10 October, 2014

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Oct 10th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

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Christopher Slaughter CEO	That sound you heard was yet another shoe dropping; separately this week, both Comcast shareholders and shareholders in Time Warner Cable approved the companies’ planned merger. Next stop, the FCC, which has extended its deadline for public comment until October 29, a move which some commentators feel indicates the regulator might have misgivings about the deal. Meanwhile, opposition to the merger continues to build, with consumer activists filing objections, and, of all things, the city of Lexington, Kentucky threatening to block the deal. Oh, and Netflix is still unhappy about it, too.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	The ever-rising cost of broadcasting rights for sports has been a topic in many Asian countries, with some pay-TV operators in SE Asia and India coming in for heat for “over-paying” for rights. (Governments, of course, always know what the right price should be…) Well, now the same controversy has come to the USA, with pay-TV networks being blasted for “reckless spending” on sports rights. It’s the USA, so the spending in question is on basketball, not soccer which is the source of controversy in Asia. Meanwhile, in China, sports rights are coming in for another sort of treatment: the usually vitriolic Global Times turned into a pussycat, and published a column saying fans should be happy to pay for sports, as this means the dismal state of Chinese sport may actually improve.
Michael Steel Regulatory Assistant	Well-known TV writer to fans: if you love our stuff, get it from a legal network! “Unlawfully downloading TV shows can doom them, which is probably not the intention of most people who pirate television shows…”
Christopher Slaughter CEO	A lot of news about Turner this week, especially since the announcement it was cutting nearly 1500 jobs worldwide. The retrenchments have been expected since June, when CEO John Martin unveiled his “Turner 2020″ initiative, and are part of a broader effort to reinvigorate the company. At the same time, CNN’s President Jeff Zucker has also been in the spotlight, particularly with a long (5000+ words) and fairly gossipy profile on him published in NY Magazine this week.
Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore	Should we in the pay TV business fear the internet or embrace it? How about sell to it? “I was surprised at how direct the corollary was between dialing up TV spend and finding increased revenue,” said Sean Cunningham, CEO of CAB. “This corollary is very real.” The article goes on, “Of 75 pure-play Internet brands, nearly 90 percent of those companies’ marketing activities (63 of 75 brands) show a direct connection between TV spending and higher website traffic, according to CAB and Nielsen Ad Views data.” Ad Sales Departments take note.
John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer	I missed this one initially: a couple of weeks ago the online advertising trade body (IAB) in the USA announced a new “accountability” program to squelch malpractices in online ads – including placement of ads on piracy sites. More power to them; our own research in Asia shows such a sense of responsibility is totally lacking in the Asian ad industries, which so far prefer to “take the money and ask no questions.” Said the IAB’s EVP: “This notion…is going to send some shockwaves. A lot of people are just doing business as usual and life is good, but taking a stand and saying we’re not as healthy as we need to be will be a major step for the entire industry.” Amen.
Sara Madera Director, Member Relations & Marketing	Malaysia is looking to become a bigger player in the Pay TV space with Astro and Kantar Media partnering to collect and analyze return path data, offering opportunities for advertisers and content providers. This system will be deployed in 2015, and take into account time shifted and interactive TV viewing. I wonder if they are planning for the future and will include mobile views as well?
Desmond Chung Associate Director, PR & Communications	The treasured tradition of waking up early to catch Saturday morning cartoons will be no more in the US when the CW Network Pulls the Plug on the Vortexx. Hit by mandatory educational programming requirements and 24/7 cartoon channels, this childhood staple is going the way of the Sinornithosaurus! It also doesn’t help that competing OTT services like YouTube are also beefing up their content geared toward kids.
Christopher Slaughter CEO	It’s probably the most critical step in the development of the 4K standard in broadcasting, but consumers appear to be starting to consider replacing their HD TVs with 4K screens. Call it 4K, or UHD TV (for “Ultra High Definition”) or call it 4K UHD TV (like you are apparently supposed to), or call it all a bunch of hype, but there is a definitely a lot of interest in the standard. Find out more at our panel “The Case for 4K” at the upcoming CASBAA Convention — and if you’re not signed up yet, register now!