Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
In the US, Comcast is reportedly planning to launch an ad-supported streaming service called “Watchable” that will feature short-form video and offer content-makers a much more generous ad-revenue split than platforms like YouTube. The service seems to be aimed squarely at millennials, and will leverage the investments Comcast-owned NBCU has been making in various online media companies — by the way, last week’s rumor about a US$200 million investment in Buzzfeed has been confirmed. The Watchable news is not without its detractors, and even the less cynical commentators are sneering at it as “a defensive move.” Then again, there are still plenty of people sneering at Buzzfeed, and surely Watchable has to be a better strategic move than leaving all those massively viral (and NBCU-funded) Jimmy Fallon clips unmonetised on YouTube? |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
“Waving the bloody shirt” is a one of those wonderfully descriptive political metaphors (“used to define someone who brings up a past injustice or mistreatment … to cover up an injustice being committed in the present.”) And it well describes how “copyleft” forces in the USA wave the specter of the now-dead SOPA copyright law to scare people about ongoing copyright enforcement. The latest case started with the Silicon Valley-funded Electronic Frontier Foundation denouncing MPAA litigation against piracy website Movietube (seeking cessation of services to the pirates by third-party web providers). This gave rise to a very on-point commentary comparing EFF to Monty Python’s Knights Who Say Ni. “The Web industry likes to portray every prospect of this type of legal action…as the beginning of the end. They say SOPA, and hope the peasants cringe.” Another commentator apparently told the EFF in so many words to shut up about SOPA, already. But then in a more serious development, a coalition of Internet companies filed a brief in the Movietube case, again waving the bloody SOPA shirt. We’ll see if the court agrees, in due course, that “what is abusive is the way online piracy (for profit) is allowed to flourish, made sacrosanct by tech apologists.” |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
|
When an industry veteran does a keynote speech, it is usually well thought out and hits the key issues and threats facing that particular business. The recent speech by Robert Thomson (Chief Executive of News Corp) at the 2015 Lowy Institute Media Awards dinner hits this mark. His comments about the state of the media business in general are poignant, “Media companies, too, are looking for their bearings. Here we are in the age of the GPS, of relentless, endless tracking and precisely precise data, and yet some in media are wandering aimlessly, dazed and confused, without coordinates and slouching towards oblivion.” He also doesn’t hold back on his distaste for Google, Facebook or Linkedin, “…there are broader issues that are still unfolding for media companies, who are themselves struggling to profit from their news and other content, while the distributionists are helping themselves to that content, coopting and corralling audiences and consciously devaluing brands.” |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
|
Problem with crowd sourcing is that it can get unmanageable. And India’s Department of Telecoms (DoT) may just realise that when it collates public response to its report on OTT and net neutrality. Differentiating the serious from non-serious from amongst over 70,000 responses would be mind-boggling. General responses like `I want to access everything on the Internet‘ (difference between legal and illegal content hasn’t dawned on such respondents yet) can submerge serious submissions from the likes of CASBAA. Telecoms Minister did put up a weak defence , but tech-savvy Narendra Modi-led government seemingly is unable to map the big picture where Indian players are saying entertainment’s future is OTT and traditional media companies are exploring digital play. |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
EzyFlix has become the first casualty in Australia’s streaming media sector since Netflix arrived Down Under. It’s not like the company didn’t see it coming; just last December, an EzyFlix co-founder predicted “carnage” in the market. Netflix has seen steady subscriber growth since its launch in Australia, and the battle for streaming subscribers has only just begun. |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
|
This week, the “too much good TV” meme was trending again, as the TCA summer tour wound down. Whether the “New Golden Age” is actually “Peak TV” is open to debate; and make no mistake, debate it critics did. For that matter, just as they did back in 2014, as they also did as long ago as 2013, and as they even did way back in 2011. Hmmm… now who’s complaining about all those remakes? |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
Indian broadcasters turned out recently to criticize a TRAI mandate that commercial subscribers should receive cable TV for the same price paid by poor households. IBF President Uday Shankar and others criticized the principle of “five star hotels availing TV content at subsidised rates especially when they charge a leg and arm for a room, a meal or even a bottle of water.” |
Kevin Jennings
Programme Director
|
Apple’s new TV streaming service won’t launch this year as originally planned. Apple had wanted to introduce a live TV service delivered via the Internet by June this year , but is now aiming for 2016. A report from Bloomberg suggested that licensing from TV networks is taking longer than expected, while other sources claimed the delay might be more related to Apple software integration. |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
|
Fox Networks is experimenting with a new advertising model for its US mobile and online video service: letting Fox Now viewers watch one 60-second ad before episodes of “Master Chef Junior”. The trial is a result of two converging trends, namely, low CPM rates for online ads, and the increasing use of ad-blocking software among online viewers who hate ads. Publishers may have only themselves to blame for the latter problem, but if the Fox Now experiment can solve the former, look for it to be replicated elsewhere online. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
|
Alert from Dubai, where it seems a court convicted and fined the distributor of one of those black-box streaming media services for UK expats. Copyright concerns aside, the court noted this was an unlicensed broadcasting service. Such legal reasoning should be applied in Asia as well. |
|
It’s not definitive yet and early, but worth taking note of: creeping fear of government censorship of media. Corporate rumblings, including those in media, have started against slow pace of economic reforms. And, despite the PM’s whirlwind global tour assuring India is a great place for investments where democratic rights are upheld, global media is sceptical. |
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
|
Television is crucial to consumer engagement but it is currently in an evolutionary period which could last up to five years and which will redefine how consumers and agencies interact with it. Changing technology and addressable screens are important developments. |
