15 August, 2014

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Aug 15th. 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 Chief Policy Officer	The regulatory body in Thailand (NBTC) is coming in for scrutiny – and criticism – after the elected government was replaced by the military a few months ago. It seems likely that the current government will implement some changes to the Act which governs the NBTC’s activities. Many issues are being debated, but the controversy has to be seen as part of the ongoing struggle for influence in Bangkok, with “civil society” organizations (“Academics, non-governmental organisations, consumer protection foundations,” etc) contesting the control of the NBTC by ex-military officers, and the military pushing back.
Anjan Mitra Executive Director, India	In India, the buzz this week was all about TRAI’s proposals to place new, tightened limits on media ownership. It is by no means clear how many of TRAI’s recommendations will be accepted by the government, but the subject is going to be hot for a while. CASBAA, by the way, offered TRAI comprehensive views on these issues last year, and for anybody with renewed interest in that subject, the submission can be found here. Unfortunately, TRAI did not go for the “light touch” we advocated. In any case, if you want to know the details, there’s a comprehensive summary published here.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Also in Thailand… financially troubled pay-TV operator CTH is implementing a revamped business model, after failing to generate enough revenue to cover the high costs of its contract with the English Premier League.
Sara Madera Director, Member Relations & Marketing	Forget Generations X and Y—the next age group is ready to take over. Meet Generation Z. Only 4-18 these kids are socially conscious, open minded, entrepreneurial, and already shaping the world (and themselves). They also value their privacy, preferring platforms like SnapChat and Secret to their parents’ Facebook. Meet the next media darlings, and the last of these letter characterized generations.
Michael Steel Regulatory Assistant	The City of London Police Intellectual Property Crimes Unit (PIPCU) is demonstrating a fantastic level of ingenuity in trying to obstruct functioning of the piracy machine. Now they’re working with the advertising industry to replace ads on pirate websites with information blocks saying “This Website Has Been Reported To The Police.” The pirates, of course, are indignant: how dare anybody get in the way of their money?
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Innocent! That’s what Silicon Valley-based “black box” TV supplier Jadoo-TV proclaims itself to be. A few weeks ago, we congratulated the Indian police on the raid that busted a Jadoo-TV upload site in Hyderabad, which was supplying 100+ Indian TV channels, and y’know what… we maintain our kudos for the cops! Jadoo claims its platform is “user generated content,” (where have we heard that before?) or maybe “supplied by external content partners.” (Except that at the time of the raid, the owner of Jadoo and the owner of the “external supplier” operating the Hyderabad site were… surprise, surprise… the same.) This has all the marks of a modern multinational piracy ring: boxes made in China, people in India hired to do the dirty work, viewers in No. America, Australia, Europe, and a “brain” in Silicon Valley with more lawyers than scruples.
Godfrey Chan Member Relations & Marketing Executive	Telstra’s sale of traditional telecom subsidiaries and now pumping an extra $US270m into Ooyala, means that a vertical expansion of the media broadcasting business is inevitable. With the popularity of streaming TV mobile, expect them to be competing with Google/YouTube in Australia soon.