27 September, 2013

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Sept 27th. Curated by CASBAA’s staff, News Views carries on in the tradition of Market Watch to keep you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Jill Grinda Executive Vice President	Change is on the air… “Pay TV broadcasters have always faced competitors” and “we are seeing more innovation than we have ever seen in the pay TV universe,” optimistic comments from James Murdoch at the CTAM EuroSummit ’13. Murdoch said he expected some years of confusion as new players take different approaches to the market but the pay TV basics remained the same.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Cable TV has generated some big noise in little Macau. With the “exclusive” contract for legal pay-TV supply (now operated by CASBAA member Macau Cable TV) expiring next April, government and potential license applicants (including Macau Cable TV) are circling each other warily. The government said last week that the licensing process was likely to take quite a while (and promised that Macau Cable would be able to continue services even after the contract expires.) Potential new applicant Macau Telecom chimed in, saying it was ready to bid and urging a minimal government role in operating the industry.
Sara Madera Director, Member Relations & Marketing	It was considered a breakthrough decision for the Emmys to include Netflix series as nominees, and they continued to receive credit even in the categories they didn’t win. When the creator of Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan, accepted his award for best drama, he mentioned his beliefs that streaming content on demand, specifically through OTT services, allowed his show to succeed. Causation without correlation, perhaps?
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	And some good news for advertisers is that consumers around the globe are more trusting in advertising now than they were several years ago. Nielsen released its Global Trust in Advertising report, which shows APAC respondents are more trusting with 67% of people trusting ads on TV (global average 62%) and 73% APAC respondents were willing to take action (global average 68%) Read more here.
Mandy Wu Regulatory Assistant	Nick Harris of UK website sportingintelligence.com has compiled a very interesting analysis of who pays how much for EPL programming. Asia is footing the bill for footy. Have a look here.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	Good Stuff!! A UK Parliamentary Committee came down four-square on the side of “Do something about online piracy!” The Committee said it detected “a systemic failure to enforce the existing laws effectively against rife online piracy,” which poses an “existential threat….to the creative economy.” More here.
Jane Buckthought Advertising Consultant	As viewing to the third screen becomes more viable, advertisers and content providers want to see who is watching, finally Kantar and Nielsen have both announced plans for monitoring audience viewing via mobile phones,