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!
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John Medeiros |
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.
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Christopher Slaughter |
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.
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John Medeiros |
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……
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Kevin Jennings |
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.
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Mark Lay |
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.
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Cathryn Chase |
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.
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John Medeiros |
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.
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Cathryn Chase |
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.
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Jane Buckthought |
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.
- AT&T Mulling Sell-Off Of Major Assets Under Turner After Time Warner Merger
- Discovery DSport acquires PGA Championship’s long-term telecast rights
- HBO Hackers Leak Top Executive’s Emails
- How An £8 Billion TV Deal Has Changed The Premier League Competitively
- Kantar adds Facebook ratings
- Star India’s ent. prog costs & De-Mon impact 21st CF even as revenue beats expectations
- Tata Sky Blogbuster launched on Tata Sky’s 11th anniversary
- China Introduces New Regulations on Prime-Time TV Broadcast on Satellite Channels
- India: Four FDI media proposals await govt. nod
- India: Prasar may soon launch OTT, keep tabs on DD costs, exploit reach
- India: Trai starts consultation on data security, ownership and privacy
- NZ: ‘We are not going to sit and take it': Internet TV box seller defiant as Sky sues
- Singapore: Social Media Takes Center Stage in Toggle Original
- USA Critic’s Notebook: Revenge of the Broadcast Networks?