PCCW launches HK$300 million Independent Productions Fund Offering Hong Kong viewers a greater variety of quality programs

PCCW（SEHK:0008）- HONG KONG, November 7, 2013 – PCCW announces the set-up of a HK$300 million Independent Productions Fund for the acquisition of local independent productions in a bid to support the local production industry, as well as offering a greater variety of TV program choices for Hong Kong viewers.

PCCW welcomes the Chief Executive-in-Council’s grant of the approval-in-principle of HK Television Entertainment Company Limited’s (HKTVE) application for a Domestic Free Television Programme Service License (Free TV license). Our total investment plan across the first six years of operations is estimated to be over HK$1.3 billion, a substantial part of which will be invested in programming and production. In addition to our own productions, we have set aside a pool of funds to be accessed by local creative talents. First conceived more than a year ago, the Independent Productions Fund forms part of PCCW’s preparation for its Free TV service.

This fund aims to draw together the local creative industry and independent producers who share the same vision of bringing viewers more quality choices in TV programs. It will unleash the potential of cross-media talents in films and TV and harness the creativity of independent producers in Hong Kong so that we can offer original and innovative formats of programming for the enjoyment of Hong Kong viewers.

As a start, PCCW intends to invest HK$300 million in this fund, and is open to further phases in the future upon a favorable response. We seek to bring to viewers an array of attractive TV movies and mini-series with an aim to developing about 60 titles. In addition, we will also identify other genres including reality series, variety shows and lifestyle programs.

The selection criteria will be based upon originality, creativity, production and content quality, and viability of the proposal. Quality programming of all scale and genres will be considered. Upon receiving a proposal and confirming its production budget, we will facilitate and support the production process drawing upon our production experience and facilities resources where necessary. We aim to complete the evaluation process within 60 days of receipt of a comprehensive proposal.

The fund is open to all creative talents, independent producers and new generation directors. PCCW has already been in discussion with certain partners on proposals for reality programs, series by renowned directors, refreshing romantic stories, documentaries and talk shows. It is anticipated that several proposals can be confirmed before the end of this year, with more in the pipeline. While we continue to seek out new partners and creative talents, we also welcome proposals to be sent to our project coordinator Ms. Mamie Leung, Senior Vice President of Content Development, TV and New Media of PCCW (indie.prod@pccw.com).

At the inauguration of the fund, PCCW today organized an industry forum for film and TV directors and talents to share their views on the development of the local independent production industry. They also discussed the outlook of the Free TV industry for the production industry, and the future trends for drama and non-drama TV programming, and new media. Participants included Mr. Daniel Lam Shiu-ming, Mr. Paco Wong, Mr. Lai Man-cheuk, Mr. Siu Chiu-yeun, Mr. Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui, Ms. Sandy Lamb, Mr. Lee Lik-chi, Ms. Barbara Wong Chun-chun, Mr. Patrick Kong, Mr. Fire Lee Ka-wing, Mr. Adam Wong Sau Ping, Mr. Derek Tsang, Mr. Lau Ka-ho, Mr. Sham Kwok-wing, Mr. Gary Tang, Mr. Ronald Ng, Mr. Liu Kai-chi, Mr. Joey Leung, Mr. Wang He, Ms. Mandy Lieu and others. They expressed support for the project and explored the possibility of bringing their new productions to Hong Kong TV viewers. PCCW will continue to organize more forums at various academic institutes to garner industry views.

Ms. Janice Lee, Managing Director of PCCW’s TV and New Media business, said, “We recognize the merits of creating a healthy independent production industry, as it encourages and fosters creativity of talents working across TV, film, and music, in order to bring upon the best and new formats of TV programs to viewers. Our fund provides an open platform to enable them to unleash their potential which will in turn elevate the standards of the local television industry while satisfying viewers’ need for more quality TV program choices. As we continue to engage in our own productions, we also earnestly look forward to cooperating with industry partners to turn their creative ideas into quality TV content.”

PCCW has earlier announced an outline of its Free TV plan. In addition to identifying and acquiring local independent TV productions, we will also acquire local and international drama productions. We have already completed the filming of our first high quality period drama series, Empress Wei Zifu. While post-production of this HK$60 million debut series is in progress, we have started preparation for the second and third drama series. Furthermore, PCCW intends to show some of our world-class sports content on our Free TV service. To support the development of local sports culture, our Free TV service will also broadcast various local and school community sporting events. Last but not least, PCCW has accumulated substantial experience in producing professional and award winning news programs as well as high quality variety programming.

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For further information, please contact:

Ivan Ho
Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: +852 2883 8747

(Nov 6, 2013) Star India is investing US$3.2 billion (INR200 billion) over the next three to five years to develop sports coverage in the country and take equity stakes in new football initiative the Indian Super League, the Hockey India League and the India Badminton League.

Read more at Rapid TV News

(Nov 6, 2013) Fox International Channels (FIC) has received approval from the Irish Competition Authority to complete the acquisition of Setanta Africa Services Ltd.

Read more at Broadband TV News

(Nov 7, 2013) Time Warner Inc’s third-quarter profit beat estimates, driven by growth at its cable networks, and its chief executive said on Wednesday a new cable package offered by No 1 cable operator Comcast would help HBO expand its subscriber base.

Read more at The Economic Times

(Nov 5, 2013) Simon Thomas will join Fox International Channels’ (FIC) executive management team in January as Executive Vice President of Global Sports and Content Sales. The appointment comes as FIC continues to expand its worldwide sports presence and ownership of premium sports rights as well as its catalogue of original factual, lifestyle and scripted content.

Read more at Advanced Television

PHILIPPINES, 5 November 2013 – Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Asia, a division of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB) today announced it has entered into an agreement with Viva Communications, Inc., to collaborate on local production, on-ground events and marketing and advertising sales for MTV Philippines. Effective January 2014, MTV Philippines will become a dedicated Filipino feed and be re-branded as MTV Pinoy and reach over 1.22 million Filipino households.
The importance of the Philippines for the 24-hour world class youth entertainment channel is demonstrated not only through the channel’s current availability in the Philippines through an MTV Asia feed, but also through a weekly program, 100% Pinoy, which is dedicated to introduce and feature Filipino acts to viewers across the region.

“We have a strong MTV fan base from the Philippines, so this move demonstrates our commitment to strengthen local programming and cater to the specific viewing preferences of Filipino millennials. It is vital for us to find the right partner who is not only able to help extend MTV’s presence and deepen our brand engagement, but shares the same synergy as we continue to promote and reflect local and cultural tastes and music talents across the region,” said VIMN Asia’s executive vice president and managing director, Indra Suharjono. “Over the past twelve months, we’ve seen our business evolve and hit new milestones in the Philippines, where we further expanded Comedy Central Asia, MTV Live and Nick Jr. distribution in the Philippines, so this is yet another milestone that reinforces how invested we are in this market.”

Plans for MTV Pinoy include local productions, on-ground events and an enhanced range of programs specially catered for the Philippines youth market, including the “MTV VJ Hunt” for the Philippines. The selected MTV VJs will become the extension of the brand’s personality in the Philippines, present MTV Pinoy’s original productions, introduce viewers to the hottest local and international talents that go through the Philippines. The plan is to fully localize MTV Pinoy – made in Philippines for Filipino viewers.

“Viva Communications is very excited to collaborate with VIMN to launch such an iconic youth entertainment brand like MTV by leveraging our strengths in local production and our strong relationships with agencies and advertisers,” said Vic del Rosario Jr., chairman and CEO, Viva Communications, Inc. “We are confident in our ability to bring great Pinoy programming that will help grow a strong base of core viewers across the Philippines and enable MTV to be more locally relevant to subscribers.”
Five months ago, Viva had commenced as Comedy Central Asia’s provincial distributor in the Philippines.

-end-

About Viva Communications, Inc.
Viva was established in 1981 as a film production company. Over the years, Viva Communications has become one of the largest entertainment companies in the Philippines with interests in movie production, home video, artist management, music, concert and event management, and pay television.

About MTV
MTV is the world’s premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. Outside of the United States, MTV is part of Viacom International Media Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. For information about MTV in Southeast Asia, visit www.mtvasia.com.

About Viacom International Media Networks
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is comprised of many of the world’s most popular multimedia entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, VH1, VIVA, COLORS, Game One and Tr3s: MTV, Música y Más. Viacom brands are seen globally in more than 600 million households in 170 territories and 37 languages via more than 200 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 550 digital media and mobile TV properties. For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom’s blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Viacom.

Media Contacts:
Viacom International Media Networks
Adeline Ong, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Asia
t: (65) 6420 7240 m: (65) 9366 7323
e: adeline.ong@vimn.com

Viva Communications, Inc.
Andrew de Castro, Channel Head – MTV Pinoy
t: (63) 2 6876181 loc 613 m: (63) 9399 157400
e: adecastro@viva.ph

(November 5, 2013) COME 2014, Singapore viewers will be able to enjoy more quality local programming on pay-TV as well beyond Free-To-Air (FTA) television.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) said on Tuesday that it has appointed StarHub to commission and produce original Public Service Broadcast (PSB) programmes which will air on its pay-TV and Internet television platforms, and be made available to all.

PSB programmes play a significant role in contributing to Singapore’s nation-building objectives to foster a cohesive, inclusive and informed society.

Read more at The Business Times

Alliance creates synergies and opportunities to accelerate growth in the satellite M2M market

5 November, 2013 – LONDON: Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, and ORBCOMM Inc. (Nasdaq: ORBC), a leading global provider of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions, today announced a strategic alliance to collaborate on joint product development and distribution to address the needs of the rapidly growing satellite M2M market. In addition, they will investigate opportunities for future satellite network expansion and integration.

Inmarsat and ORBCOMM will work together to create a standard satellite platform and develop cost-effective hardware and flexible service pricing models for the global M2M industry. ORBCOMM is in the process of building a series of interchangeable modems powered by ORBCOMM’s OG2 VHF network and Inmarsat’s L-band network. These modems are expected to have the same footprint, connectors, power input, and programming environment. Manufacturers and partners will be able to drop in the appropriate modem that corresponds with either the ORBCOMM or Inmarsat network based on geography, message size and delivery speed for unrivaled ease of use and flexibility.

In addition, users will be able to take advantage of ORBCOMM’s relationships with Tier One cellular providers for dual-mode service, including either satellite network. ORBCOMM also will offer its unique MAPPTM (Multi-Network Access Point Platform), which seamlessly translates and integrates the communications from its diverse network service partners into a uniform set of commands and information. This will facilitate a uniform platform for provisioning, billing and multi-mode access for M2M applications, supported by Inmarsat’s M2MAP (M2M Access Platform), enabling access to network and terminal management tools for wholesale integration with ORBCOMM.

These versatile offerings are expected to be available in ORBCOMM’s end-to-end solutions businesses in the heavy equipment, fixed asset and transportation industries, as well as through ORBCOMM’s Value-Added Reseller (VAR) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) channels. ORBCOMM will be leveraging off Inmarsat’s IsatData Pro (IDP), a satellite packet data service offering the highest payload and lowest latency in the market, and BGANM2M, a 3G service offering real-time IP data up to 512 kbps on a single global SIM – the only service of its kind in the satellite M2M space. ORBCOMM and Inmarsat expect to distribute these solutions globally through their extensive commercial and government distribution networks. Given the compelling complementary, respective strengths in coverage, response time, antenna size, and message size, the quality of service and geographic footprint of the ORBCOMM and Inmarsat offering will be unmatched.

ORBCOMM and Inmarsat will also look to find potential synergies in multiple areas, which could include leveraging technologies, capital expenditures, product development, satellite operations, and ground infrastructure support for future satellite deployments. Today, ORBCOMM operates a constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and Inmarsat operates a constellation of geostationary (GEO) satellites.

“By working with ORBCOMM and leveraging their 20 years of expertise in M2M, we can round out our mobile communications offerings by delivering ORBCOMM’s dynamic M2M solutions and dual-mode network services to our global customer base,” said Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our combined strengths will be unmatched in the satellite M2M space. We look forward to working with ORBCOMM to maximize our service offerings in the satellite industry and expand our footprint in M2M through our ground-breaking standard satellite platform.”

“As the leader in satellite M2M, we are excited to team with Inmarsat, the industry’s largest MSS player, to set the standard for satellite solutions in M2M,” said Marc Eisenberg, ORBCOMM’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our goal with Inmarsat is to create a compelling offering for the M2M industry by developing a truly innovative, scalable – and most importantly – a standard satellite-based global M2M platform. We want to make it as easy as possible for M2M solutions companies to use the most appropriate network for their unique application needs without having to invest huge amounts of development time and capital in each capability.”

ORBCOMM and Inmarsat will host a conference call to discuss their strategic alliance on Tuesday, November 5, 2013, at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time (USA)/3 P.M. GMT (UK).

To access the conference, UK callers should dial 0800-358-5271, while US participants should dial 1-888-549-7880 at least ten minutes prior to the start of the call. All other international callers should dial 1-480-629-9643. To hear a live web simulcast or to listen to the archived webcast following completion of the call, please visit the Company’s website at www.orbcomm.com, select the “About Us” tab, then the “Investor Relations” tab, then select “Presentations and Webcasts,” to access the link to the call. To listen to a telephone replay of the conference call, please dial 1-800-406-7325 domestically or 1-303-590-3030 internationally and enter reservation identification number 4649158. The replay will be available from approximately 12:00 PM ET on November 5, 2013, through 11:59 PM ET on November 19, 2013.

About Inmarsat

Inmarsat plc is the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services. Since 1979, Inmarsat has been providing reliable voice and high-speed data communications to governments, enterprises and other organizations, with a range of services that can be used on land, at sea or in the air. Inmarsat employs around 1,600 staff in more than 60 locations around the world, with a presence in the major ports and centres of commerce on every continent. Inmarsat is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ISAT.L). For more information, please visit www.inmarsat.com.

About ORBCOMM Inc.

ORBCOMM is a global provider of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions. Its customers include Caterpillar Inc., Doosan Infracore America, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Hyundai Heavy Industries, I.D. Systems, Inc., Komatsu Ltd., Cartrack (Pty.) Ltd., and Volvo Construction Equipment, among other industry leaders. By means of a global network of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and accompanying ground infrastructure as well as our Tier One cellular partners, ORBCOMM’s low-cost and reliable two-way data communication services track, monitor and control mobile and fixed assets in our core markets: commercial transportation; heavy equipment; industrial fixed assets; marine; and homeland security.

ORBCOMM is an innovator and leading provider of tracking, monitoring and control services for the transportation market. Under its ReeferTrak®, GenTrakTM, GlobalTrak®, and CargoWatch® brands, the company provides customers with the ability to proactively monitor, manage and remotely control their cold chain and dry transport assets. Additionally, ORBCOMM provides Automatic Identification System (AIS) data services for vessel tracking and to improve maritime safety to government and commercial customers worldwide. ORBCOMM is headquartered in Rochelle Park, New Jersey and has its network control center in Dulles, Virginia. For more information, visit www.orbcomm.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for future events and include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements, including those concerning the Company’s expectations, are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results, projected, expected or implied by the forward-looking statements, some of which are beyond the Company’s control, that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, specific consideration should be given to various factors described in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” and Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and other documents, on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements or cautionary factors, except as required by law.