(December 11, 2012) Viacom18 has launched its preschool channel “Nick Junior” in India. After a year of the launch of its second kids channel Sonic, Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. has announced the expansion of the Nickelodeon franchise in India with the launch of “Nick Jr.”
The channel will target 2 to 6yearold children. The channel will also be available on DTH platforms like Videocon d2h and Airtel Digital TV and other cable networks like Hathway and Den.
Read more at Media Mughals
Hong Kong’s Leading Pay-TV Operator Deploys VCAS for Internet TV for Advanced Revenue Security and Expanded Device Support
SAN DIEGO, CA and HONG KONG–(Marketwire – Dec 9, 2012) – Verimatrix, the specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-network, multi-screen digital TV services around the globe, today announced that PCCW Limited’s now TV is securing its over-the-top (OTT) video on demand (VoD) service with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS™) for Internet TV. now TV is Hong Kong’s largest quad-play pay-TV provider and has one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV.
now TV leverages VCAS™ for Internet TV to provide revenue security for its now Video Express First, a pay-per-view movie on-demand service that offers subscribers access to the latest blockbuster movies distributed by major Hollywood studios in rich options of 3D format, high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) formats, and now Video Express Unlimited, a subscription-based movie and drama on-demand service. Deploying VCAS for Internet TV enables now TV to expand the number of devices that now Video Express supports to include both Apple and Android devices on top of PCs and Macs.
“Consumers today want to be able to watch their favorite movies and shows on the device of their choosing, wherever they want, whenever they want,” said Keith Huang, vice president of Product Management, PCCW. “VCAS for Internet TV will enable us to fulfill content owners’ stringent licensing requirements for content security, thereby increasing our access to premium content and helping us better satisfy our subscribers’ thirst for the latest high quality content.”
VCAS for Internet TV, a key option powered by the VCAS platform, addresses these requirements by providing a complete digital TV security solution for OTT services over networks implementing HLS. Featuring multi-format support, VCAS for Internet TV secures OTT services to multiple screens and across multiple network types.
“Supported by this robust new content protection system from Verimatrix, now TV can enhance the rollout of its new TV anywhere business models, particularly those that take advantage of earlier release windows (ERW) for premium VoD content,” said Steve Oetegenn, chief sales and marketing officer, Verimatrix. “We are delighted to be a part of this exciting deployment and look forward to helping now TV further expanding their base of loyal subscribers.”
About now TV
now TV is one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV and Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV provider. It is delivered by PCCW Media, the multimedia and entertainment subsidiary of PCCW Limited. PCCW also holds interests in telecommunications, IT solutions, property development and investment, and other businesses.
now TV serves Hong Kong with more than 180 channels of local, Asian and international programming, including premium content such as Spanish La Liga, English FA Cup, NBA, French Open, US Open, ATP World Tour, BWF Super Series, World Snooker Tour, F1 and PGA Tour. In addition, now TV is both a leading producer of news, sports and infotainment programming and a provider of a wide range of interactive services. now TV can be enjoyed on the eye devices provided by HKT, the telecommunications business of PCCW. Select now TV content and interactive applications can also be accessed via HKT’s 3G mobile network and broadband service. To learn more about now TV, please visit www.now.com.
About PCCW Limited
PCCW Limited ( HKSE : 0008 ) is a Hong Kong-based company which holds interests in telecommunications, media, IT solutions, property development and investment, and other businesses.
The Company holds a majority interest in HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider. HKT meets the needs of the Hong Kong public and local and international businesses with a wide range of services including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as customer premises equipment sale, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.
PCCW also owns a fully integrated multimedia and entertainment group in Hong Kong, which includes a highly successful IPTV operation, now TV. As the provider of Hong Kong’s first quadruple-play experience, PCCW offers a range of innovative media content and services across four delivery platforms — fixed-line, broadband Internet access, TV and mobile.
Also wholly-owned by the Group, PCCW Solutions is a leading information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing provider in Hong Kong and mainland China.
In addition, PCCW holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited, and overseas investments including the wholly-owned UK Broadband Limited. To learn more about PCCW, please visit: www.pccw.com/eng/
About Verimatrix
Verimatrix specializes in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-network, multi-screen digital TV services around the globe. The award-winning and independently audited Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS™) and ViewRight® solutions enable cable, satellite, terrestrial, IPTV and OTT operators to cost-effectively extend their networks and enable new business models. As the established leader in cardless security solutions, the company has leveraged its innovative 3-Dimensional Security approach to provide a harmonized rights platform for premium content delivery to a range of devices over new hybrid network combinations.
Maintaining close relationships with major studios, broadcasters, standards organizations and its unmatched partner ecosystem enables Verimatrix to provide a unique perspective on video business issues beyond content security as operators introduce new services to take advantage of the proliferation of connected devices. Verimatrix is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company. For more information, please visit www.verimatrix.com, our Pay TV Views blog and follow us at @verimatrixinc, Facebook and LinkedIn to join the conversation.
Cartoon Network’s CG movie wins at Asian TV and PromaxBDA awards
Singapore, December 10, 2012 – At two prestigious award ceremonies in Singapore on December 6, Ben 10 once again proved why it is Asia’s favourite kids’ franchise. Ben 10 – Destroy All Aliens, Cartoon Network’s first-ever CG animated movie featuring the alien-morphing hero, picked up the inaugural award for Best 3D Animated Programme at the Asian Television Awards. Meanwhile, at the PromaxBDA Asia Awards, the film won Gold in the Best Movie Campaign category.
A cross-Pacific collaboration between Cartoon Network Asia and Cartoon Network in the United States, Ben 10 – Destroy All Aliens premiered globally in March and achieved impressive ratings. Sunny Saha, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Turner International Asia Pacific, said, “These award wins again show Ben 10’s global appeal. With the successful debut of the CG movie, along with the franchise’s latest series, Ben 10: Omniverse, it’s been another epic year for Ben Tennyson and his awesome alien forms. Last week’s results also demonstrate the high level of animation talent on show in Asia and the talent available here.”
Asia has been an important platform for the franchise’s recent successes. For Ben 10 – Destroy All Aliens, Singapore-based animation studio Tiny Island were instrumental and Silas Hickey, the project’s executive producer, is based in Hong Kong.
Most recently, the Cartoon Network original production team created a 2.5-minute short called Road Trip Rumble. The special is currently available exclusively to Asian viewers and premiering globally later in the month. Online, the multi-platform app Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Xenodrome had more than a million downloads from around the Asia-Pacific region in its first few weeks.
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Also at the Asian Television Awards 2012, other Turner projects to receive nominations included: Magicskool, Roll No. 21 and Dukes of Broxtonia. And at PromaxBDA Asia Awards 2012, Cartoon Network’s creative services team snapped up another Gold gong with a unique PSA-style Tom & Jerry promo, and Silver for the launch campaign of Oggy and the Cockroaches in India.
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NOTE TO EDITORS:
Turner at the Asian Television Awards 2012 – December 6
The Asian TV industry’s most significant and celebrated event, recognizing excellence in programming, production and performance.
http://ata.onscreenasia.com/ata/ata-2012-winner-list.asp (full list of winners available online)
Turner at PromaxBDA Asia Awards 2012 – December 6
The PromaxBDA Awards recognize excellence in on-air promotion, branding and advertising in Asia.
http://apps.promaxbda.org/asia/2012/2012winners.html (full list of winners and entries available online)
About Cartoon Network Asia Pacific
Cartoon Network, the number one kids’ channel in the Asia Pacific region, offers the best in original animated entertainment while drawing from the world’s most iconic cartoon library of Warner Bros., MGM and Hanna-Barbera titles. Original series showcased on Cartoon Network include the globally popular series Ben 10, The Amazing World of Gumball and Adventure Time. Cartoon Network is available in 23 territories throughout the Asia Pacific region and is currently seen in over 69 million cable homes. Online, Cartoon Network Asia Pacific reaches nearly five million unique visitors a month.
Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of multiplatform news and entertainment content around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry.
For more information, please contact:
James Moore
Turner International Asia Pacific Limited
Tel: +852 3128 3720
Email: James.Moore@turner.com
(December 10, 2012) Bloomberg Television on Monday announced the formation of a partnership in Indonesia with the Idea Group, a Jakarta-based media and strategic communication holding company, to launch Bloomberg Television Indonesia in early 2013.
Presented in Bahasa Indonesia, Bloomberg Television Indonesia will bring Bloomberg news, alongside locally-produced content, to southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Bloomberg TV Indonesia will partner with existing broadcast entities and air on Free to Air, Pay TV, internet and mobile platforms.
Read more at Jakarta Globe
The ‘Mad Men’ Economic Miracle
(December 4, 2012) Three months ago, “Breaking Bad” cut off its fifth and final season on a maddening cliffhanger. Just as the D.E.A. agent Hank Schrader realized that his mild-mannered brother-in-law was actually a coldblooded meth lord, the show’s rabid viewership also realized that it would need to wait until the summer, when the season resumes, to find out what happens next. For fans like me, it has been and will continue to be an interminable wait.
For AMC, the network that broadcasts “Breaking Bad,” it will be a very profitable one. Cliffhangers may have been around for more than a thousand years — since at least the composition of “One Thousand and One Nights” — but no one has monetized them as brilliantly as cable networks. In order to get paid, Charles Dickens had to sell the next chapter of his serialized novels; in order to sell advertising, ABC had to order more episodes of its hit show “Lost.” But for the next several months, AMC is converting our eagerness into millions of dollars without showing a single new episode.
Cable TV has developed one of the most clever business models in our modern economy. Until recently, AMC was a basic-cable backwater known for “Threes Stooges” marathons. But a few years ago, it tweaked its business and began offering two or three hours of original programming on a few dozen nights a year. Starting with “Mad Men” in 2007, the network landed hit shows that developed small but obsessive followings. Soon after, it began making larger financial demands of the cable and satellite providers, like Comcast and DirectTV, that carry the network. AMC now charges these providers about 40 cents a month for each subscriber, including the millions who will never watch “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad.” These providers can refuse to pay up, but doing so would infuriate legions of vocal viewers. (Last summer, the Dish Network played chicken with AMC and lost.) AMC collects $30 million a month in fees alone on a base of 80 million subscribers, which is pretty good considering that the last episode of “Breaking Bad” had fewer than three million viewers.
Read more at The New York Times
Launches premium channels on Cable Thai Holding’s pay-TV platform
PCCW (SEHK:0008) – HONG KONG / BANGKOK, THAILAND, December 7, 2012 – PCCW Media Limited, the operator of now TV, Hong Kong’s largest quad-play pay-TV provider, has entered into an agreement with Cable Thai Holding Public Company Limited (CTH), the first and largest broadband cable operator in Thailand, to distribute three now TV brand channels on CTH’s pay-TV platform. This new agreement is the second milestone in now TV’s international expansion roadmap, following its foray into Malaysia in October.
Starting from February 2013, CTH’s customers can enjoy the following premium Chinese-language content:
Ms. Janice Lee, PCCW’s Managing Director of TV & New Media, said, “The partnership with CTH, an energetic and fast growing pay-TV player in Thailand, follows hot on the heels of our launch in Malaysia. We are confident that our now-branded premium content will be highly welcomed by the Chinese communities in Thailand. In addition to that, the channels will also be subtitled and dubbed into Thai language to cater to the local audience. We look forward to further expanding our distribution footprint to other countries.”
Mr. Wichai Thongtang, CTH’s Chairman, said, “We are very pleased to welcome now TV into our CTH family. As CTH is re-launching its brand and operation with the new digital broadband network, we will grow from a merely 16 channels to 120 channels – over 70 premium channels. Adding three new now TV channels to our repertoire will help enhance our drama series and variety programs. We are certain that Thai audience will enjoy now TV’s premium quality content. We hope that our partnership with now TV will prove to be a success for both of us.”
In October, PCCW Media Limited signed an overseas content distribution agreement with Telekom Malaysia (TM) to launch the three premium channels on TM’s IPTV service, HyppTV.
– # –
About now TV
PCCW Media Limited’s now TV is one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV and is Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV service. PCCW Media Limited is the multimedia and entertainment subsidiary of PCCW Limited.
now TV serves Hong Kong with more than 180 channels of local, Asian and international programming, including premium content such as Spanish La Liga, English FA Cup, NBA, French Open, US Open, ATP World Tour, BWF Super Series, World Snooker Tour, F1 and PGA Tour. In addition, now TV is both a leading producer of news, sports and infotainment programming and a provider of a wide range of interactive services. now TV can be enjoyed on the eye devices provided by HKT, the telecommunications subsidiary of PCCW Limited. Select now TV content and interactive applications can also be accessed via HKT’s 3G mobile network and broadband service. To learn more about now TV, please visit www.now.com.
About PCCW Limited
PCCW Limited (SEHK: 0008) is a Hong Kong-based company which holds interests in telecommunications, media, IT solutions, property development and investment, and other businesses.
PCCW Limited holds a majority interest in HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider. HKT meets the needs of the Hong Kong public and local and international businesses with a wide range of services including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as customer premises equipment sale, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.
PCCW Limited also owns a fully integrated multimedia and entertainment group in Hong Kong, PCCW Media Limited, which operates now TV, a highly successful IPTV operation. As the provider of Hong Kong’s first quadruple-play experience, PCCW offers a range of innovative media content and services across four delivery platforms – fixed-line, broadband Internet access, TV and mobile.
Also wholly-owned by the PCCW Group, PCCW Solutions is a leading information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing provider in Hong Kong and mainland China.
In addition, PCCW Limited holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited, and overseas investments including the wholly-owned UK Broadband Limited. To learn more about PCCW, please visit www.pccw.com.
About Cable Thai Holding
Cable Thai Holding, Plc. or CTH was founded in 2009 by over 100 cable TV operators from all over Thailand in order to improve and provide quality contents to Thai viewers. Today, there are more than more than 3.5 million households or over 12 million viewers nationwide watching CTH programs.
Under the new National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission of Thailand’s new regulations to turn analogue signal to digital signal, there is a need for CTH to go beyond the content acquisition arm of the Association. The management saw the opportunity to build the business beyond cable TV by developing their own optical fiber network covering the whole country. Thus, CTH becomes a broadband cable operator and platform management, distributing variety of customized digital data such as Cable TV Broadcasting, Broadband Internet, and other related products & services for individuals and business customers.
For further information, please contact:
Ivan Ho
Corporate Communications
PCCW Group
Tel: +852 2883 8747
Email: ivan.wy.ho@pccw.com
Chananta Santikul
Brand Communications Manager
CTH
Tel. +6682-6161775
Email: chananta.s@cth.co.th
(2012-12-08) IN AN attempt to woo the staunch non-subscribers of cable television, StarHub has launched Anytime TV, a pay-as-you-watch service.
But this service is only available to StarHub’s home broadband subscribers who do not currently have a StarHub TV subscription.
“Most of our broadband customers today have our cable TV service. However, we recognise that there is a segment of customers who would prefer a more flexible, pay-as-you-watch cable TV service as they may not want to commit to a monthly subscription,” said Iris Wee, StarHub’s vice-president of home solutions and content.
Read more at Business Times
(8 December 2012) MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has launched three of its channels, BBC Entertainment, BBC World News and BBC Lifestyle, on newly launched Indonesian pay TV platform, max3.
max3 is the retail brand of Biznet Networks, a leading telecommunication and multimedia operator in Indonesia whose services currently include unlimited broadband internet service and pay TV services.
With the debut of BBC Entertainment in Indonesia, the full suite of BBC’s channels will now be available in the country.
Read more at Indiantelevision.com
3 Dec 2012 – Cable Thai Holdings (CTH) has set itself the target of having at least 1 million subscription packages of the English Premier League to break even during the coming three seasons from 2013/14 season.
It is also aiming for Bt10 billion revenue by the end of next year.
Chief financial officer Vanchai Srisuchon said last week that CTH would pay Bt9.94 billion, excluding tax and related expenses, for live audio-visual rights to televise the English Premier League in the coming three seasons (2013/14 to 2015/16 seasons).
Given this huge investment, the company was working on a business plan, Vanchai said, adding that the initial price of subscription packages must, however, be accessible for local sports fans.
7 Dec 2012 – NAGRA, the digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), and Kantar Media, an audience research and competitive intelligence company, have announced plans to collaborate in the area of subscriber behaviour, giving service providers the ability to capitalise on the wealth of data available through in-home devices while fully ensuring viewer privacy. The service will be available pre-integrated with OpenTV 5, NAGRA’s newest and most open media convergence platform, taking advantage of its multi-device TV measurement capabilities.
“By combining Kantar Media’s world-class experience in audience measurement and research with our newest multi-device, multi-service technology, we are giving our customers access to some of the most advanced reporting and analysis capabilities available today,” said Samir Mehta, Senior Vice President, DTV Solutions for NAGRA. “Together, we’re making it possible for them to capture critical subscriber generated information such as PVR and advertising interactions and taking a major step toward enriching and personalising the television experience.”
