Bhat – 09833057592
gaurav.bhat@adfactorspr.com

STAR INDIA, TED & SHAH RUKH KHAN COME TOGETHER TO INTRODUCE ‘IDEAS WORTH SPREADING’ WITH ‘TED TALKS INDIA NAYI SOCH’

Mumbai, October 5, 2017: Challenging the grammar of conventional entertainment and inspiring Nayi Soch, Star India brings in yet another disruption with ‘TED Talks India Nayi Soch’ on Star Plus hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. In a global first collaboration that will make the transformative power of ideas easily accessible to audiences across India, Star Plus unites with TED – the global platform known for spotlighting and spreading powerful ideas that transform how audiences see their world. Mr. Uday Shankar, Chairman and CEO, Star India, Mr. Shah Rukh Khan and Mr. Chris Anderson, Head of TED addressed the press in Mumbai today and shared their thoughts regarding the show.

‘TED Talks India Nayi Soch’, is TED’s first collaboration with a major network to produce a television series featuring original TED Talks in a language other than English. The show will bring some of the best innovators and thinkers of Indian origin to the center stage, hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. The show captures an eclectic mix of speakers, thinkers and doers, who have questioned norms and brought forth cutting edge ideas that have the potential to inspire billions. All these ideas which originate from personal belief and self-motivation bear testimony to the ingenuity of Indians. Scientists, Authors, Thinkers, Entrepreneurs and Artists, this show provides a global platform to these speakers from all walks of life, taking their ideas to every home in India with the unparalleled reach of the Star Plus platform. It can also be viewed on Hotstar, Star’s online video streaming platform.

Mr. Uday Shankar, Chairman and CEO, Star India said, “At Star we have always believed that conventional definitions of content exist only to be challenged. I have been a big fan of TED and felt that there is no reason why these ideas should not be made accessible to all Indians in a language of their choice. Television should offer a spectrum of content which includes not just the traditional definition of entertainment but also content that feeds the human passion for knowledge, which stokes curiosity and inspires people. The timing is perfect -. India is a young country with big dreams and potential. It is a time when the world is looking to India for the next big idea. I am excited by the Star TED partnership as it opens up a world of ideas and truly inspires “Nayi Soch”. Joining us in our endeavour is Shah Rukh Khan whose charisma and enthusiasm will be pivotal in connecting with our viewers.”

Host Shah Rukh Khan adds, “It is a huge honour to host this show. When two giants like Star India and TED come together we’re sure to fire up a billion imaginations. Bringing the power of ideas to people’s living rooms across India and reaching out to especially the youth of our country, is something that’s really exciting. I want our youth to be inspired to think of new ideas. Simple and unique ideas that pack a punch. Ideas that can change lives.”

Mr. Chris Anderson, Head of TED, said, “TED Talks India Nayi Soch marks an unprecedented step in TED’s ongoing effort to bring big ideas to curious minds around the world. Combine India’s impressive thinkers and its growing appetite for knowledge with Shah Rukh Khan’s global fan following and Star’s massive reach, and we have a real shot at offering millions of people the empowerment that inspiring speakers can bring. We’re delighted at this partnership. The Star team and Shah Rukh Khan have created riveting television that takes the TED platform to a platform to a whole new place.”

Star India has always believed in disruptively powering social change through the power of its content to influence and impact people’s lives and thought. Continuing with this journey ‘TED Talks India Nayi Soch’, will take forward Star’s commitment of creating social impact with Nayi Soch in India. Inspiring a billion imaginations is much more than a tag line, it’s a promise Star India delivers every day in ways that break away from the conventional, spark national debate and help shape the new India. Fremantle India is the production house for the show.

Stay tuned as Star Plus introduces yet another ‘Nayi Soch’.

About Star India:

Star India has defined the Indian media landscape since 1991 and today is one of the country’s leading media conglomerates, reaching approximately 700+ million viewers a month across India and more than 100 other countries. Star generates 30,000+ hours of content every year and broadcasts 60+ channels in 8 different languages, reaching 9 out of 10 C&S TV homes in India.

The network’s entertainment channel portfolio includes Star Gold, Channel V, Star World, Star World Premiere HD, Star Movies, Star Movies Select HD, Star Utsav, Star Utsav Movies, Star Bharat, Movies OK and Star Plus, India’s No. 1 Hindi General Entertainment Channel. It has a leading presence in regional broadcasting as well, through a bouquet of channels which include Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Star Pravah, Maa channels and affiliate channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Asianet Movies, Suvarna, Suvarna Plus and Vijay. It is also present in the Indian movie production and distribution space through Fox Star Studios, an affiliate joint venture company.

Star India is making quantum leaps in transforming sports in the country by leveraging the group’s strengths in superior content and audience engagement. Star’s sports business has grown rapidly to 12 channel properties (Star Sports 1, 2, Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports Select 2, Star Sports Hindi 1; Star Sports HD1, HD2, Star Sports Select 1 HD, Star Sports Select 2 HD, Star Sports Hindi 1 HD; India’s first Tamil Sports channel Star Sports Tam
il 1 and India’s first private FTA sports channel Star Sports First), making it the leading sports network in the country.

Star is set to drive the agenda on digital content consumption in the country with Hotstar, Star’s revolutionary digital platform that brings your favourite TV shows, movies and sports in one destination.
Star India is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox.
Follow us on http://www.startv.com/

29 September, 2017

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!

Brought to you by:

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.

Member News

Additional News

TNT SERIE ORIGINAL 4 BLOCKS COMING SOON ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO WORLDWIDE

Shooting for Season 2 scheduled for early in 2018, broadcast in 2018
Produced by TNT Serie and Wiedemann & Berg Television

HONG KONG: 26 September, 2017 – From Berlin-Neukölln out into the world! More than 1.5 million viewers watched the Hamady clan’s battle for control of their 4 Blocks in the award-winning TNT Serie Original.

Now the Berlin gangster drama will be available worldwide. From 4 October, Amazon Prime Video will offer the TNT Serie Original in more than 150 countries, including Asia Pacific.

Hannes Heyelmann, Turner’s Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Central & Eastern Europe and International Original Programming Strategy: “With 4 Blocks, we took the risk of financing a series almost entirely on our own, and also handling distribution sales for the first time. We believe we have found ideal partners with Amazon Prime Video and ZDFneo to make the series available globally via on-demand as well as on German free-to-air TV. These sales prove that our strategy of telling stories that are clearly locally rooted also work in international sales, and they enable us to invest even more in our productions going forward.”

Both deals were brokered by Lisette Schlippe, Director Content Licensing for Turner in Central & Eastern Europe and Canada.

4 Blocks was produced by TNT Serie and Wiedemann & Berg. The six-part series premiered at Berlinale in February and has since been screened at numerous festivals worldwide. Kida Khodr Ramadan won the Best Actor award at the Séries Mania Festival in Paris for his performance in the series. A second season is already in the pipeline, with shooting planned for this winter, and broadcast later in 2018.

-ENDS-

Contact
James Moore, Director of Communications, Turner Asia Pacific
+852 3128-3720

About Turner International

Turner International operates versions of core Turner brands, including CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and TCM Turner Classic Movies, as well as country- and region-specific networks and businesses in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. It manages the business of Pay- and Free-TV-channels, as well as Internet-based services, and oversees commercial partnerships with various third-party media ventures; it teams with Warner Bros. and HBO to leverage Time Warner’s global reach. Turner operates more than 180 channels showcasing 43 brands in 34 languages in over 200 countries. Turner International is a Time Warner company.

Season 1 of 4 Blocks

The first season of 4 Blocks was broadcast on TNT Serie on Mondays at 9pm and started on 8 May. In six episodes, it tells a story of betrayal and guilt, friendship and family in an Arab family in the Neukölln district of Berlin. It centres around Ali ‘Toni’ Hamady (Kida Khodr Ramadan) who, together with his wife Kalila (Maryam Zaree), wants to leave his ‘four blocks’ and put criminal activities behind him. But after his brother-in-law Latif (Massiv) is arrested in a raid, Toni owes it to his family to take over operational leadership of the clan again. Besides, Toni doesn’t want to hand control to his unpredictable brother Abbas (Veysel Gelin), who already sees himself as the new head of the family. When an old friend, Vince (Frederick Lau), suddenly returns to Berlin, Toni believes he has someone he can trust at his side, and the hope of a lawful future seems to be within reach once more. But it’s far too late for an escape from the downward spiral of crime and intrigue.

4 Blocks was developed by TNT Serie and Wiedemann & Berg, writers Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad, and Richard Kropf, as well as director and writer Marvin Kren (Mordkommission Berlin 1, Rammbock). Moritz Schultheiss was the cinematographer, Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann, Eva Stadler, and Karsten Rühle the executive producers, as well as – on the broadcaster’s side – Anke Greifeneder and Hannes Heyelmann.

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