CASBAA Takes Stance Against New Singaporean Pay-TV Rules

HONG KONG: New legislation for the Singaporean pay-TV industry is putting the market’s status as a key regional media hub under threat, according to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA).

The island nation recently announced new rules that require cross-carriage of content on pay-TV platforms StarHub and SingTel. The move, says the Asian pay-TV trade body, prevents content owners and creators from competitively negotiating deals. “Most importantly it is consumers who will be the losers, with long-term access to a whole generation of new video content jeopardized,” said Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of CASBAA. 

The new cross-carriage laws also violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) copyright agreements, CASBAA noted. In addition, if "free and fair contracts" can’t be negotiated, companies will not be able to adequately invest in content, channels or technological upgrades such as HD and 3-D.

“Over more than a decade, Singapore has made the most notable progress in the region when attracting international content companies to the country,” said Twiston Davies. “Yet the ‘cross-carriage remedy’, insisting on the sharing of high value programming, damages the interests of every content owner and distributor.”

He continued: “We believe the government and the regulator, the Media Development Authority (MDA), have made a serious miscalculation of the damage to Singapore’s economic interests through this excessively broad regulatory decision. … The new regulations impose a form of ‘compulsory licensing’ that is not acceptable."

Twiston-Davies also noted that the single set-top box that is being developed for the country’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network will resolve consumer complaints about having to own multiple boxes—one of the factors cited as the rationale for the new legislation. “This will render the new rules unnecessary,” said Twiston Davies. “With that in mind, there is no need to deprive the entire content industry of its business rights or consumers of a potentially vast range of new programming.”