31 March, 2017

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Mar 31st. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

John Medeiros Chief Policy Officer Have been getting emails this week from members in Hong Kong seeing English-language ads in their Facebook feeds for a China-made pirate ISD box; apparently the local reseller for the fully-loaded boxes is paying for Facebook ads, targeting expats in HK.  (Tell me it’s not true!  Facebook profiting from piracy??  Nooooo….)    There’s not much difference between this box and the ones sold by shops and stalls in Sham Shui Po – except for the glitzy English-language ads!  Hong Kong has not done much to clamp down on widespread ISD sales.  Other jurisdictions are one by one getting their act together, though:  last week a Court of Appeal in Canada let stand an injunction against a bevy of ISD sellers, prohibiting them from selling the boxes they had been shamelessly advertising as ways to get pay-TV content without paying.   The sellers didn’t contest the facts, they just tried the usual dilatory arguments to the effect that the boxes were just empty devices, and the plaintiff cable companies hadn’t proved they were damaged by the ISD sales.  The judges gave them short shrift; so the injunction stands, and meanwhile the main case accusing the sellers of copyright violations continues to wend its way through the courts.

Christopher Slaughter CEO

It’s that time again, with the upfronts underway in the US; this year’s playbook is pretty clearly focused on emphasising not just great new shows, but innovations in measurement and addressability.  But there are also efforts being made to show that advertising on TV is about more than just audiences, it’s also about the context in which those ads appear.  That tactic is more than just a nod to the recent boycott of YouTube advertising by major brands in Europe and the US: “…we would be foolish not to lean into that in some way.”   And with companies like JPMorgan Chase slashing its online ad inventory from 400,000 to just 5000 and seeing no negative results, it’s possible this year’s upfronts could lead to some interesting outcomes.

Mark Lay Vice President, Singapore

A month ago I did a piece on SpaceX landing a Falcon 9 rocket, so why another piece today?  Well, rockets are cool, this story also includes CASBAA member SES and history was made! They are so cool that I woke my 12-year old up early this morning to watch SpaceX launch and land the same rocket…for the second time.  A reused Falcon 9 put SES-10 into a successful orbit and also landed back onto their drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (Youtube video.) What does this mean to one’s pocketbook, “the cost to launch a Falcon 9 starts at around $60 million, launching on a used rocket could start at around $40 million”. Cool savings too.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Bangladesh has signed an agreement with India to formally join New Delhi’s ‘South Asia Satellite’ initiative where the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) intends to launch a communication satellite serving the South Asia region.  Potentially each participating country would be able to use a dedicated transponder for its own internal use for various communication needs including television broadcast or DTH television services. Officials said that All South Asian countries, except Pakistan, will be part of the project. Meanwhile, switching gears from hi-tech to “lower tech” a local Bangladesh provider has launched its first telcom tower made form Bamboo. The innovative move replaces the need for steel towers, is cheaper and can be installed on rooftops without putting any additional stress on buildings.

Kevin Jennings Vice President

Officials in Myanmar announced the country will provide access to low cost broadcast channels under its national satellite programme. To promote the country’s communications sector, the government signed a five-year contract with Intelsat last year. The low price will be made available for government ministries and private companies to launch their own channels through the project called “Myanmar Sat 1”.