October 29, 2013/WASHINGTON, D.C.: The MPAA has compiled a list of the world’s “most notorious” markets for the illegal distribution of film and TV content, with Ukraine, Canada, China and Russia home to some of the worst-offending pirate websites as well as widespread DVD counterfeiting.

The MPAA provided the report in response to a U.S. Trade Representative request for information on the worst piracy markets outside of the U.S.

“The American motion picture and television industry is a major U.S. employer that supports approximately 2 million jobs and over $104 billion in total wages in all 50 states,” said MPAA chairman and CEO, Senator Chris Dodd, in announcing the report. “The rogue overseas marketplaces highlighted in the filing undermine the people who work hard to create the movies and TV shows audiences love, and jeopardize the billions of dollars they contribute to the U.S. economy. The MPAA commends the USTR’s commitment to protect and enforce intellectual property rights abroad and, in so doing, protect U.S. jobs.”

Read more at World Screen

National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) yesterday said the commission’s ruling on Want Want China Times Group’s purchase of cable TV services owned by China Network Systems (CNS) remain unchanged and that the transaction would not take effect until the group fulfilled each and every requirement issued by the commission.

Shyr made the comments during a review at the legislature’s Transportation Committee of how Want Want China Times Group plans to fulfill the requirements.

The preconditions include that group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) and his family members, as well as his business associates in the deal, must completely dissociate themselves from the operation of CtiTV News. In addition, China Television’s (CTV) digital news channel must be turned into a non-news channel. As a TV network, CTV must have an independent editorial system as well.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/12/20/2003550579

15 December 2012, NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Rahul Khullar has said Trai was making efforts to move towards a lighter regulatory regime.

Khullar also said that India urgently needed a new convergence law for the industry to consolidate. As technology was advancing at a rapid pace, there is a need to respond to it accordingly and encourage use of new devices and technologies.

Also, it is imperative to create opportunities for providers of value added services and create for them an environment that is conducive for them to operate and grow.

http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/dec/dec158.php

19-12-2012: Leading broadcasters from Europe, Japan, the United States and Australia have signed a declaration to fight what they believe is the growing censorship of the Internet and jamming of TV signals by authoritarian political regimes.

The broadcast organisations — Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France (AEF), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) [Australia], British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) [United Kingdom], Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) [US], Deutsche Welle (DW) [Germany], Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) [Japan] and Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) — say that international journalism is facing unprecedented challenges from countries that seek to deny their own citizens access to information from outside their borders in violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

They note and condemn without reservation certain government’s control of the flow of information such as blocking the Web and most notably intentional jamming of satellites as practised recently by Iran.

18-12-2012:Despite the assumption that ads in long-form online video content are more effective because they’re more TV-like, a study from AOL has found that ads in short-form content actually produce significantly higher recall, brand affinity and purchase intent than those in long-form content.

To explore the effect of content length on ad effectiveness, AOL partnered with Qualvu and released a study designed to provide insight into how consumers perceive ads within both long- and short-form premium video content, with ten minutes being the demarcation line between the two. And it turns out that short-form video produced a 25% higher brand recall and a 42% higher purchase intent for the featured product or service.

Unsurprisingly, viewers are adopting traditional avoidance behaviours during ads within long-form videos, AOL found. Long-form video ad viewers are 52% more likely to think the ad detracts from their experience, because they are seen as too frequent and interruptive. As a result, viewers chose to avoid them altogether (by walking away, going to other sites, multitasking with their phone). This is the same “annoyance” behaviour that is demonstrated when viewing television without the use of a DVR.