Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Jan 27th. 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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27 january, 2017
20 january, 2017
13 january, 2017
6 january, 2017
23 December, 2016
16 December, 2016
9 December, 2016
2 December, 2016
25 November, 2016
18 November, 2016
4 November, 2016
28 October, 2016
21 October, 2016
14 October, 2016
7 October, 2016
30 September, 2016
23 September, 2016
15 September, 2016
9 September, 2016
2 September, 2016
26 August, 2016
19 August, 2016
12 August, 2016
5 August, 2016
29 July, 2016
22 July, 2016
15 July, 2016
8 July, 2016
30 June, 2016
24 June, 2016
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
At the risk of normalising what’s going on in the US, I decided to stop focusing on the White House for a while, and take a look at the latest on the AT&T Time Warner deal, remember that? It turns out, I needn’t have worried, because AT&T boss Randall Stephenson is normalising just fine, thank you: “I’ve got to say, I was impressed,” he said about his meeting with the new President. That conciliatory tone might be simply because despite all of Trump’s campaign posturing, the Administration might not actually be able to block the deal. And that’s despite questions being raised by various Democratic Senators about the acquisition, and shareholder lawsuits to stop a 15 February vote among Time Warner shareholders on the deal.
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
Speaking of big mergers, a MEGA-merger has been rumored between Charter Communications and Verizon. This comes roughly a year after Charter swallowed up Time Warner Cable and also while Verizon is deciding how to ingest Yahoo! “Verizon serves 114 million cellphone subscribers, 4.6 million TV customers and 7 million Internet subscribers; Charter has 17 million TV customers and 21 million Internet subscribers.” Pundits believe that the Trump administration is a lot more amenable to such mergers and that we could see more shortly. This desired “quad play” is something that us in Asia have been familiar with for years.
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
The NN (Net Neutrality) Wars are raging again in the USA. The nomination of Ajit Pai as the new FCC chairman has been greeted with an internet-media Greek chorus singing of doom, doom, doom. “It’s a disaster for you and me!” “A death sentence.” There’s anger and alarm! Pai is a “right-winger”, who will destroy. Kill. Hate. The hype is pretty nauseating; as Forbes columnist Larry Downes put it, “the misinformation bandwagon has opened an ugly new front.” Downes earlier wrote that the media chorus was abetting a set of vested interests: “The “analysts” that tech reporters are relying on are the same advocates who have pushed for the rules for a decade, often misrepresenting technical and legal realities in efforts to whip Internet users into a frenzy.” Where have we seen this before? Hmmmm. The word begins with C and ends with opyright.
But seriously, Ajit Pai is a guy we actually know. We invited him to speak at the 2015 CASBAA Policy Roundtable and CASBAA Convention. He’s not a Trumpian “outsider;” he’s been working on communications issues in Washington for over 15 years. He impressed me as a very smart, earnest and forthright guy who understands the need for safeguards so the internet remains accessible to all – but he does oppose the Tom Wheeler “full-on regulation” approach for ISPs, because he also understands the value of regulatory forbearance. “I prefer less regulation,” he told me onstage. “In 1995, the United States government made a bipartisan and historic commitment to allow market forces to govern how the internet would develop, and not to regulate as it had the telephone monopolies of old. The results speak for themselves……the way these (NN) regulations were adopted, it essentially treated every internet provider, big or small, as if it were a 19th-century railroad.” People in our industry – struggling to escape from the legacy of antiquated broadcasting rules designed for the world as it was in the 1950s – should cheer.
And if you look at the details, the internet chorus is sure that Pai’s appointment means the end of government supervision to prevent blocking of access to lawful content, intentional slowing of network traffic for anti-competitive purposes, etc. But those principles were being defended by the FCC and the FTC before the Wheeler “full-on regulation” was enacted, and they will remain part of the policy direction. Pai may well resume the task (abandoned by Wheeler) of looking for ways to enshrine the principles without full-on regulation. In reality, the Republican-dominated Congress is likely to be a much greater threat to NN regulations or other FCC powers, than Chairman Pai.
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC India) is attempting to shield itself against critics of its penalty-imposing actions against alleged manipulation of viewership trends by subscribing-TV channels. Move is afoot within BARC to completely review and legally overhaul contracts it signs with subscribers and also enforcing the opt-out clause mentioned in agreements. Aim: streamline the whole measurement process and safeguard against increased litigation.
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
Let’s have a closer look at that report from Irdeto last week, shall we? The one that said one out of three US consumers watch pirated content, and almost 40% don’t care about the revenue damage it causes the media industry. We sort of skated over it last week when the report came out, but it’s sort of a chilling conclusion; even if illegal streaming might not be on the rise, when a consumer wants to see a piece of content badly enough, they are willing to bend the rules a little to get it. And while we know the fight against piracy is by no means a new thing, here’s an interesting look back at anti-piracy ad campaigns of the 90s. Ahhhhh, youth.
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
Last week I reported on a “fair use” copyright case involving Paramount and CBS, who own the rights to the Star Trek series/movies. Now we hear the case has been settled; the fan-flick producers have agreed to shorten their planned videos, and make them available for free. That’s apparently close enough to the desired guidelines of the plaintiffs (who don’t want professional-quality knockoffs) that they agreed to settle the case (and thereby saved a gazillion dollars in legal fees). But without a court pronouncement there’s no guidance on the boundaries for others who might want to produce fan-flicks. That’s the problem with the “fair use” system: nobody has any clarity unless they want to lawyer up and get a court to rule.
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
Judicial review has its pros and cons. While broadcasting community few weeks back petitioned the court to review regulator TRAI’s validity to rule on tariff-related issues, another Indian court has asked two State governments as also New Delhi why they were compelling TV subs to switch over to digital services by making people buy STBs. Can’t analog and digital co-exist? This poser came from a high court a day before when MIB reiterated there would be no extension to digitisation’s phase III deadline of January 31, 2017. One step forward, two backwards?
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
Regulatory asymmetry between traditional broadcasting and OTT TV sounds like a dry topic, but it’s come in for some serious discussion in Thailand, with detailed scrutiny of Facebook Live. Companies that paid a zillion dollars for digital broadcasting licenses are worried that Facebook Live could turn into a serious competitor. (In mid-2016, Facebook reported it had 37 million users in Thailand. Some have turned the platform into a marketplace for trading counterfeit goods…..)
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
A few interesting articles in the world of streaming this week. Netflix and Amazon, with ballooning programming budgets, are set to poach more content from SVOD rivals, media companies. Apparently, “given the high cost of scripted originals, Netflix will need to incorporate more unscripted content in these efforts. As a result, Netflix (and the other SVOD players) will start to bid away name brand non-fiction shows from cable networks.” And, Hearst’s Esquire TV network is ditching its traditional linear TV business and will “restyle itself as a digital only channel.”
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
Snapchat may or may not become mobile television for younger generations. But the app’s parent, Snap Inc., which appears to be on the cusp of an IPO, wants TV advertisers to think about it that way and spend their money accordingly. Today, it signed a partnership with Nielsen’s mobile Digital Ad Ratings (mDAR) unit, giving brands the ability to buy guaranteed Snapchat audiences by age group and gender. For the most part, it’s the same kind of system—from ordering to measuring the results—that marketers are accustomed to with Nielsen’s TV offerings.
Member News
A+E adds editors-in-chief
AXN secures market leading position, Sony claims
BBC Worldwide, Amazon India enter licensing deal
Boeing Delivers ABS-2A into Full Operation
BSNL brings Ditto TV (by Zee Digital Convergence Ltd) to mobile customers
Demonetisation impacts ZEEL ad revenue for Q3-17
ESPN Expanding International Subscription Streaming Prowess
FOX SPORTS ASIATEAMS UP WITH AccorHotels in asia pacific
Major TVB shareholders to boost stakes
PwC: Deal Volumes, Values Rise in Q4
RTL CBS Entertainment climbs to number three during primetime among general entertainment channels on cable TV in the Philippines
Scripps Networks Interactive Appointed Leena Singarajah as Managing Director, Asia
SpaceX To Use Expendable Rocket For Upcoming Launch
Star plans to launch a premium HD Hindi movie channel under ‘Select’ brand
Star’s Hotstar top video streaming app in India: report
Viacom’s Comedy Central to be produced live in Dubai
Additional News
A leaked report shows how much money publishers make from platforms like Facebook, Google, and Snapchat
Adults over 50 are the fastest growing demo for online video: analyst
Are you misusing your Kodi box? If you are, piracy fighters have a warning for you
Canadian Stock Exchange Blocked Megaupload 2.0 Plans
CASBAA hails judicial review of broadcast & cable tariff
China: Streaming platforms face new, heavier restrictions from government watchdog
Ecclestone driven out as Liberty Media completes Formula 1 acquisition
GfK: U.S. Millennials Opting Out of Pay-TV Subscriptions
How Bollywood’s Priyanka Chopra And Deepika Padukone Are Breaking Into Hollywood
India: Broadcasters Bat For Parity with Print Medium under GST
India: Digital advertising in 2017: Elephant in the room?
India: Need for policy change for deeper internet penetration: TRAI head in Noida
India’s Airtel Digital TV struggles
President Trump Told That Strong Copyright Laws Are in His Interest
Regulating video in internet age: Pressing challenges, slow movement
Survey: Only One in Three Americans Know About 4K
Taiwan: CBIT to invest NT$10bn more in TV set-top boxes
TV Pilots 2017: The Complete Guide
We’re gonna make it after all: Let’s throw our hats in the air for Mary Tyler Moore
When Networks Aired Their Failed TV Pilots in the Middle of the Summer
Why Apple’s Unique Compromise With Netflix Is Important
Why Sky Sports isn’t panicking about the big TV turn off from live sports to Snapchat and co
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