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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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With the Democratic and Republican party conventions running back-to-back, it’s been hard to avoid US presidential politics the past couple weeks. The two events really did provide numerous studies in contrasts, including their targets: “ Clinton’s Convention Is Made for TV. Trumpf’s Was Made for Twitter.” However, Trump’s effort to extend his new media campaign by holding an “Ask Me Anything” session on reddit.com didn’t quite go to plan; answering just twelve of the sixteen thousand questions submitted left redditors palpably underwhelmed. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| We’ve heard for a long time that 4K TV (also known as UHD) is coming. In Japan this week, we learned that the key element of consumer ownership of 4K-capable TVs is gradually coming online, with a total of 15 million households expected to own 4K TVs within two years. Meanwhile, in the US satellite company SES has announced availability of four UHD channels for cable-TV operators. (Limited 4K services are already available through various IPTV and OTT operators.) Variety called the cable industry move only a good baby step forward, but SNL Kagan and Irdeto reported results of a study that cable operators believe consumers will pay for this content, and so interest is likely to grow. I got a chuckle that the initial list of channels in the SES package includes both NASA TV and Fashion TV. I guess both far views from space and close views of sequins and feathers look good in UHD! |
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Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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Twitter’s popularity has always been a bit on an enigma to me, along the lines of pierced tongues, sagging trousers and faith in government. In this one, I’m not alone (So, does anybody want Twitter?). The latest moves by them to enter the live sports arena are a bit perplexing as well (Twitter scores live-stream deals with MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL). Since they have lost the social media fight against Facebook, are they now
looking to take on ESPN. In 140 characters or less….”good luck.” |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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It’s taken some time for the new, elected government in Myanmar to get on its feet, but now things are moving with respect to broadcast licensing. The new broadcasting law passed in August 2015 provides for licensing new broadcast organizations (for free or pay-TV), and now the Ministry of Information says there will be more operators licensed in the coming months. The law was criticized by NGOs as not providing enough guarantees of media independence, and the Minister of Information, U Pe Myint, has said he supports further reform. (I’m really looking forward to meeting the Minister; he’s kindly accepted to speak at CASBAA’s conference on “Emerging Southeast Asian Markets,” coming up in December in Singapore.) |
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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So Comic Con has come and gone for another year – and while attendance numbers for the San Diego event were reportedly down year on year, TV continued to dominate – while social media buzz increased with upcoming TV and films dominating the online discussion. Meanwhile, for a subjective look at the winners and losers across the TV and film spectrum, check out the review from THR’s Winners and Losers from the TV & Film panels.
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Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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| Online pirates beware! The Copyright Force is on its way if the Indian entertainment industry has its way and the government puts its might behind an industry proposal. Some of the major broadcasting companies, studios, Motion Pictures Association of America’s Indian chapter and TIPCU, an Indian version of the UK’s PIPCU have proposed an alliance to fight rampant online piracy of content. Industry feels present laws need to be tweaked to give it sharper legal teeth as the digital economy grows. |
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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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| When there are too many dollars chasing too few goods, prices go up — that’s Economics 101. That’s also part of the way US networks managed to get more money out of agencies in this year’s upfronts. And while networks might be thrilled about double-digit CPM increases, agencies are understandably less thrilled about this year’s “ugly market”. And don’t pop the champagne over any perceived rebound from the digital ad-spend migration quite yet; although there are plenty of people calling b-s on online video, for very good reasons right now, the happy days are not likely to stick around forever… or even past next year.. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| Last week, we reported that Kim Dotcom was planning to re-start his (pirate?) Megaupload web business. This week, we see that he’s being hauled into court again – this time for a violation of the asset freeze imposed by an NZ court. Meanwhile, there’s another pirate in the news; the founder of Kickass Torrents was arrested in Poland on a warrant from the US authorities. (We’ll see if his extradition moves any faster than Dotcom’s.) |
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Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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| The Asia-Pacific pay-TV industry is expected to grow at a 5.8% average annual rate from 2016 to 2021, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA). The MPA projects pay-TV industry sales across 18 major markets in Asia Pacific to climb from $54 billion in 2016 to $72 billion by 2021, rising thereafter to $81 billion by 2025. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| The EU Commission finalized the consent settlement in its antitrust proceeding against Paramount, one of six Hollywood studios threatened with sanctions for using territorial licensing which prevents pan-EU viewers from accessing Britain’s Sky TV. Paramount had offered the settlement back in April, saying it would agree for five years not to enforce the territorial clauses in its current contracts, and not to sign any new such contracts. (The Hollywood Reporter theorized that Paramount could be motivated by wanting to remove the threat of EU fines that might have impeded sale of a significant minority stake, apparently to China’s Dalian Wanda Group.) The EU antitrust case is seen by many as a back-door attack on the whole concept of copyright territorial licensing, at least within Europe. European filmmakers reacted with outrage, saying the basis for financing European filmmaking would be destroyed by an end to territorial licensing. The cases against the other five studios remain pending; there’s no sign yet that any of the others could break ranks. And in the background, there’s the small matter that the UK may soon be no longer in the EU. |
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| In the UK, Sky Sports has announced plans to upload Premier League goals and highlights onto social media, thanks to a new partnership with Twitter. Sky will show a selection of the key goals and moments from every Premier League game broadcast during the season. The clips will be posted on the @SkyFootball account, which already has almost 3 million followers. All of the clips will be available to Twitter users in the UK and Ireland who will be able to see video clips of key moments and goals from all games broadcast by Sky in real time via the SkyFootball Twitter account. It goes without saying that there will still be more to see if you are a Sky Sports customer: The Sky Sports Football Centre app will also carry full highlights of every Premier League and Football League match for Sky Sports TV subscribers. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| CASBAA has complained for years that the level of taxation of the DTH industry in India has been outrageously high. Now comes word that the government is going to reduce the licensing fee from 10 percent to 8 percent (and extend license duration to 20 years). Even if this reduction is not enough to level the playing field, it’s still a laudable step in the right direction! |
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Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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| Engaged viewers Couch Potatoes or? 57% of TV viewers in the US claim to regularly binge view content, according to new GfK MRI research. Millennials are among the most prolific bingers and more likely to say that TV has become more of a special event for them and that binge viewing makes them feel more connected to the shows they watch. Recent research from GfK in the UK finds 18 to 24 years old spend more time watching video content on laptops than any other device.. Nielsen’s first-quarter 2016 comparable metrics report, shows TV is still the preferred choice for overall viewing, with Live+DVR/time-shifted TV viewing accounts for 47% of the total average audience among adults 18+. And it seems viewers who multi-screen, those people that browse the internet, shop online, text and check social media while watching TV are more observant of advertising than average, according to research from YouGov Profiles in the UK. |
