SNI’s Audience Engagement in the Food,
Home and Travel Categories Outrank Regional Competitors

Singapore, 8 November 2016 – In a recent pay-TV study of viewer behaviors and lifestyle habits in Asia-Pacific, Scripps Networks Interactive found its channel portfolio significantly outranked its competitors in the food, home and travel lifestyle categories. The channels, which include Asian Food Channel, Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, have a highly engaged audience, who have an affinity to lifestyle brands and content. They are more receptive to advertisers, trusting the channels as an authority in the lifestyle ahead of other pay-TV networks.

“It is without a doubt that our channels offer a unique proposition for clients looking to break through today’s competitive media landscape to form meaningful relationships with their consumers,” said Derek Chang, Head of International Lifestyle Channels, Scripps Networks Interactive. “The results of the study confirm our audiences are up-scale, affluent, and engaged in both lifestyle programming and its associated products, be that in their kitchen, home or in the holiday they choose.”

The study, which was commissioned by Scripps Networks in Singapore and conducted by Kadence International, surveyed more than 4,000 respondents, 25-55 year olds who frequently watch lifestyle programming in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Survey highlights include:

Asian Food Channel (AFC):

• AFC is 47%more likely to be recognized by viewers for local Asian food and cooking content than its channel competitors
• 50%of AFC viewers visited a restaurant, city or destination featured during a show as compared to 28% of other pay-TV viewers

HGTV:

• 87%of HGTV viewers have performed some form of renovation in the past 12 months as compared to 69% other pay-TV viewers
• HGTV inspires viewers and is their go-to channel for all things renovation, taking the lead when it comes to topics such as “Home Renovations” (47%), “DIY Renovations” (46%)  and “House Hunting” (45%)

Food Network (FN):

• 91%of FN viewers are willing to pay more for quality ingredients and meals
• FN has a 31%lead against the nearest competitor channel as being one that presents inspirational cooking content

Travel Channel:

• 87%of Travel Channel viewers are likely to travel to a destination featured on a travel show as compared to 69% other pay-TV viewers
• 74%of Travel Channel viewers agree that advertisements are a good way for them to learn about new products

* This study was conducted between April and June 2016. It combined over 4,000 online interviews and 12 group discussions with 25 to 55 year old lifestyle and general entertainment channel viewers across Asia.

About Scripps Networks Interactive

Scripps Networks Interactive (Nasdaq: SNI) is one of the leading developers of engaging lifestyle content in the home, food and travel categories for television, the Internet and emerging platforms. The company’s lifestyle media portfolio comprises popular television and Internet brands HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and Great American Country, which collectively engage more than 190 million U.S. consumers each month. International operations include TVN, Poland’s premier multi-platform media company; UKTV, an independent commercial joint venture with BBC Worldwide; Asian Food Channel, the first pan-regional TV food network in Asia; and lifestyle channel Fine Living. The company’s global networks and websites reach millions of consumers across North and South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Scripps Networks Interactive is headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. For more information, please visit scrippsnetworksinteractive.com.

For further information, please contact:

Evonne Baath

M: +65 9459 3123

T: +65 6809 1318

E: Evonne.baath@scrippsnetworks.com

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MACAU – Tuesday 8^th Nov 2016 – Leading satellite operator ABS has announced today that it will partner with PT Sarana Media Vision (SMV), using SMV’s DTH license to launch a consumer FreeView satellite service – FreeViewSat – across Indonesia in January 2017. The service will be called SMV FreeViewSat and will initially broadcast over 60 television channels via the ABS-2, ABS-2A and ABS-6 satellites in both Ku and C-band.

For the first time in Indonesia, a free-to-view platform will be available throughout the entire country, allowing advertisers the opportunity to reach the full potential of the Indonesian audience.

The FreeViewSat model will promote maximum distribution and the cost of the STB & dish will be less than US$35.  Customers will only need to make this one-time purchase to enjoy all the TV channels on the platform (with no monthly recurring subscription fees).

Tom Choi, CEO of ABS commented that “SMV’s FreeViewSat will be very attractive for Indonesia by providing great quality international and unique domestic programming to the entire country.  The goal is to deliver high quality entertainment and educational content affordably to all – For the first time, everybody, not only the affluent or those in the urban areas, will be able to receive high quality programming for free, with just a one-time purchase of a set-top box and dish.  FreeViewSat will also give advertisers the first real opportunity to reach the whole population of Indonesia, even in rural areas. ABS is delighted to be partnering and supporting this highly worthwhile venture.’’

At launch in January, FreeViewSat will carry at least 30 local Free-to-Air channels and more than 30 high quality international channels.  The number of channels will continue to grow to over 100 channels in the first 6 to 12 months as new and interesting content is added.

FreeViewSat will be available via 75cm Ku band dishes from 75E on ABS-2 and ABS-2A, and via 1.6m C-band antennas from 159E on ABS-6 simultaneously, so that consumers have the choice of small dishes, or larger ones with better rain protection. Since Indonesia already has over 10 million C-band antennas installed, the adoption rate is expected to be rapid.

ABS has selected the ABV conditional access and middleware system, along with Ali chips for its Set-Top Boxes.

Confirmed channels for launch include:

TV9 Nusantara, TVRI Nasional, DAAI TV, TV One, ANTV, Metro TV, Trans 7, Trans TV, SCTV, Indosair, Kompas TV, Net TV, Bali TV

H2, Bloomberg TV, France 24, Fix & Foxi, Action Hollywood Movies, Pulse TV, Al Jazeera English, CCTV-News, CCTV-4, CCTV-9, Russia Today, MediaCorp Channel, Landscape HD, TRACE Urban and TRACE Sport Stars, B4U Music, B4U Movies, NDTV 24/7 and NDTV Good Times, and many more

For further information, please contact:

Amanda Yang, Lightning International amanda@lightninginternational.net +852-9400-2605

or Penny Hill, ABS, penny@absatellite.com

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About PT Sarana Media Vision

PT Sarana Media Vision (“SMV”) is an Indonesian company licensed by the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Informatics to provide nationwide Direct-To-Home broadcast services.

The SMV FreeViewSat DTH service is the digital direct broadcast satellite platform operating on the ABS-2, ABS-2A, and ABS-6 satellites in both Ku-band and C-band with excellent coverage over Indonesia.  The platform carries a rich bouquet of local Indonesian and International channels including High Definition (HD) channels.

It is a unique Free-To-View DTH platform available nationwide that provides TV services directly to households in Indonesia. Unlike other PayTV services, subscribers of SMV FreeViewSat only need to purchase the receiver equipment (set-top box and antenna) at a very affordable one-off cost and enjoy the TV services without recurring charges.

About ABS

ABS is one of the fastest growing global satellite operators in the world. ABS offers a complete range of tailored solutions including broadcasting, data and telecommunication services to broadcasters, service providers, enterprises and government organisations.

ABS operates a fleet of satellites; ABS-2, ABS-2A, ABS-3A, ABS-4/Mobisat-1, ABS-6, and ABS-7.   The satellite fleet covers over 93% of the world’s population across the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, CIS and Russia.

Headquartered in Bermuda, ABS has offices in the United States, UAE, South Africa, and Asia.  ABS is majority owned by funds managed by the European Private Equity firm Permira.

For more information, visit: www.absatellite.com

About Lightning International

Lightning International is a content solutions company. Core businesses are: 1) Channel representation and distribution, 2) Syndication of finished TV programmes and formats from a catalogue of 3000+ hours of content, and 3) Content and media business consultancy. The Lightning team have over 35 years of content distribution experience in the region. As well as the Hong Kong team, we have representatives in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and India, and have just opened a UK office.

Attachments are

Macau, November 7^th 2016  – France 24 has signed a distribution agreement with satellite operator AsiaSat, making its English channel available in HD via AsiaSat 5.

France 24 English HD is currently available exclusively in the Asia-Pacific region and this launch marks an important new step in the channel’s development.

This agreement reinforces the attractiveness of the channel for cable operators, DTH and IPTV as well as for major hotel chains.

Thanks to recent distribution deals in South Korea and the granting of a broadcast license in Vietnam, France 24 is now available to 60 million TV households and more than 300,000 hotel rooms across the Asia-Pacific region.

For further information about how to include France 24 English HD in your offer, please contact Brice Bertrand and David Couret attending CASBAA Convention 2016:

• Brice Bertrand, mobile +33 (0)6 76 82 09 64, bbertrand@france24.com
• David Couret,mobile +33 (0)6 33 69 52 24, dcouret@france24.com

About France 24, a France Médias Monde channel (france24.com)

France 24, the international news channel, broadcasts 24/7 to 315 million homes around the world in French, Arabic and English. The three channels have a combined weekly viewership of 50.9 million viewers (measured in 64 of the 180 countries where the channel is broadcast). From its newsroom in Paris, France 24 gives a French perspective on global affairs through a network of 142 correspondent bureaus located in nearly every country. It is available via cable, satellite, DTT, ADSL, on mobile phones, tablets and connected TVs, as well as on YouTube in three languages. Every month, France 24’s digital platforms attract 16.3 million visits, 37.6 million video views (2016 average) and 28.9 million followers on Facebook and Twitter (August 2016).

The Love Nature television channel will offer wildlife and nature enthusiasts across Singapore exclusive and original natural history series and documentaries

Wildlife Icons, premiering on Love Nature HD in Singapore, will introduce StarHub TV’s audiences to the Big Five of the Savannah,

while giving a closer look at the some of the remarkable wildlife within Africa’s mighty ecosystem.

To tweet this release: http://bit.ly/2eNk6d1

(Macau, China, November 7, 2016) – Love Nature, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks, announced from the Casbaa Convention in Macau, China today that the natural history brand will be available later this month to audiences in Singapore via HD television on StarHub TV. The deal marks Love Nature’s debut into the Asian market as the brand continues to reach out to audiences globally via multiple platforms.

“The introduction of Love Nature to Singapore is an important milestone for us as we work aggressively to expand the brand’s offerings and stunning natural history content across Asia and all over the world,” said Jo Parkinson, Managing Director, Love Nature International. “Our collaboration with StarHub will allow us to reach out to wildlife and nature lovers across Singapore with our unforgettable and cutting-edge content.”

“As Singapore’s leading pay TV operator, we are always looking to strengthen our content leadership in the market. With its captivating programming, Love Nature further expands our offering and we are excited to welcome the channel to our ever-growing line-up of factual channels,” said Lee Soo Hui, Head of Content & TV, StarHub.

StarHub’s pay TV customers will have access to Love Nature’s exclusive, original natural history content, shot all over the world in majestic locales including Asia Pacific, Africa, Scandinavia and South America. Family-friendly programming will include stunning wildlife and nature series and documentaries such as Wildlife Icons, Waterworld Africa and Land of Primates. Love Nature will be available to StarHub TV subscribers on channel 416 in late-November 2016. Multi Channels Asia (MCA), Asia’s leading distributor of independent Pay-TV channels, brokered the milestone carriage agreement with StarHub.

Love Nature will showcase the brand’s content and offerings at the Casbaa Convention at booth A13.

Love Nature, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks, brings audiences closer to the beauty and wonder of nature, sharing awe-inspiring stories and shining a light on the fight for survival in a changing world.Producing 200 hours of content annually, Love Nature offers the largest library of 4K wildlife and nature content in the world and is available internationally via linear television, streaming video (SVOD) services and as a turnkey factual 4K channel. LoveNature.com  

-30-

Media Contact:

Sarah Etherden

Director, Communications, Love Nature International

sarah.etherden@blueantmedia.ca, 416.440.7283

• Key findings highlight increasing demand for telco OTT video & broadband bundles but show mixed response across most SVOD-based OTT platforms
• Netflix, iflix and Viu fare best amongst regional majors but still have a long way to go
• Local pay-TV & free TV incumbents do well, led by Astro, Now TV, TVB and Toggle

(Hong Kong / Singapore / November 3, 2017) Media Partners Asia (MPA) today launched the ASIA VIDEO CONSUMER PANEL, a research report offering detailed insights into how consumers engage, use and interact with video content in emerging and mature markets, focusing on TV and digital video platforms, including key regional and local OTT video operators.

The panel covers six Asian markets – Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – with a 1,000 user panel size in each market, taking in millennial and older demos as well as skewing towards mobile consumption in emerging markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

Commenting on the report’s key findings, MPA vice president Aravind Venugopal said:

The importance of bundling with telecom and IP-based pay-TV operators to drive online
video adoption is becoming critical, as illustrated by our survey. As we are still very much in the first innings of the SVOD online video cycle in most Asian markets, the journey for most platforms from building awareness to generating trial users, and then to finally converting them to regular users, is long and arduous.

In four of the markets surveyed – Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines – local players have taken the lead when it comes to building awareness and conversion, led by incumbent pay-TV and free TV operators, a number of which are reliant on local and Asian content, and in certain cases, sports. Global and pan regional SVOD services focused on providing international content, are fighting to take the lead, though conversion has been low in general. In terms of both awareness and conversion, Netflix and iflix both lead in selected markets with Viu also robust across most markets.

Some of the key highlights of the panel include:

Telco and pay-TV integration. The importance of bundling and OTT integration deals with telecom and pay-TV operators to drive adoption has emerged as key with most survey respondents indicating that they opted for OTT services via their telco or pay-TV operator. Netflix was an exception, with a high proportion of subscribers indicating that they opted for a direct sign up.

NPS in negative territory. Net Promoter Scores or NPS, which range from -100 to 100 and measure the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others, were largely negative in most markets. The exception was Netflix, which received a positive score in four of the six surveyed markets, and also leads the NPS rankings in four of the six markets surveyed. Users in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia tended to award negative NPS to almost all SVOD-based OTT
video service providers. Users in Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines appeared to be more positive about OTT video service providers.

Key features. Feature sets that were most often highlighted as being essential to users was the ability to stream online video to TV, followed by the ability to download. These are also reflective of the type of content contained in the services, as well as the type and quality of broadband infrastructure available.

Content. The importance of day and date content, particularly Hollywood movies, was reflected in the survey with the genre coming out on top of the list of ‘must have’ genres for a premium SVOD service. This was closely followed by new Korean dramas, new Chinese dramas and new Hollywood series. Sports is also increasingly important.

UI /UX and lack of localization. A significant proportion of users indicated that they were unable to locate/find shows in the services – indicating either a lack of content, or limitations of the UI/UX – this, significantly, was highlighted as an issue even for Netflix. A numbers of respondents also indicated that the poor dubbing/subtitling of shows was a concern.

Pay-TV consumption. In two emerging Asian markets (Thailand, Indonesia) and in Hong Kong, the consumption of pay-TV is trending lower, with streaming/on-demand services accounting for a vast majority of content needs. In some instance (i.e. Hong Kong), the incumbent pay-TV operator (i.e. Now TV) is driving the legal consumption of streaming video services.

Piracy. There remains increasing prevalence of pirated STBs. On average, 5-10% of the surveyed base admitted to using a pirate STB to access pay-TV services.

Payment mechanisms. In the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, the frequent topping up of prepaid credit balances is commonplace; on average, respondents topped up their services over three times a month. This provides insight on how much consumers are willing to pay for SVOD services and potentially supports the case for sachet pricing.

The ASIA VIDEO CONSUMER PANEL, conducted in partnership with BDRC Continental, covers six Asian markets (with a total sample size of 6,000 individuals), cutting across a broad range of demographics. The full findings from the second phase of this survey will be released in April 2017, providing readers with updated views, new data and additional metrics.

Subscription to the full 500-page November 2017 report is available from November 10 onwards.

For more details, please contact MPA client services vice president Lavina Bhojwani at lavina@media-partners-asia.com
About Media Partners Asia (MPA)
As a leading independent consulting and research provider focused on Asia media & telecoms, MPA offers a range of customized services to help drive business development, strategy & planning, M&A, new products & services and research. Based in Hong Kong, Singapore and India, MPA teams offer indepth research reports across key industry sectors, customized consulting services, industry events to
spread knowledge and unlock partnerships, and publications that provide insights into media & telecoms.

Key Contact:
Lavina Bhojwani
VP, Client Services & Operations
Media Partners Asia
E – lavina@media-partners-asia.com
T – +852 2815 8710