Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending June 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 SlaughterCEO |
Scissors, or a razor? A new report in the US shows 8.2% of former pay TV households cut the cord in 2014… but another 45% shaved it, by reducing their services. Meantime, ratings agency Nielsen has released its Q1 Total Audience Report, which compares usage of TV, radio, and digital platforms in the US. Guess what? Adults still spend the most time watching TV. There are a lot of caveats in the report, and some worrying data too (millennials are almost as busy on their devices as they are watching TV), but overall it’s an encouraging message.
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Mark LayVice President, Singapore |
Digital delivery of programming continues to create a fluid landscape for every aspect of the pay TV business. As more people are watching catch-up, some networks are reacting by creating “DVR-Proof” programming specifically designed for live viewing. We also see a YouTube powerhouse going somewhat traditional. Disney-owned, Maker Studios, has agreed to supply its Polaris+ channel to Sling TV. And on the distribution side, HULU is now offering Showtime to existing Hulu subscribers. This business is ripe for dealmakers. |
John MedeirosChief Policy Officer |
NZ TV operators have won their court case against VPN providers. The case was settled, but the VPNs have canceled their Global Mode service. The issue in New Zealand – like Singapore – is that the providers offered geo-unblocking technology that covered “every… customer, without them having to do anything,” and then they marketed themselves as a circumvention service. A blogger on TorrentFreak, arguing that VPNs could also be used to get around Australia’s new site blocking law, got it right: it seems “unlikely that services who play by the rules (i.e do not promote their products for infringing purposes) will be blocked.” |
Kevin JenningsProgramme Director |
News from the advertising festival that is the Cannes Lions is that Tencent’s SY Lau has accepted this year’s Cannes Lions Media Person of the Year award, which had nominally been announced a few months back. Speaking at the event this week Lau addressed the changing behaviour of young people in China, a generation he referred to as “native citizens of connectivity” and warned that any global brands looking to “exploit” rather than “explore” the growing Chinese market will come unstuck. Highlights from the festival including more form SY Lau can be seen here. |
John MedeirosChief Policy Officer |
A couple of interesting internet commentaries this week: In Canada, a court rejected Google’s argument that it couldn’t control its search service. The judge said freedom of expression was important, but so were other rights, and the justice system needed to strike a sensible balance. And a New Zealand blogger worried that spyware is embedded in the latest Chrome software. He observes that Google’s “mantra ‘Do no evil’ is surely coming under immense pressure from stock-holders, most of who are only interested in the money those stocks will earn.” Jeez, whatever happened to all those internet idealists – just money-grubbers like everyone else? |
Anjan MitraExecutive Director, India |
Even as India’s broadcast and telecoms regulator TRAI continues to await a new Chairman (who would be expected to pilot final recommendations on OTT and net neutrality) and Telecoms Ministry yet to make public its own report on net neutrality, the debate rages on with shrillness lessening in recent times. With the cash-rich Reliance Industries recently outlining its digital and telecom vision, lobbying has started to snipe telcos’ growing influence. Experts now opine telcos shouldn’t be allowed to own content, which could ensure neutrality. Watch this space for more drama. |
Christopher SlaughterCEO |
The dog-and-pony shows were held back in May, but now the upfront deals are starting to come in, and the tug-of-war between networks and buyers is as fierce as ever. Meantime, the digital hoi polloi are starting to freak out about ads in their paid streaming Seinfeld eps, and Netflix subscribers would apparently be willing to pay more to keep the platform ad-free. All of which once again begs the question: what is the future of the 30-second spot? |
John MedeirosChief Policy Officer |
And watch this steamroller coming: It seems the internet is becoming THE key medium for advertising. The fastest growth is coming in our backyard: Zenith Optimedia identifies ‘Fast-track Asia’, which includes China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Now, it would be nice if we can get the people profiting from all that growth to adopt some basic business standards, like not placing mainstream ads onto porn and piracy sites! |
Jane BuckthoughtAdvertising Consultant |
Major IPTV player Fetch TV has created a new mobile ratings app which provides live data on TV viewing across some 250,000 set top boxes, the app is already the largest window into the TV viewing habits of millions of Australians with the channel selections of tens of thousands of consumers available on a one hour delay. Should traditional measurement companies be worried? |
Anjan MitraExecutive Director, India |
More than anything else this report once again highlights the strident importance of online video consumption— something that Indian policy-makers refuse to acknowledge in totality and CASBAA has been stressing on. A research report by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch highlights online video content will disrupt India’s pay TV market big way. Gainers: broadcasters & content owners. Losers: DTH operators. The report adds with digitisation roll-out continuing, albeit slowly, MSOs would benefit, but would also have to be innovative in revenue generation methods. |
Kevin JenningsProgramme Director |
A new press freedom group is calling out the Singaporean governmentin a bid to push for sedition laws and those controlling media licensing to be abolished. The group is taking aim at Singapore’s Sedition Act, which was used to close socio-political website The Real Singapore, and the Media Development Authority’s licensing framework, which since it was introduced in 2013, has led to the closure of independent news site The Breakfast Network, and other laws that make critical voices vulnerable to legal action. |
Christopher SlaughterCEO |
US start-up Toggle is partnering with a relatively new entrant in the streaming video market — retail behemoth Wal-Mart. Quietly launched back in January, the Vudu dongle is the hardware in Wal-Mart’s streaming service, and some 100,000 units have sold so far. The device and service are positioned to compete against Google’s Chromecast, the Roku set-top box series, and Amazon’s Fire TV range of devices. However, Wal-Mart’s online aspirations plus its dominance in the bricks-and-mortar retail sector (US$1 billion in sales daily), coupled with seed investment and ongoing partnership with Warner Brothers, could make Vudu a serious contender to watch. |
Mark LayVice President, Singapore |
Australia’s two main news organisations, have withdrawn from officially covering the 2015 rugby union World Cup in England. They announced that they are not happy with how this year’s Rugby World Cup rights are being managed and have decided not to seek press accreditation because of unreasonable restrictions. The tournament will be officially shunned by most main print outlets – including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Herald Sun and the Australian. Instead, for the first time they will all rely on TV and social media to keep their readers informed – which suggests an even greater opportunity for broadcasters carrying the tournament. |
Anjan MitraExecutive Director, India |
After Reliance Industries announcement on RJio and ambitious 4G plans, Netflix’s probable entry into India hots up things further. It has, reportedly, also sent many players scurrying for backups and Plan B, C… Should the Indian consumer rejoice for being spoilt for choice? Yes and no. Choices would be aplenty, but only if Department of Telecoms could speed up broadband connections to fire up PM Modi’s Digital India dream. |