John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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We got some press in interesting places, with our release this week of the study of OTT-TV and Pay-TV regulation “Same Same but Different”. Of course, there was coverage in Asian economic publications. But elsewhere, too: the Nasdaq over-the-counter market decided we were newsworthy. And some enterprising soul translated our press release into Spanish, for the benefit of the Latin American market. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Communications and Broadcasting Minister Amy Adams gave a speech saying the results of her government’s convergence review will be published “over the next few months.” I should have gotten her to write the forward for the Same Same book – I couldn’t say it better myself: “as Government we’re thinking about what regulation means in a world that is increasingly borderless…where our domestic businesses face their biggest competition from offshore providers in a greater way than ever before and yet those competitors operate under different regulatory systems and cost structures.” Yes!! (Members can download the new book here, and anyone who wants a hard copy should email us.) |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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More politicking around the BBC’s Royal Charter renewal, with the publication of an independent report commissioned by the UK government calling for the BBC Trust to be dismantled and the Corporation to be overseen by government regulator Ofcom. The oft-beleagured BBC Trust was only created in 2006, the last time the BBC’s Royal Charter was renewed, replacing a board of governors that was itself fraught with governance challenges. There is a lot more to the report (all 98 pages can be found here, if you’re into that kind of thing), and it is already being debated vigorously; expect more skirmishes to come as the Charter renewal clock keeps winding down toward its year-end deadline. |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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Newton’s third law of motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is sort of playing out in the media world with regard to the budgets for program acquisition. Netflix’s $5 Billion Budget Sets Off an Arms Race in Cable. “Discovery Communications, Viacom and Starz have all said in recent weeks that they must spend more on programming.” “If you are a TV network executive, you aren’t wired to walk into your boss’ office and say, ‘Revenues are under pressure, here’s what I think we should do — cut back on programming.”’ |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… the Net Neutrality debate heats up again in the US, pitting FCC board members against each other during a hearing in the US Senate. After all, it’s only been a year… Of course, it’s Washington, so the whole thing is completely politicized, surprise surprise, with much resurfacing of old accusations that the Obama Administration leaned on the FCC to produce the outcome the politicians wanted. (Of course, there were also accusations that having an industry lawyer as the FCC Chair was like putting a dingo in charge of babysitting.) Anyway, since it’s an election year don’t expect the subject to go away. Depending on which candidate wins, the policy could be very different in 2017. |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Speaking of US election tomfoolery, if you missed John Oliver’s take-down of Donald Trump on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, you’re in for a treat. Almost as much of a treat as a lemur with a banana. I went ahead and installed “The Drumpfinator” Chrome extension, and not only does it work as advertised, but it has provided tremendous amusement ever since. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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Recently CASBAA member GroupM predicted, as part of a global report, that digital advertising ad-spend is slated to grow the fastest in India. But could the Indian government’s move to tax from April 1, 2016 digital advertising — wags here have termed it “Google Tax’ — slow its faster adoption and spread? However, the government justifies it as a legitimate move. Is the operation of likes of Netflix next on government radar to tap for additional revenues? |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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In antipiracy news this week, the police in Japan launched an enforcement blitz and arrested 44 people for downloading pirated content (music, videos, manga, anime, or software). Swedish police seem to have apprehended the guy behind the largest streaming site in that country – the warrant for his arrest stated he’d made at least $1.7 million from sales of advertising around stolen copyrighted works. And in New York, Russian TV sued US internet companies that have been illegally distributing the Russian channels. (They were likely emboldened by the success of Chinese channels, including member company TVB, which won a suit against a black box syndicate a few months ago.) Maybe someday foreign channels will be able to go after Chinese and Russian web server operators hosting illegal channel streams, too. I’m not holding my breath. |
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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The head of the U.K.’s institute of practitioners in advertising, Lynne Robinson said tech firms operating in media markets must be more open about how they constructed their datasets. “They only give a partial view of the market, and it is not often clear how something has been calculated,” she warned. “If they are comparing their data to other media datasets, how have they calculated that impact? “We need far more transparency.” |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Okay, I’m dating myself (and potentially confusing people about my citizenship), but I got very excited when Eugene Levy was quoted as saying there could be a 40th anniversary reunion for the iconic Canadian sketch comedy SCTV. It was a hotbed of great talent, who generated some immortal characters, and some of my favorite scenes ever (“Tom Monroe” signing “Turning Japanese” and “What Fits Into Mother Russia” stand out, among many others.) Of course, won’t be the same without John Candy and Harold Ramis, but if it happens, it will still be great. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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SCTV? OIC……but there’s another SCTV. (Saigontourist Cable Television – the largest cable operator in HCMC). And there are stakes up for sale in that company and the big Hanoi operator VTVCable. (If you buy into SCTV, you’ll have Saigontourist Holding Company as your partner, which could be good, as they are government-owned and well-connected, but may be bad, as they are government-owned…..) |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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Re/code just released the full interview with Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The first part of it deals with TV. Go straight to the transcript to save time. Lynton talks about Netflix being forced to create its own content because other companies won’t sell to them, the “happy accident” of the current TV boomlet and how the hack has got him using the fax machine again. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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The Indian media industry initially bemoaned the government ignored key issues related to the industry in the Union Budget, but it seems all is not lost. Probably trying to give digitisation a leg-up, the government slashed duties on some electronic components from 12.5 to 4 % — and this will or should make STBs cheaper. |
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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Why do advertisers ignore the over 50s? Is it the darn youthfulness of agency staff or something else? |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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It can be, in a way, termed return of the prodigal. Having had to sell out control of TV18 Group/IBN Network to Mukesh Ambani, media entrepreneur Raghav Bahl, founder of Quintillion Media Pvt. Ltd, which operates news website thequint.com, has signed a joint venture agreement with New York-based Bloomberg LP to launch a co-branded television news channel and website, according to media reports. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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And the censors keep rolling along…….In China, and India anyway. Meanwhile, there was some push-back against the censors in Indonesia this week. KPI was hit for bias against women, and not respecting the “essence of democracy.” |
