Streaming into the limelight

June 21, 2012 – As others queue up on the online video platform that YouTube was monopolising, brands wake up to the potential of this medium.

T hink online video and where do you go first thing? YouTube?

Well, YouTube is certainly the king of this platform – but others are now streaming onto this track too.

“YouTube is an ecosystem of its own with four billion views a month and 50 million unique users. But the monopoly can by all means be broken provided the industry learns to monetise and develop original content for the Web and mobile,” says Sameer Pitalwalla, Director, Video & Celebrity, Disney UTV. The digital team of Disney UTV hosts various channels on YouTube.

In the West, with more and more people beginning to ditch their TV to view videos and live content online, this is one space that is hotting up. Leading the action are players who allow people to not just watch TV but chat about it or join the action. Social TV is the name of the game.

Indian tribunal set for digital cable TV tariff dispute

June 20, 2012 – A petition calling for clarity from the Indian regulator over new digital tariff rates for local cable TV operators is to be heard on 25 June by the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

Filed by an 182-strong body of local cable operators in Delhi known as the United Cable Operator’s Welfare Association (UCOWA), the dispute is over the new carriage rates recently set by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), prior to the mandatory digitisation of cable TV networks in India’s four major metros at the end of this month.

UCOWA’s president Sukhvinder Pal Sehgal told Exchange4Media that when its operators provided digital services in conditional access system areas, they earned INR 82 as shared commission with the multi system operator. However, under the new digital addressable systems (DAS), the organisation’s members believe they will only earn INR 45 in commission.

Robust growth for India’s cable, satellite, internet sectors

June 20, 2012 – The reach of cable and satellite TV in India has recorded a compound annual growth rate of 12.4% in the last nine months, while internet connections increased by 47.3%, according to new data from the Indian Readership Survey (IRS).

The total number of cable and satellite TV viewers in India has grown to 475.18 million, from 462.38 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, says the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research – the bodies behind the IRS.

In total, television media has risen 5.6% CAGR to 554.65 million, says their latest report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2012.

Smart home revenues to reach $60bn by 2017

June 20, 2012 – A report from Juniper Research has valued the ‘Smart Home’ market at $60 billion by 2017, rising from $25 billion this year – driven by strong growth within the smart home entertainment segment, along with contributions from other segments including smart monitoring & control and smart health.

The report notes that there are many definitions that can be attributed to the smart home concept and these definitions have evolved over the years to include different facets of connected life such as entertainment, control, security and health.

With the role of broadband connectivity moving beyond its traditional use cases, new applications and enhanced services have emerged such as connected TVs, home automation systems and smart metres. These new and improved applications, connected via broadband (mobile or fixed) network systems, will increase the service revenue attributable to the area.

Linked Content Coalition holds first plenary meeting

June 20, 2012 – Global, cross-media project the Linked Content Coalition (LCC), launched back in April to address challenges of managing Intellectual Property in the digital age, is holding its first Plenary meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, 20 June.

Technical work is being undertaken by executives from news media, publishing, TV, film, music, IT and internet media businesses (including Axel Springer, Associated Press, EMI music publishing and Microsoft) to facilitate the more effective management of rights data on the Internet and to make copyright apply in the digital age.

Copyright remains a topical issue internationally. In Brussels alone, legislative proposals on orphan works are nearing conclusion and the LCC expects new proposals before long on collective rights management.

IPTV penetration reaches 15%

June 20, 2012 – Data from TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Pay-TV Research Service show that IPTV penetration of telcos’ worldwide broadband subscribers reached 15 per cent in Q1 2012, equivalent to 67 million subscribers and 8 per cent of the world’s 812 million pay-TV subscribers. However, widely differing IPTV and pay-TV penetration rates by region point to radically different IPTV growth prospects.

North American telcos, led by Verizon and AT&T, have succeeded in selling IPTV service to almost 40 per cent of their broadband subscriber base. However, with over 80 per cent of households subscribing to some form of pay-TV service, North America’s market is saturated, and subscriber growth is at a standstill. Western Europe’s pay-TV market is also nearing saturation despite having a penetration rate 20 per centage points below that of North America. Market slowdowns here, as well as in Eastern Europe, can be attributed to the continued prevalence of free-to-air service in many countries. In these three regions, telcos will be hard pressed to extend their IPTV subscriber base much further, as success will depend on taking subscribers away from other operators in highly competitive markets.

SES claims Asia-Pacific DTH leadership

SES CONFIRMS SATELLITE LEADERSHIP IN ASIA-PACIFIC IN DTH CHANNEL CARRIAGE AND PAY TV HOMES

SINGAPORE, June 20, 2012 – SES announced that it leads the market in Asia-Pacific in meeting the increasing popularity of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television across the region. Following a sustained period of investment in incremental satellite capacity in Asia-Pacific over the last decade, SES is now the leading satellite operator carrying the highest number of pay DTH channels in the region, with nearly 650 DTH channels. It also reaches 20 million pay TV homes in the region via DTH, or one in three DTH subscribers in Asia – more than any other satellite operator.

SES’ prime orbital locations at 108.2 degrees East and 95 degrees East have been established as key video neighbourhoods in South Asia and Asia-Pacific which meet the growing needs of Asian DTH operators such as DishTV and Bharti Airtel in India, and MediaScape in the Philippines.

SES-8, which will be launched in the first quarter of 2013, will deliver vital expansion capacity to thriving Asian video neighbourhoods in South Asia and Indochina. SES currently operates a fleet of five satellites (NSS-12, NSS-6, NSS-11, SES-7 and NSS-9) serving Asia-Pacific.

Deepak Mathur, Senior Vice President Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES, said: “The growth of the direct-to-home market in Asia-Pacific has been tremendous over the past five years and is a key reason why the demand for satellite capacity continues to grow in the region. We are delighted that consumers here are increasingly turning to the power of satellite technology to meet their needs for richer, higher quality content. As Asia goes digital, we are proud to be an enabler and will continue to invest in growth capacity for the region to grow with our customers as well as tailor our satellites to meet our customers’ unique needs.”

Across the globe, SES transmits over 5,000 TV channels, with more than 1,200 of them in HD. SES’ 50 satellites cover 99 per cent of the world’s population, reaching over 258 million households worldwide.

For further information please contact:
Markus Payer
Market Communication & PR
Tel. +352 710 725 500
Markus.Payer@ses.com

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About SES

SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.

SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements.

SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. Further information under: www.ses.com.

Envivio for StarHub’s HDTV

June 20, 2012 – Envivio, a provider of live and on-demand multi-screen IP video processing and delivery solutions, has announced that the Envivio 4Caster encoders powered by Envivio Muse software have been deployed by StarHub for HDTV, OTT and mobile TV services. StarHub is the official broadcaster for UEFA Euro 2012 football in Singapore, and recently expanded its service offering to consumers around the country. The leading pay TV operator in Singapore, StarHub serves more than 544,000 TV households.

Connected TV is here to stay, says Accedo

Singapore (June 21, 2012) – Accedo’s Reuben Verghese discussed how Connected TV will be the game changer for content distribution during a presentation at BroadcastAsia. He explore what content will work for Connected TV and triple play and how broadcasters and content providers can stay ahead by tailoring content for Connected TV. Asia Image spoke to Verghese before the conference in an exclusive interview.

Indian digital deadline delayed

June 20, 2012: The Centre has extended by four months to October 31 the deadline for digitising cable signals in Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

The Bengal government had demanded an extension but the Centre cited logistical reasons, including delay by the watchdog in issuing regulations, for the postponement. Reports from the field suggest all the four metros, not Calcutta alone, lag in meeting the switchover target. (See chart)

The earlier deadline, set in April, falls next week on June 30. Under the rules notified by industry regulator Trai then, subscribers can choose the channels they want to watch and not let cable operators decide it for them.

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