24 March, 2016

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Mar 24th. 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	Astro has launched Tribe, its regional OTT service targetted at the ASEAN region. The service has kicked off in Indonesia, in partnership with mobile operator Axiata, and will pursue a mobile-first strategy, seeking “…complementary win-win partnerships with local telecommunications and media companies in each market.” Content partners include Fox Sports, Turner, and CJ E&M; others are expected.
Christopher Slaughter CEO	Meanwhile, Taiwan-based film distributor and producer Catchplay has launched its OTT service, “Catchplay On Demand.” In addition to its home market Taiwan, Catchplay is reportedly partnering with Starhub for an imminenet Singapore launch, while in Indonesia, it will join forces with Telkom Indonesia. Both transactional (TVOD) and subscription (SVOD) services will be rolled out, featuring content licencsed from NBC Universal, Warner Bros and Disney, among others.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	It’s not yet a certified medical condition but I’m sure it will be one soon. “Buffer rage” is a real thing and described as “a state of uncontrollable fury or violent anger induced by the delayed or interrupted enjoyment of streaming video content from over-the-top (OTT) services.” According to media firm IneoQuest, 51 percent of consumers who watch online or streaming video have been frustrated to the point of rage as a result of buffering. Sports buffering outweighed all other video categories in its ability to inflict rage in viewers. Maybe “Netflix and chill” really leads to something else.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	In Thailand, the slanging match between the NBTC and its pet digital terrestrial licensees continues. The licensees complain that the NBTC hasn’t done enough to promote DTT. They’re going to court, to try to fight the license payments the law demands (resulting from an unexpectedly rich auction process). The NBTC has defended itself before analysts and fund managers (an important political constituency, I guess), noting that it has been trying so very hard to subsidize more people to buy DTT boxes, but gee, they aren’t buying. Seems they’re happy with the satellite TV they have now. Meanwhile, the satellite TV providers might be forgiven for thinking the NBTC’s finger is already heavily on the scales, in favor of DTT. The DTT platinum-channel licensees made the bad business decisions that drove the bidding up to stratospheric levels…..and they’ve already benefitted from NBTC forgiveness of annual revenue taxes. In a related item, True Visions, facing mounting fines, gave in and said it would bow to the regulator’s demands and put the NBTC’S pet channels at the head of the line up. But True won’t give up its court case, arguing it alone invested to create its network, and the NBTC has no business determining channel numbers on that network.
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	The forward -thinking Spanish football league has announced La Liga’s football schedule is set to change from next season, to accommodate live football programming for Asia’s prime-time slots. Their international strategy has been focused on adapting match times for viewers all over the globe, even at the expense of its domestic audience and starting next season, La Liga will open a time slot at 1pm (GMT+1) to reinforce its presence in the Asian market. Last year the Spanish league moved match kick –off times by 15 minutes to 5.15pm UK time to accommodate a British law that prevents live football being screened between 2.45pm and 5.15pm which meant British viewers missed the first 15 minutes of any match getting under way at 5pm.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Sorry, Kevin – I can’t resist this one: Earth to regulators….earth to regulators. On what planet does it make sense to forbid football broadcasts until 5:15 pm? Do you really think that’s going to stop any red-blooded young Brit soccer fan from tuning in, after school? Do you really think that digital natives don’t know how to find whatever they want online? And the bigger question: does any government really have the power to dictate viewing choices nowadays? (Besides, it’s probably better that they watch soccer rather than porn. Watching porn just makes them feel bad about themselves…..)
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	The Bangladeshi government has proposed setting up a dedicated company to run its first satellite ‘Bangabandhu-1′. A proposal has been sent to Prime Minister for her approval and the State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim has said that she hopes the proposal will be passed quickly to enable the company to get down to business. Halim said the satellite will break even within seven years of its 2017 launch.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	BuzzFeed vet Jon Steinberg does a great podcast where he talks about his latest venture, Cheddar, which plans to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the full work day. He talks about a new crop of cable channels “to create modern versions of Discovery Networks” and others. “Millennials are a bigger opportunity than people realize. You have got an entire generation and a half that doesn’t watch television. The dominant media of our lifetime is no longer applicable to an entire generation. What’s a bigger opportunity than that?”
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	Zenith predicted advertising spend in ‘fast track Asia’, which includes China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, will rise by 8.9 pert cent in 2016 and at an annual average of 8.5 per cent until 2018 and Global advertising revenues will rise by 4.6 percent this year, ZenithOptimedia projects, reaching $579 billion, up from the 3.9-percent growth rate in 2015.
Yegee Chun Regulatory Assistant	On Wednesday, Microsoft launched Tay.ai, a new AI chat bot that uses millennial internet speak, or as it describes itself, “Microsoft’s A.I. fam from the internet that’s got zero chill.” Tay specifically aims to engage 18- to 24-year-olds through casual and playful conversation on Twitter, Snapchat, Kik, and other social media. Already, it’s been the subject of many a screenshot on the web for its age-appropriate comments, including her responses to pictures of some of Microsoft’s failed ventures.