25 February 2016

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Feb 26th. 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	After more than a decade of work on its Copyright Bill, the Hong Kong Government now appears ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing. Months of delaying tactics by anti-government legislators, coupled with shrill sloganeering by “copy-left” activists — all of which has been happening at the start of an election cycle — have mired the bill in a legislative morass. But the tipping point appears to have been a simple mis-count; only 34 legislators were counted during a quorum call in LegCo, when there were actually 35 present. Unfortunately, even though the count was wrong, the Legislature was adjourned anyway. That was enough to prompt Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Greg So to say “Enough is enough.” If the bill doesn’t pass a LegCo vote next week, it will be shuffled to the bottom of the deck, effectively killing it.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	The proposed merger deal in South Korea between SK Telecom and CJ Hellovision has run into serious flak. Academics have been criticizing the merger, and they were recently joined by trade unions. The biggest concern is that this huge vertical acquisition could stunt competition in So. Korea, and there were many calls for the government to review it carefully. CJ wanted to get its shareholders to approve the deal this week, but under relevant media law, it seems such a move may be illegal. The forecast is for continued stormy weather.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	I just love it when an interviewer doesn’t pull any punches. Re/code senior editor Peter Kafka does a great interview with ESPN President, John Skipper, at Code/Media 2016. As a channel that has taken a few punches in the chin of late, it’s interesting to see how one of the most basic channels of basic-cable looks at the network’s future and how they plan to make sure the business keeps on growing. Skipper: "We were the first in the market with authenticated television…all of our content is over-the-top.” And speaking of OTT sports, have a look at this comprehensive piece: Ex-stream-ly Frustrating: The Messy Ecosystem of Live Sports Streaming.
Christopher Slaughter CEO	Elsewhere in the world of “sports”, Microsoft is offering US$2.5 million in prize money for its Halo World Championship next month, cementing a trend that isn’t going to go away. In case you hadn’t noticed, last year, eSports events paid out more than US$62 million in winnings, and generated more than US$20 million in ticket sales. If — like most people in our industry — you don’t really understand what’s going on with this whole eSports thing, join us Tuesday in Singapore for our eSports panel at the CASBAA OTT Summit to find out more.
Yegee Chun Regulatory Assistant	A loaded Android box advertising free television for life has surfaced in Canada. The so-called Free TV Box allows unlimited access to commercial-free, copyrighted content with a one-time payment of about CA$150. Canadian law does prohibit services that exist primarily for the purpose of "enabling copyright infringement," but Canada’s Copyright Act only addresses unauthorized downloading, not streaming, of copyrighted content. Given this legal grey area, one citizen who sells boxes from his home advises: “It’s up to yourself to decide if it’s immoral.”
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	Time Inc. is in the news this week with a small deal that’s done and a BIG deal that’s rumored. The done deal is about Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated returning to cable and satellite TV in Asia. Under a pact with Hong Kong-based sports programmer ASN, the parties will develop a Sports Illustrated-branded sports broadcasting and digital network. Debuting this spring, the deal will see, the ASN and ASN2 pay-TV sports channels, companion websites and mobile apps rebranded as “Sports Illustrated” and “Sports Illustrated 2.” Time’s BIG deal is rumored to be their interest in buying Yahoo’s “core business”. This deal is anything but done with Verizon and AT&T also looking at a transaction.
Kevin Jennings Vice President, Programme	At the Media 360 Summit on Thursday in Hong Kong, Google’s Scott Beaumont shared a few numbers predicting that over the next five years the number of people connecting to the internet will increase by a further 2 BILLION, with a large proportion of those people coming from Asia. These remarkable predictions should add more urgency in ensuring that broadcasters are clear on any future internet OTT plans. Coincidentally the CASBAA OTT Summit is being held on Tuesday 1st March in Singapore, and will take a closer look at the OTT industry. Space is now limited so register now to secure a place.
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	comScore has rolled out its mobile audience solution Mobile Metrix in the Philippines, providing measurement of total mobile audience behaviour across smartphones and tablets. In the US, Comscore has joined with Rentrak and announced plans to introduce a new cross-platform TV measurement product, to take on Nielsen’s TV ratings. The product will have information on TV and connected device viewing on a monthly basis and as they say “combine scale with smarter methodology”.