Hong Kong, October 28, 2008 – The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) today announced new data for Asia’s pay-TV market, showing 71 million digital pay-TV households out of 300 million pay-TV subscriptions across Asia.
“The increase in digital pay-TV market penetration represents a tipping point for our industry in Asia,” said Marcel Fenez, Chairman of CASBAA.
“This is especially relevant with regards to the control of revenue leakage since digital pay-TV creates far greater transparency – what might be termed a ‘digital cushion’ — which can slow the growth of pay-TV piracy, while accurately tracking pay-TV subscriptions,” said Lee Beasley, Head of Media & Entertainment at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong.
CASBAA noted that the Asian pay-TV markets with the lowest level of revenue leakage (or piracy) are generally those with the highest percentages of digital deployment, according to the findings of the 2008 Pay-TV Piracy Survey, conducted by CASBAA in collaboration with the Creative Industries Division of Standard Chartered Bank.
“For instance, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand are almost 100% digital and have the lowest piracy levels,” added Beasley.
CASBAA also highlighted that digital infrastructure provides pay-TV operators and cable channels the greatest opportunity to deliver sophisticated high-value pay-TV packages to consumers, including HDTV and interactive offerings.
Just as importantly, according to CASBAA, the mega-markets of India and China are demonstrating an increased pick-up for digital pay-TV services. India now has 8.5 million digital pay-TV households, while China represents 34 million digital cable connections.
“India’s digital pay-TV market has been driven by the recent exceptional growth in the digital DTH market but, at last, with 1.7 million digital cable subscriptions, India is finally taking off,” said Fenez.
While China’s most recent growth was clearly driven by the Olympics, “the next trick will be to enable new premium content to enter the market to encourage increased ARPU and to stimulate additional demand,” said Fenez.
While the pay-TV market has grown to almost 300 million subscribers across the region, CASBAA also revealed that the net cost of pay-TV piracy in 2008 will top US$1.7 billion this year, up from US$1.5 billion in 2007. “Nevertheless, this is in line with market growth while digital deployment should slow piracy as net subscriptions continue to grow,” said Beasley.
In India, the grey market for cable TV services has grown proportionally to the rapid growth in the overall market, topping US$1.1 billion. This grey market in India largely consists of cable connections that are under reported by cable operators.
Meanwhile, in Thailand and the Philippines the outright commercial theft and unauthorized redistribution of cable programming remains a serious issue. Piracy in Thailand will result in net industry losses of US$184 million by year-end 2008, while the piracy figure for the Philippines will stand at US$94 million.
In emerging pay-TV markets such as Vietnam and Pakistan, industry growth remains strong. In Vietnam, the legitimate market has more than doubled this year. In Pakistan, which is now estimated by CASBAA to have up to eight million connections to pay-TV services, only a small minority of these is legitimate, and the net losses to industry have increased to US$126 million, the equivalent of 7.2 million subscriptions.
In some markets technological advances have impacted the level of revenue leakage. For instance, in urban Indonesia and the Philippines, ongoing conversions of analogue networks to digital have reduced individual household “line-tapping”.
Hong Kong’s increasing reliance on digital TV systems has also made it more difficult for pirates to tap into pay-TV networks with piracy now accounting for US$20 million, down from US$26 million last year.
Overall according to CASBAA, pay-TV piracy in Asia seems set to stabilize in a digital world even as the Asian market remains on track for growth.
###
About CASBAA – www.casbaa.com
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) is an industry-based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel TV via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents 135 member organisations in the pay-TV business, which in turn serve more than three billion people. Patron members include Al Jazeera International, Asia Broadcast Satellite, AsiaSat, ASTRO, Australia Network, Bloomberg Television, Chunghwa Telecom, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Disney-ABC International Television, Genesis Networks, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., HBO Asia, Intelsat, Tiger Gate Entertainment, Macquarie Group, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, Motorola, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, NDS, Nokia, now TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SES NEW SKIES, SingTel, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Tom Group, TrueVisions, Turner International Asia Pacific and VOOM HD Networks Asia. To view the full list of CASBAA members, please visit here.
Standard Chartered – Leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
The history of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong dates back to 1859. It is currently one of the SAR’s three note-issuing banks. Standard Chartered incorporated its Hong Kong business on 1 July 2004, and now operates as a licensed bank in Hong Kong under the name of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered PLC.
Standard Chartered PLC, listed on both London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, ranks among the top 25 companies in the FTSE-100 by market capitalisation.
The London-headquartered Group has operated for over 150 years in some of the world’s most dynamic markets, leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Standard Chartered aspires to be the best international bank in its markets through leading by example to be the right partner for its stakeholders. The group now employs 75,000 people, representing 115 nationalities, in more than 1,750 branches and outlets located in over 70 countries.
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited was named the “Employer of Choice” at the prestigious Hong Kong HR Awards 2008, and also named by The Gallup Organisation as a winner of the Gallup Great Workplace Award.
For more information, please visit: www.standardchartered.com
For enquiries, please contact:
CASBAA
Helen Shek / Carmen Mak
Tel: +852 2854 9943
Fax: +852 2854 9530
Email: pr@casbaa.com