19 August, 2016

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Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending August 19th. 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

Christopher Slaughter

CEO

CASBAA CPO John Medeiros and I have been in Seoul this week, so we can be forgiven for our new addiction to Korean drama — specifically, the drama around China’s clampdown on Korean TV shows that has serious financial implications for the local production industry, particularly since China accounts for about 40% of the overseas exports of Korean shows.  Of course, it’s actually all about the military, right?  That is, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, intended to protect against North Korea’s eminently logical leadership and their tendency toward nuclear brinksmanship; but which China thinks could be a loaded gun pointed directly at it.  But the ban isn’t stopping the fans, although certain advertisements with questionable political messages aren’t really helping much. Like any good drama, there are cliffhangers a-plenty, enough to keep you tuning in week after week: watch this space.


John Medeiros

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

It looks like 4K/UHD broadcasting is finally arriving, as a commercial offering.   A few weeks ago, we reported that sales of 4K TV sets in Japan have really taken off.   In Korea this week, we learned that – although there are only an estimated 50,000 4K/UHD sets in Korean homes, several pay-TV operators are aggressively rolling out competitive UHD channel offerings.  IPTV operators SK Broadband and KT Olleh have 3 UHD channels each, while direct broadband competitor LG U+ has one.  The UHD king, though, is KT Skylife, with five operating UHD channels.   Meanwhile, in Europe,Sky began its broadcasts of English Premiership games in UHD, and the upcoming IBC show is full of UHD announcements.  And in Hong Kong, PCCW is moving to offer 4K to its subscribers as well.    Research companies say UHD equipment in homes is multiplying rapidly.


John Medeiros

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Here’s the department of “I read it on the Internet, so it must be true:”  Last week, Singapore’s Parliament passed the legislation to reorganize the Media Development Authority (MDA) and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).  Reports detailed the new functions to be exercised by the merged IMDA, and the IT promotion/security part of IDA, which will now be called GovTech.  Okay, that’s all pretty straightforward.   Except I was led to all this by having this internet report pop up in my press feed, alleging that GovTech is “a new censorship agency.”   Huh???    Part of a “modern information war against independent news sites.”    Huh???  Lion City paranoia seems alive and well.


Mark Lay

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

Media companies are engaging with social media in different ways. Digiday has a great piece this week on How Sky News distributes video on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. With the Premier League just kicking off, Sky Sports used Facebook and YouTube to stream their popular “Soccer Saturday”. Though, a number of media companies are resisting striking deals with Facebook Inc. for its video features. “TV executives say they’ve been put off by the tech company’s constantly-shifting goalposts and its failure to articulate a clear path for content owners on how they’ll make money from participating in its video offerings.”


Kevin Jennings

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

Twitter is apparently in talks with Apple to bring the Twitter app to Apple TV. According to a report in the New York Times the deal would allow Apple TV users to use the Twitter app to stream NFL football games and other live content under Twitter’s growing number of video deals. In April Twitter agreed to pay the NFL around USD 10 million to stream 10 games and to sell only a portion of the ad inventory exclusively. (Facebook had reportedly set tougher terms in the bidding, under which the social network wanted to sell all the ads that would air during the games.) Twitter will stream its first NFL game on Sept. 15.  But the question is will its $10 million deal pay off?


John Medeiros

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

Media Business Asia has this interesting take on the situation of Thailand’s SVOD industry.   MPA’s Vivek Couto will explain his take on developments in Thailand at CASBAA’s Thailand in View Conference, on September 6, in Bangkok.   Don’t miss it.  


John Medeiros

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

And in piracy news this week:   
·  US Courts told Kim Dotcom to buzz off, he can’t have his money back (until he sits through a trial, anyway.)  But he continues to fight extradition, thus delaying the final outcome, whatever it will be.  
·  Responding to a suit filed by Tata Sky, the Delhi High Court said YouTube is obligated to pay attention to the videos it hosts, and may not host illegal content related to piracy.  (In this case, vids offering instruction on how to hack into Tata Sky’s pay-TV bouquet.)  No more of this approach for YouTube.
·  Three cheers for the PIPCU IP police, in the UK, who raided a black-box streaming TV operation that was broadcasting to “tens of thousands of people across the globe.”
·  Most of the content industry these days doesn’t believe in suing end-users.   But a Singapore law firm has got powers of attorney from some independent film makers, and they’re going after the downloaders.   Batten the hatches; I foresee stormy weather ahead.  


Jane Buckthought

Jane Buckthought

Advertising Consultant

UK’s subscription-free satellite TV service Freesat is enabling the first live audience measurement service showing viewing free-to-air (FTA) behaviour in real time.  The anonymised data is captured from over 100,000 connected Freesat set-top boxes and then processed by TVbeat’s platform. Data available includes info on Audience Flow, for viewers moving across channels and programming; Audience Retention, for returning viewers to the same series; Time-Shifted Data based on PVR usage, and VOD Impact with data from catch-up and other on-demand services.


Christopher Slaughter

Christopher Slaughter

CEO

The Rio Olympics still have a couple days to go, and as we mentioned last week, this edition of the Games has been an interesting bellwether for digital disruption.  No question about it, ratings for linear television have fallen in the US, although the full picture won’t emerge until after the last torch has been blown out in Brazil.  But despite the lower ratings, NBC is still confident that it will win plenty of gold of its own, and that this will be the most profitable Olympics for the peacock network yet.


Andrew Lin

Andrew Lin

Regulatory Assistant

Last week, authorities of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) sent an e-letter to Pokemon Go developer Niantic, requesting that they establish Pokemon-free zones around dangerous areas, religious places, state property, and private property. Officials believe that playing Pokemon Go in sensitive locations could be a threat to national security. It did not come as a surprise that people flooded social media with their frustration and disbelief.


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