Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Nothing strange about a reported proposal by China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) to gain more control over the country’s online video providers by having state-owned enterprises take up ownership stakes in them; no, that’s not strange, and the idea even has a curious command-economy logic to it. However, what was strange was reading about it in the South China Morning Post, which is now owned by Alibaba. Yes, the same Alibaba that last month finalised its purchase of top streaming site Youku Tudou. |
Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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The European Commission has announced approval of a proposal to extend broadcast regulations into the OTT sector. The proposal to reform the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and extend a number of regulations to online video platforms will ultimately see online platforms required to take a more active approach to taking down harmful content. The move comes on the back of calls from telecom operators for a ‘level playing field’ with OTT providers in terms of comparable services to be subject to comparable regulations, and is being seen as a broadly progressive move. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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Of course, that’s not the only change in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. This report nicely summarizes five focus areas. Another of the biggest novelties is a requirement that OTT providers like Netflix and Amazon maintain European works as 20% of their available catalogues. (European broadcasters will still have a 50%-of-broadcast-time local content requirement.) The new online local content rules push the big OTT operators in the direction they are moving anyway….investing in more European content.
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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Meanwhile, in Canada, a think-tank published a critique of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) “protect and subsidize” approach to broadcast regulation. The author says there’s no evidence that “protect and subsidize” policies for entertainment programming help Canadians feel their national identity more strongly. And he notes that “the exemption (from national programming requirements) enjoyed by … (OTT) programming services … is a regulatory asymmetry that provides an inefficient implicit subsidy to OTT services.” He argues for deregulation of traditional broadcasting, not more regulation for OTT, saying “the CRTC cannot impose the same antiquated regulations used for traditional broadcast to online programming without seriously restricting access to internet programs.” Hear, hear! |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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Contrary to earlier research, sports fans just might pay for OTT games. OTT sports has been a bit of a holdout for (domestically delivered) live games, probably because the rights are worth so much from the existing channel partners. This hasn’t stopped NBC Sports Digital from launching of a new technology service called Playmaker Media, “designed to convince leagues and teams to use NBC to stream their events”. And OTT delivery is perfect for any VR Sports experience, as Eurosport is providing for the French Open. But OTT delivered LIVE VR sports is really where the money is at. “The NBA has 300 million fans in China. 99.9% of them will never get to a game. If they can figure out a way to monetize this rabid user base through VR that’s found money for them.” |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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In case you wondered who first coined the phrase “Content Is King”, it was legendary dealmaker and industry titan Sumner Redstone, who celebrates his 93rd birthday today. Its easy to lose sight of the man’s importance, what with all the rather waggish Game of Thrones anaologies being bandied about as the current boardroom drama unfolds at Viacom (and honestly, who hasn’t been keeping tabs on it?). Redstone was a pivotal figure in the development of the modern industry, and his legacy will be much greater than the current plethora of tabloidized headlines. Of course, that is… if he ever actually shuffles off this mortal coil. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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Indian broadcast sector carriage regulator, TRAI, earlier this week during a media interaction said it’s initiating a comprehensive review of existing regulatory framework governing the broadcasting and cable services sector, but stopped short of fully elaborating on them. At least from the media reports it seems so — unless it’s proven journalists failed to probe the “review process” and liberalisation that the regulator hinted at. Thankfully, TRAI admits it’s under-debate interoperable STB regime is fraught with “technological difficulties” and it has sought help from experts. We have also been told TRAI will come out with a consultation paper on internet-based telephone service soon. But what about the almost decade-old price freeze on TV channels, mobile TV and much talked-about light-touch regulations? The media reports were mum on those issues. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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Censorship updates: In India, Fashion TV got a stern warning over a show aired 18 months ago. FTV told the government they now have an Asian feed which will be different, and less racy, than their European feed. Separately, the activities of the “Censor Board” (CBFC) have come in for considerable argument, with one writer urging the CBFC to “let the film industry be,” and another suggested the Censor Board’s role should be transformed from cutting films to just rating them. Finally in India, a worrisome novelty: censorship of TV channels by state politicians, without any legal authority. Over in Indonesia, the censors at KPI in Jakarta have been worrying about obscene lyrics in indigenous “Dangdut” music. And now KPI is urging its regional offices to increase their vigilance, too. (Censors, censors, everywhere!) Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the censors at the MTRCB get a big round of applause, because while they were out looking for inappropriate content, they actually hit out at display of pirated films, too! Bravo for that. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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A free Internet (aka Net Neutrality in India) activist caustically observed in an opinion piece in Times of India that a third consultation process on net neutrality since March last year highlights how much pressure TRAI is under from the telecom lobby when it banned differential pricing. Times’ sister publication Economic Times in an editorial earlier chastised Telecoms Secretary for suggesting high spectrum price should not matter to telcos, adding that TRAI must ensure an open internet and low spectrum costs are at core of net neutrality. The irony (of adequate price tag for scarce commodity like spectrum) and predicament (of TRAI) cannot — and should not — be missed here. |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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The old telly, big-screen, boob-tube (call it what you like) is getting a makeover. And I’m not talking 4K or HDR, which apparently have a “massive sales surge”. Most of our TV’s have a tuner in them that we never use and a cable/satellite set-top that we use a lot. (Some of us even have a Mac mini a Chromecast and a Roku 4 hooked up to ours.) The latest advancement for all the new 4K TV sets is to have ethernet/wifi and a serious streaming user interface built into them. Different TV manufacturers are going with different camps. Android TV is now in Sony, Sharp and soon to be RCA sets. Roku is offered in Haier, HiSense, Insignia, Sharp and TCL. While Samsung, Panasonic and LG all have their proprietary(ish) OS’s. Whoa, what to choose? It may not matter either way, as we may all just be casting our programming choices to our TV’s from our phone and tablets. |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Okay, consider the source, but Vice’s Shane Smith is predicting a “media blood-bath” over the next twelve months. (My favourite part of that article is the note that Smith’s comments were “…slightly edited for clarity.”) Somewhat relates is viral grindhouse Buzzfeed’s plans to jump into video news, since apparently it has figured out a way “…to do it so it’s not boring,” while remaining consistent with its editorial guidelines (which reassuringly include such diktats as: “Information… should come from a verified source.”). And in case you’re wondering about this whole “New Media vs Old Media” thing, an excellent cross-ownership breakdown by Bloomberg Gadfly: “New Media Shares Old Media’s Roof”. |
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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Some 41% of senior marketing professionals in Asia Pacific say they have already adopted programmatic buying into their media buying processes, a new industry report has revealed. These are some of the key findings from a survey of 300 senior marketing decision-makers by Forrester Consulting on behalf of MediaMath, the global tech firm. |
Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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BitTorrent, the company behind the oft maligned peer to peer file sharing protocol, is planning to launch a live streaming TV service. The company claims it will have better performance than existing services that broadcast live channels over the Internet. BitTorrent Live is billed as a “multichannel, live and linear video streaming platform” based on a peer-to-peer live video streaming protocol that BitTorrent has been developing for a few years. The service will offer both free and paid options. The company said it will be available on Apple TV, iOS, Android, and Mac. |
