Gregg Creevey, Managing Director (Asia), Multi Channels Asia (MCA)

What do you think the biggest influence on Asia’s media industry in the past 10 years has been? “Like the world over the rapid expansion of broadband internet bandwidth and digitisation. Both have led to profound challenges to entrenched business models as well as the social and political status quos. Think YouTube, Facebook and iTunes. Specifically in the Asia Pacific pay TV space, there is the expansion of channels from around 30-50 to the more than 300 channel universe we compete in today and the positive impact on business models through lower cost of transmission, media asset management and broadcast operations generally.”

10 years ago, lots of companies said they were totally digital. What’s the biggest difference between what you remember as the digital of 2000 and your digital of today? “In 2000 it was mostly hype ... Remember the AOL/Time Warner ‘transformational transaction’ and how the internet was going to massacre mainstream media? Well other than the music industry being blindsided by technology and overwhelmed by the success of  the Apple iPod and iTunes, mainstream media and it’s plethora of content has never been more valid and strong. In 2000 media companies were talking digital and all its possibilities but for the all important end user it was still very much an analogue reality. A decade later digital has unleashed bandwidth and defined the manta that less is more. We’ve gone from a 30-50 linear TV channel universe to 500+ linear channels, multiple screens and dozens of ways in which consumers can access, interact and consume content. Yes the business models are challenging, licensing windows are changing and piracy will always remain a threat but the demand for compelling, entertaining and relevant content and storytelling remains at the forefront of the consumer proposition.”

Of all the things (tech, countries, etc) we have known and been excited over in the past 10 years, what do you think is the one (or two) that failed to live up to expectations? “Mobile TV and China. On reflection I can understand China. I think it was perhaps naïve to believe that the Chinese would not just lay out the welcome mat but open the door to western media. Yes, there are 1.2 billion potential consumers and all that makes for wonderful PowerPoint presentations but everything that China wants in a media sense they already have and they certainly don’t need what many in the west would like to offer. So we are largely tolerated but a long way off being welcome. Mobile TV seemed to have it all. Powerful technology in the palm of your hand, a regular transactional based relationship between operator and customer and eager content providers ready to repurpose and replicate their pay TV offerings. The lack of handset standards and navigational ease have acted as a handbrake on development. Plus it didn’t help that early conversations between mobile operators and content providers where like a chicken talking to duck. But really, unless you stuck in tunnel on train or in traffic on a bus, I don’t think folks want to watch a linear TV channel on 5cm screen.”

What are the biggest operational differences you have seen over the past decade? “The ability to get a channel to market without having to lease a full transponder, own a massive play-out facility and ship boxes of tapes around the globe. Bad news for Fedex but great news for many of the new channels that have launched in recent years. Today many functions have been commoditised and can be outsourced. The “bigness” of broadcasting has been rationalised and now it really is a case of less is more.”

The forecasts that didn’t come true… (what do you remember)... Or the ones that came true but not in the way you expected. “Forget China, if Indonesia DTH had taken off we’d all be looking at the world differently. I was part of the original “gang of 4” (CNN, Discovery, ESPN and HBO). From the early biz plan I recall we were supposed to have 7 million subscribers some years ago.”

Is there anything that might have happened that didn’t (or hasn’t yet)? “Philippines Cable Bill. The passing of this much talked about and anticipated legislation might have bought a sense of order and transparency and most importantly the foundation for investment in digital and value added services.”

What would you never do again no matter how much money you were offered? “Trusting everything I had on a Friday afternoon after a round of CNN hotel meetings to a Bangkok taxi driver who was supposed to wait for me. He didn’t!”

What would you do again in a nanosecond, even if no money was involved? “Joining what was then a team of ten or so people out of small side street office in London and launch CNN internationally. The enthusiasm was infectious and vision then was as clear as it is today, to be the world’s news leader.”

What’s your take on social networks? “I’m amazed that people are so willing to share so much information and create content for someone else to monetise. It is perhaps the ultimate voyeuristic experience and I do like the sense of community created amongst like minded individuals. But I’m so old school that I prefer a hearty handshake and a warm embrace to being poked.”

What has been the biggest disappointment? Why? “The lack of true open market access and a light regulatory touch across the region. There are exceptions, Hong Kong for example is beacon for both but in other territories the barriers can be made artificially high, complex and inconsistent.”

What are you still deeply unsure about? “Lack of viable business models when it comes to paying for content as part of web/broadband experience (gambling and porn excepted) as well the approach to content of IPTV for whom pay TV is sometimes a side show.

The phrase you take with you into every biz meeting? “One mouth and two ears. Use them in the same proportion.”

What do you think the costs of all the focus of speed and tech is? “All this technology and speed was supposed to liberate us, instead we are perhaps more enslaved than we realise. Time to hit the pause button and rediscover the art of doing nothing.

Crystal ball gaze for a moment…what do you think we will be talking about in 2020? “Philippine Cable Bill, which operator paid a billion dollars for BPL and weren’t Singapore’s cross carriage rules supposed to lead to cheaper pay TV?, how the iPad gave publishing a new lease of life and ‘is that really James Ross dressed as Lady Ga Ga?’”.

Date: 6 December 2010