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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| The Premier League won a potentially very important injunction from a UK court, allowing it to work with ISPs to block in real time pirate streams of live football matches. The injunction is limited in time to the remainder of this season, so watching how this works out will be a very interesting test case. The “free internet” crowd seems outraged because the ISPs didn’t fight the EPL’s request for an injunction…..well, duh! Responsible ISPs have a definite interest in not undermining a healthy content ecosystem.
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Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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| SXSW has been taking place in Austin Texas this week. Out of the hundreds of sessions there are a few interesting stories that cover our business. The New Rules of TV Marketing in Binge-Watching World is somewhat reassuring, “We’ve never seen a new entertainment platform completely wipe out another one.” You can also explore Why Pay-TV Bundles Will Just Take a New Form as Cord-Cutting Grows. “There could be bundles of so-called over-the-top networks that serve specific audiences…at some point, I don’t think people are going to buy all of these individual OTT services.” And to round it off, HBO brought its best shows to life at SXSW with an awesome escape room.
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| On the back of Twitter streaming several live sporting events it is rumored that the company will shortly announce plans to allow media firms to post live streaming videos directly into the social media service, the latest step in its path to becoming a hub for live video. It’s thought Twitter will open up its live-streaming API, allowing media firms to plug directly into their software. Currently, broadcasters that want to stream live on Twitter have to arrange deals with the company or else use its Periscope app. It’s also thought Twitter will announce partnerships with firms that provide back-end services for live-video streaming.
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| Thai regulators are finally trying to ease the burdens on small pay-TV operators caused by their “must-carry” rules, which came into force two years ago to benefit their pet DTT licensees. It’s a good example of why governments should take care and think FIRST before sticking the industry with new burdens – the damage lasts and lasts and lasts.
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| It’s taken more than two years but this week saw the launch of Cambodia’s first undersea communications cable system. Jointly funded by Cambodian, Thai and Malaysian companies the 1,300-km long submarine fiber optic cable system gives a direct link to the internet for the first time as previously Cambodia had relied on terrestrial fiber systems via neighboring Thailand and Vietnam. With approximately 50 percent of the kingdom’s nearly 15 million people currently having access to internet, the new fiber optic cable system will mean Cambodia will experience faster, cheaper and more reliable internet speeds which in turn will inevitably lead to growing consumption of online video and OTT services.
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Andrew Lin
Regulatory Assistant
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| Last week, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has confirmed that the Philippine government recently approved the National Broadband Plan, which is expected to improve public access to telecommunication services by deploying fiber optic cables and wireless technologies across the country. The network will host national government websites, allow citizens in rural areas to receive better internet connection, and act as a third player so smaller telecommunication companies that do not have extensive resources can compete with players like Globe Telecom, Inc and PLDT.
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| We’ve talked quite a bit about the positive actions of the ad industry in the USA and the UK to stem mainstream ad financing of pirate (and fraudulent and malicious) websites. Now the bodies on both sides of the Atlantic have joined hands to work together. (And now, the key question for us: where’s the positive action in Asia?????)
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| In Laos, the Thai company Kanboon has inked a deal which will allow it to broadcast through Lao satellite. Kanboon is one of several companies interested in the television broadcasting service offered through the Lao Sat-1 satellite and the agreement will transmit their Lamkhong TV channel for 12 months. They have also agreed to cooperate in distributing satellite receivers. The Laosat HD satellite receivers will facilitate television broadcasting through DTH satellite where 60 television channels, including six Lao channels, are already housed. So far, companies from Indonesia, Thailand, and China have signed agreements to rent space on the country’s first telecommunications satellite which was designed, built and launched by China.
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