INFO BOX
IPTV Users More Than Double in 2007
The total number of IPTV subscribers worldwide grew by 117 per cent in 2007, reaching 12.34 million at year end, compared to 5.71 million at the end of 2006. According to new figures from the World Broadband Information Service from Informa Telecoms & Media, the biggest region for IPTV remains Western Europe. European IPTV subscribers topped 6.9 million in 2007, accounting for 57 per cent of the global total.
The bulk of subscriptions were in France, where incumbent France Telecom and alternative operators Free, Neuf and Telecom Italia's Alice, attracted more than 5 million IPTV customers by bundling the service free with broadband. Although a large proportion of these subscribers may not be paying for additional content, they receive free to air channels with their basic triple play packages, leading to France being in a league of its own when it comes to IPTV subscriptions. The country has nearly ten times as many IPTV subscriptions as second placed Spain and close to 75 per cent of the Western Europe total.
Some of Western Europe's larger operators finished 2007 with more modest subscriber bases, Informa said. Although Deutsche Telekom and BT more than doubled their subscriber numbers to more than 100,000 each, both still have some way to go to match the relative gains reached by their incumbent counterparts elsewhere. Simon Murray, principal analyst at Informa, said: "2007 was a watershed year for IPTV as many Western European telcos launched full packages. It will be interesting to note their approach to IPTV in the future: whether it is used to increase customer loyalty or whether it is a genuine money-making stand-alone service."
Notable gains were also made by the Asia Pacific region where China is now at around the 1 million subscriber mark. It has slightly fewer IPTV subscribers than in Hong Kong, which passed the 1 million mark in September and is now the world's most mature IPTV market, serving TV to 60 per cent of DSL customers.
The US has also begun to make headway, adding more than 1 million customers in 2007, largely on the back of fibre to the home (FTTH) rollouts led by Verizon and AT&T. Now more than half of the broadband subscribers in the US, connected using FTTH, view TV over their broadband connection. But Murray said that relative to competing multi-channel platforms, IPTV is still in the first phase of roll out and growth, with just 55 operators representing over 99 per cent of global IPTV subscribers, and IPTV itself representing less than 3 per cent of all global multi-channel subscribers. Telecoms.com, 12th March 2008
Young Asians Show Music and Mobile Fetish
Marketers wanting to engage with the Young Asian, aged 8 to 24, should invest in marketing strategies which use the music and online gaming platforms according Synovate's Young Asians study. Representatives from Yahoo, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) and Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, echoed these claims at today's press briefing in response to questions regarding some of the figures from Synovate's third edition of its Young Asian Survey.
Figures from the survey showed, in terms of internet activities participated in the last 30 days in Singapore, 62% of respondents said online games and 59% said they listened to music. On a regional level, which includes Australia, 37% of respondents said they couldn't live without the internet and 29% said the same about mobile phones. Wong Soon Nam, VP of consumer marketing for SingTel said the findings were not a surprise and validates some of the marketing activities SingTel has been doing for the youth. He also said the music and online gaming platforms would be areas where he would put more effort into what SingTel has been doing.
When it came to mobile, figures from the survey revealed that only 5% felt the mobile phone gave useful information and only 6% said it was a best entertainment source. When asked whether the figures represented a failure on marketers' part to meaningfully engage with ‘Young Asian' consumers through the mobile platform, acting GM for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions in Singapore, Richard Huggins agreed. However, Yahoo head of marketing for SE Asia, Bennett Porter said it was not that marketers were not using the medium rather, mobile hasn't been made easy for marketers to use, and access and buy and learn. She also warned marketers not to provide the exact same experience on the web, on the mobile phone, as it would be a failure.
Other notable results from the survey include figures for the total number of hours of activities Young Asians did per day which found Singaporeans spent 39.1 hours worth of activities per day. Porter said one thing the survey helps validate is today's consumers a master hyper-taskers and it's not something that executives only do but teenagers as well. "As a marketer and also as an advertising solution, what that tells us is that we need to make sure that we reach out to consumers in all of those places, not just online or not just offline but on the mobile phone and be able to offer solutions that allow advertisers to leverage all of the services and touchpoints that are important to them," she said.
The Young Asians 2008 survey had a sample size of 11,886, with Singapore making up 893 of this figure, and included Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. Marketing-Interactive.com, 13th Mar 2008
SPORTS SHORTS
* Malaysia would have to emerge as the group champions in the Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta in May to avoid a quarter-finals tie against Indonesia. And the team who could make it difficult for Malaysia in the Finals scheduled for May 11-18 are South Korea. The Koreans currently boast of having a team with better overall strength than the Malaysians. In the draw released yesterday, third seeds Malaysia are in Group B with South Korea and England. If Malaysia wins the group, they will be up against one of these three teams – Thailand, Germany or Japan – in the quarter-finals. TheStar.com, 13th Mar 2008
* StarHub will launch MNC - The Indonesian Channel, a 24-hour general entertainment channel on 17 March. Content will include Indonesian sitcoms, variety shows, documentaries, music and reality shows. Singapore is the second country in the world after Japan to air the channel outside of Indonesia. It will showcase programmes from top Indonesian channels Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI); Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia (TPI) which targets mid and low income class audiences and Global TV for teenagers. MNC Group's group president and CEO, Hary Tanoe Soedibjo, revealed too that after the local launch it will be looking to enter other markets such as Jeddah and Dubai. Marketing-Interactive.com, WorldScreen.com 13th Mar 2008
* Australia’s largest regional media business, Macquarie Media Group, is reducing its offshore exposure after revealing plans to sell its 60 per cent stake in Taiwan Broadband Communications to another Macquarie Group fund for about $400 million. MacMedia, which says it need not refinance any term debt until 2010, bought the stake in TBC in December 2005 for $414million. On top of the $400million reaped from the sale announced today, MacMedia also received a $239 million distribution from a refinancing of TBC in August lastyear. It has sold the TBC stake to the unlisted Macquarie Korea Opportunities Fund, managed by Australia's biggest investment bank out of South Korea. TheAustralianNews.com, yahoo.com, 13th Mar 2008
* Leading telecom operator Tata Communications said Wednesday the company has been elected to lead the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). The company's vice president of planning and retail business, Prateek Pashine, has been appointed the chairman of WBA, a statement released here said. Into its fifth year of operation, the WBA was created to drive the adoption of wireless broadband technologies and services around the world by developing a common commercial, technical and marketing framework for wireless network interoperability. Pashine said: "The company, which has the largest number of Wi-Fi hotspots in India and is also currently rolling out India's largest Wimax network, will now further leverage on this experience to help evolve global wireless standards." WebIndia123.com, 12th Mar 2008
* Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will carry out a ten-day tour of Asia in May as the German giants look to raise their profile on the continent, reports FIFA.com. On 18 May, the day after their final Bundesliga game, Bayern will fly to Indonesia to play the national side on 21 May before taking on the Chinese Olympic side on24 May and will play Indian side Mohan Bagun on the way home. The tour copies previous trips to Asia by Manchester United and Real Madrid and aims to keep Germany's top side in the public eye in Asia. Soccer Investor, 12th Mar 2008
* A strong line-up of stars from the Japan Golf Tour will head full speed to the Asian Tour International next week. Taiwan's Yeh Wei-tze and Japanese stalwarts Takuya Taniguchi, Nozomi Kawahara, Tatsuhiko Ichihara and Jun Kimuchi, who have all tasted triumphs in Japan, will take on their counterparts from the Asian Tour at the Pattana Golf and Sports Resort from March 20-23. The inaugural US$300,000 Asian Tour International, which is a full-field Asian Tour event, will see a total of 13 invited players from the Japan Golf Tour challenging for the title. Bangkokpost.com, 12th Mar 2008
* Vietnam is preparing to launch its first satellite, hoping to improve the country's telecommunications to keep pace with its rapid economic development, officials said. Vinasat No. 1 is scheduled to be launched April 12 from Kourou spaceport in South America, and will be ready for use in May, Nguyen Ba Thuoc, vice general director of state-owned VNPT told reporters. The $200-million satellite, which has a medium transmission capacity, will help make internet and television accessible nationwide, Thuoc said. Currently, businesses and the Vietnamese government are renting satellites from Australia, Thailand and Russia. Vietnam's economy has grown at an average annual rate of more than 7% for the last 10 years. It has 19 million internet users, and more than 40 million telephones, according to government figures. telecomasia.net, 13th Mar 2008
* Japan's second-largest telecom carrier KDDI would build new data management centers in Britain, France and Singapore to assist Japanese businesses overseas, an AFP report said. The AFP report said KDDI will invest 25 billion yen ($242 million) by 2010 to equip the sites in Singapore, London and suburban Paris for Japanese firms transmitting data. The company, which has been offering services since the 1980s for Japanese companies overseas, said the centers will allow better quality data management. KDDI already operates data hubs in Britain, China, France, Hong Kong and the US, the report said. It plans to expand as well to emerging economies including India, Vietnam, Russia and Poland. The company has increasingly aimed to make overseas data centers a core part of its revenue amid intense competition at home in mobile phone service, the AFP report further said. telecomasia.net, 13th Mar 2008
* The Infront Sports & Media agency signed Du-Bang Insurance as an Official Partner of the Chinese women’s national football Team. Under the deal, Du-Bang becomes presenting sponsor for six upcoming Team China Women pre-Olympic warmup matches, starting with the match China vs. North Korea on April 8, 2008. Infront’s partnership with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) includes responsibility for the marketing and providing key support for the technical development of the men’s, women’s and youth teams. Sportbusiness.com, 12th Mar 2008
* Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) has confirmed that the double gender Beach Volleyball Dubai Open will take place later this year as an event on the SWATCH (sponsor) FIVB 2008 World Tour. United Arab Emirates Volleyball Association President Mohamed Abdul Karim Julfar earlier this week rubber-stamped the event, which will take place in the Gulf state's largest city from October 5-11. Sport Insider, 12th Mar 2008
* The International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF) Board of Directors has allocated the World Junior Championships' hosting rights to Bahrain in 2011 and to Cape Town in South Africa in 2012. The decision is in keeping with the event's rotation policy which runs from Latin-America to Europe to Asia to Africa to North America to Oceania. "I believe the ITTF officials are quite comfortable with having this prominent competition in Bahrain," Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) Member Shaikh Ahmed told the Gulf Daily News. "They know that we are capable of fulfilling the requirements in hosting a world event like this." The annual event, which was first held in Chile in 2003, will be hosted by New Zealand in 2008 before going to Colombia in 2009 and Slovakia in 2010. Sport Insider, 12th Mar 2008
* UK broadcasters were today due to submit tenders for the media rights for European soccer’s top-tier Uefa Champions League, with debate still focussed on whether the BBC can legitimately bid for the rights, despite its charter forbidding it from carrying advertising. The BBC’s rivals, including commercial broadcaster ITV, have already complained of the BBC overstepping the mark in its commercial deals for other programmes, including its high-profile Sports Personality of the Year show. Free-to-air Champions League rights in the UK are presently held by the BBC’s commercial rival ITV, in a three-year, £120-million deal that expires after next season. The new tender is for the three seasons beginning 2009-10. Sportcal.com, 12th Mar 2008
* The FIH, field hockey’s world governing body, issued to the Indian Hockey Confederation that it risks losing the World Cup in New Delhi in 2010 unless it implements a series of measures contained in a so-called ‘Promoting Indian Hockey’ programme issued last year. The threat follows India’s men’s team’s shock elimination in a qualifying competition for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, meaning that India will not be represented at the games for the first time in more than 80 years. Failure to qualify was the latest manifestation of a long decline in the standard of Indian hockey which once was recognised as leading the world. Sportcal.com, 12th Mar 2008
* The Association des Cyclistes Professionnels (CPA) has asked to meet Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) President Pat McQuaid regarding the possible sanctions that could be handed out following the Paris-Nice race. The CPA is hoping to meet McQuaid following the conclusion of Paris-Nice this week in an attempt to clarify what sort of disciplinary action the UCI may take against the competing riders and teams in the controversial event. McQuaid last week urged riders to boycott the race, and also asked French officials to withdraw their support of Paris-Nice. The race is organised by Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), which also organises the Tour de France, but the UCI is angry that ASO has organised and operated the race under French laws, outside the jurisdiction of the world governing body. Sport Insider, 12th mar 2008
* The World Squash Federation Vice-President Heather Deayton hopes her recent visit to Hong Kong will strengthen squash's case for inclusion in the Olympic Games. The sport is currently played at all major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games, the Pan American Game and the Asian Games, but is not among the 28 sports scheduled for Beijing later this year. However, Deayton, who was in Hong Kong meeting members of the organising committee of the 2009 East Asian Games, believes Chinese support will help their case for inclusion by 2016. Sport Insider, 12th Mar 2008
* Perform and Telstra’s BigPond, Australia’s largest internet provider, agreed a deal to launch a global sports portal, Aussie Sport TV, broadcasting top Australian sports. BigPond holds exclusive online rights to the Australian Football League (AFL), the National Rugby League (NRL) and the V8 Supercars championship and Perform will market and deliver the content online to fans. Sportbusiness.com, 12th Mar 2008
* International Games Broadcast Services, the newly-named host broadcasting company formed through a joint venture between host broadcasting specialist HBS and international sports agency IMG, said today that it had won the contract to host broadcast this year’s inaugural Asian Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia. The joint venture, first formed to host broadcast the Asian Games in Doha in 2006, represents an unusual co-operation between rival agencies IMG and Infront Sports and Media, the international sports agency that owns HBS. Sportcal.com, 12th Mar 2008
* On March 10th, a contract was signed between FISU and Russian TV channel ‘SPORT’. FISU Secretary-General Eric Saintrond and the CEO of the All-Russian TV Channel ‘SPORT’, Mr. Vasily Kiknadze signed the contract. With this agreement, the Russian sports channel will broadcast the next two Winter and Summer Universiades (2009 and 2011) not only in Russia and all other Russian speaking countries, but also all over the world via the satellite channel ‘Planeta Sport’.This is an important deal for FISU, which confirms FISU’s important progress in the world of sports media. Sportsmedia.com, 12th March 2008
MORE NEWS
Asia/General: Asian Champions League Gets Under Way
The AFC Champions League kicks off today with 29 teams from 14 countries vying for the title, and the chance to represent Asia in this year's FIFA World Club championship. The defending champions, Urawa Reds of Japan, have been given an automatic place in the quarter-finals but the remaining 28 sides will have to battle it out the other seven spots. They have split into seven groups, four from West Asia and three from East Asia, who will play each other home and away over the next three months. Only the group winners will advance to the knockout stage. The AFC wants to introduce stricter qualifying criteria and has put all countries and clubs on notice by stripping Indonesia of their two spots this season for failing to finish their domestic competition in time.
The competition has undergone various format changes since it began in 1967 but has historically been dominated by teams from four countries: South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The inclusion of Australia has added a new dimension to the competition. Soccer Investor, 12th Mar 2008
India/New Media: Carriers Face Uphill Climb in IPTV
Indian telecom firms, seeking to increase revenue and stimulate demand by offering internet Protocol Television services, face hurdles of high costs, low broadband usage and slow speeds, industry executives, quoted by a Reuters report, said. "The interactivity in IPTV opens up a new platform for advertisers, which translates into higher revenues per user for the telecom firms," Aksh Optifibre's managing director, Kailash Choudhari, quoted by the Reuters report, said.
State-run MTNL and BSNL are the only companies which now offer limited IPTV services, or television or video signals over broadband, the report said. Bharti Airtel is expected to roll-out its services shortly, while Reliance Communications in November announced a $500 million pact with Microsoft Corp for IPTV services in India. IOL Netcom and Aksh Optifibre are battling high costs as television broadcasters charge telecom companies much more than cable operators for program feeds.
The Reuters report also quoted said IOL director A.S.Oberai as saying that "we are paying through our nose - paying a big amount to the broadcasters for each territory," MTNL's executive Director, J. Gopal added that "our franchisees are finding it difficult to get TV feed at the same rates which they provide to cable operators, with the result it is becoming more expensive for us." Broadcasters are looking for minimum subscriber guarantees, the report said. Any shortfall in subscribers has to be made good by the service provider, adding to costs, said Aksh's Choudhari.
Broadcasters "need to be assured of revenues before offering our content," said Ishwar Jha, CEO of Digital Media Convergence, which distributes content from Zee Entertainment and Zee News to alternate media platforms. Another big hurdle to popularizing IPTV is the low broadband penetration, the report further said. telecomasia.net, 13th Mar 2008
Asia/New Media: Report Projects Significant Gains in Asia Pacific Mobile-TV Market
According to a new Frost & Sullivan report, the mobile-video-services market in 12 Asia-Pacific countries, excluding Japan, earned revenues of more than $440 million in 2007 and is projected to reach $1.88 billion by the end of 2013. South Korea accounted for 87 percent, or $383.7 million, of the revenues in 2007 and will remain the biggest market for mobile video in Asia Pacific outside of Japan. However, other potential leading markets include Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
“Amid the growing interest in triple-play and mobile advertising, mobile TV has been the buzzword in the Asia-Pacific mobile and wireless market,” noted Shaker Amin, a Frost & Sullivan industry analyst. “The recent spate of trials and the commercial launches of broadcast networks in Japan and South Korea indicate that the mobile-TV fever could well catch on throughout the Asia-Pacific region.”
Two of the regions most mature mobile markets, South Korea and Japan, have introduced mobile-TV broadcast services (ahead of the other Asia-Pacific countries) built on homegrown standards. South Korea spearheaded the DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) standards, launching S-DMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) in 2005. Japan launched ISDBT (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial), or 1-seg, in 2006. Other markets that have commercially launched DVB-H mobile TV broadcast services include Vietnam’s VMC (Vietnam Multimedia Corporation) in September 2006, and the Philippines’ Smart Communications in February 2007.
In the rest of the Asia-Pacific markets, DVB-H and MediaFLO remain the most commonly selected standards for trials. In China, T-DMB (a different version from South Korea’s) and CMMB (China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting), both homegrown standards, are being evaluated. The report notes that pricing is the biggest hurdle to a wider uptake of mobile-video and TV services. In 2007, the total mobile ARPU in Asia Pacific stood at $16.8 (including Japan), largely due to the region’s lower disposal income. In addition, mobile-TV broadcast service (multicast) requires compatible handsets, which are not widely available throughout the Asia Pacific.
“In most markets, mobile-video service becomes especially expensive when a user exceeds the stipulated amount of data in a ‘flat-rate’ plan,” says Amin. “Considering that this is a major restraint to greater uptake, mobile operators could follow the example of South Korean operators who have implemented an ‘eat-all-you-can’ flat rate for data charges to encourage adoption.” WorldScreen.com, 12th Mar 2008
Global/New Media: Mobile Entertainment Revenues to Skyrocket
Due to a combination of greater 3G adoption and a marked increase in rich media, made for mobile content has the potential to drive mobile entertainment revenues to $47.5bn by 2010. However, industry analyst Juniper Research, said that the potential of entertainment service adoption will only be realised if significant improvements are made in areas such as the user interface, network coverage and reduction in the cost of data services. In some mobile areas, such as gambling and adult content, as well as some social networking services, national and international legislation could have an adverse impact on growth, or in some cases prevent any service deployment at all, the company said.
Juniper analyst Windsor Holden, said: "Traditionally, services such as ringtones and wallpapers accounted for the bulk of mobile entertainment services. However, usage patterns are changing rapidly with the increasing availability of more sophisticated and attractive content such as streamed and broadcast video, social networking services and multiplayer games, which have been designed specifically for the mobile environment."
China and the Far East region currently provide the largest market for mobile entertainment services, contributing around 41 per cent of global revenues. The Asia Pacific region is forecast to retain its leadership through to 2012, when it will still contribute 33 per cent of global revenues, Juniper said. Telecoms.com, 12th March 2008
Elsewhere/New Media: IPTV ‘Still Facing Difficulties’
IPTV World Forum opened in London March 12 with a recognition that there’s still something of mountain to climb. Dr Thomas Werner, Nokia-Siemens Network’s head of applications, summed up the challenges with his Keynote address, saying that while he was confident that IPTV deployments were beginning to reach mass market consumers in some parts of the world, “we still face difficulties”.
He compared and contrasted the recent argument between Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs in the packaged media space, and questioned why consumers would want Blu-ray when IPTV could deliver the same content, potentially in HD, anywhere around the IPTV-connected home, and on demand. “There is also a great deal of IPTV traction coming from homes where LCD and Plasma displays have been installed, and this is reflected in the growth of broadband generally.” As to IPTV’s “next big thing”, Werner said targeted advertising represented huge opportunities for the IPTV sector, “for vendors, for advertisers, for the creative community and for IPTV operators.”
However, he also called for much more rapid adoption of common standards in the set-top box sector. “We need not just common standards but to recognise that non-standardisation is an inhibition. Look at the early market for PCs, with dozens of players all operating their own standards. Only when they came together did the business really take off. We need common standards for us to achieve mass market, and this applies to devices that can be bought off the shelf, and allow third party suppliers to come into the box market.” Dr Werner argued that set-top boxes should be treated just like mobile phones, where the software was already embedded in the phone. Rapid TV News, 12th Mar 2008
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