03 July, 2015

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending July 3rd. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

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Christopher Slaughter CEO	A simpler, leaner, BBC — that’s the stated goal of a restructuring that will cut up to 1000 jobs, to realise some £50 million in savings annually. The BBC has lost about £150 million pounds in operating revenuesbecause households across the UK have stopped paying their licence fees. Previously, every UK household was required to pay £145.50 annually to subsidise the BBC’s live TV broadcasting; however, a loophole allows those watching online or via catch-up TV services to avoid the fee. Simple mathematics makes it clear that the job cuts alone won’t be enough to plug the hole, and with the Cameron government promising to decriminalise non-payment of licence fees setting off a serious political row, this story is far from over.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	Michael Wolff’s new book is called, “Television is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media in the Digital Age”. Wow. I guess the verdict is in. Case closed. Apparently, with the need for digital sites to continue to sell more and more advertising at lower CPM, soon all digital advertising will become almost free and video on the internet will cease to exist. #sarcasm Or maybe not, as outlined in Why He’s Wrong. Possibly a more appropriate book title would read something like, “The Big TV Companies Are Still Doing Just Fine”.
Anjan Mitra Executive Director, India	While a FCC decision on first Net Neutrality complaint could set precedent, India’s Department of Telecoms highlights the ambiguity within the government on the issue. In a report, while supporting net neutrality, DoT adds services such as Viber, Skype and WhatsApp should be regulated and brought under a licensing regime just like telcos. Rightfully such proposals have been criticised as pandering to telcos’ somewhat `twisted’ arguments. As the government awaits TRAI’s recommendations on the issue, Indian policy-makers are watching theirEU counterparts who have eliminated mobile phone roaming charges, but on net neutrality rules, disappointed the netizens (allowing zero-rated services and some prioritization).
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Yes, the digerati are clearly disappointed by the EU’s decision. It doesn’t go far enough in instilling “unequivocal” equality on the internet; it’s “a contradictory text that does not deliver net neutrality;” it’s “an abdication of responsibility.” Yadda yadda… Apart from the interwebbies, Euro-lefties hate the idea that network operators might actually seek to make money through providing services; they call that “handing over the future of the internet to telcos.” Well, that kind of debate is one Europe can afford, but (returning to India) I still worry, now that the DoT has given its views, that unless the telcos have a business model to make money off video, we’ll end up with a poorly financed, poor-quality, slow network that is…oh yes… equal to all.
Christopher Slaughter CEO	The social media video wars just started heating up again, with Facebook announcing it will split ad revenues with video creators. This is a big deal, since Facebook now is getting something like 4 billion video views per day. The move positions them squarely opposite YouTube, and follows another move to rectify the problem of “false positive” viewing numbers generated by its autostart plays. (Of course, that’s a problem Twitter has recently embraced, by putting autostart videos into users’ feeds.)
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	All the way over in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the pay-per-view sports industry is fighting the same battle CASBAA fought in Hong Kong 7 years ago: against publicans airing unauthorized video streams in their commercial premises. People interested in enforcement in Asia can only dream about having legal processes (and awarded judgements) that are as favorable as in Wisconsin!
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	AOL is taking over Microsoft’s display ad business on Xbox, Skype, and other products. AOL will now control some of the most prominent advertising space in the tech world and will make Bing their search engine of choice instead of Google.Only time will tell if we are seeing two iconic brands reinventing themselves or, as the journalist Robert Peston described the earlier Nokia/Microsoft deal, “ two drunks supporting each other at the end of a party”.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Everybody knows there is a lot of video porn being consumed, mostly on the internet, rather than pay-TV platforms. But here’s an interesting note from a corner of the industry we don’t talk much about. It seems that the mobile telecoms industry is raking in the cash from people watching porn clips on their smartphones. Another interesting note is that “adult SMS” services are poised for big growth in India. Who knew?
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	The war for eyeballs in the TV industry doesn’t stop with programming, but is extending into the devices used to access the vast array of content. Back in the day, to control our TV, we only had to deal with a “cable box”. Ok, REALLY back in the day, some of us only had a channel and volume dial. Nowadays the options are many: Apple TV, Google’s Chromecast and Android TV, Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, WD TV Media Player and Roku, to name the most popular. “There’s one thing Roku has that no one else does, and that’s neutrality. Every one of Roku’s rivals, including Apple, Amazon, and Google, has a vested interest in their own content.”
Kevin Jennings Programme Director	An interesting development in streaming video sees Netflix launching prepaid cards in the UK. Netflix already offers prepaid giftcards in North America and Australia and sees this as an easy way for newbies to try out the service beyond its free trial without making a huge commitment and sharing credit card and bank details.