CASBAA: Asia’s Pay TV Continues to Dominate

HONG KONG: The competitiveness of the multichannel landscape in Asia was a key topic at the CASBAA convention, which drew more than 700 delegates, speakers, sponsors and media from around the world.

According to CASBAA, competition in the multichannel industry is higher than ever. Jack Wakshlag, the chief research officer at Turner Broadcasting in the U.S., said that the idea that pay TV is largely recession-proof has been put to the test this year. “Cable networks are experiencing less negative impact than print and the traditional broadcast networks despite the current challenging environment. People are buying bigger TVs and High Definition (HD) only increases the audience’s interest in TV.”

Mark Patterson, the CEO for Asia Pacific at GroupM, agreed: “TV is making a comeback. One third of respondents to a recent survey said they were staying in more and a quarter were watching more TV….Our belief is that Asians still have a significant love affair with TV.”

Todd Miller, the executive VP for networks in Asia Pacific at Sony Pictures Television, pointed out that a key to sustaining growth will be the ability of the pay-TV business to make use of new digital distribution platforms. “Our core business isn’t changing in the foreseeable future and we have mobile extension, catch-up TV, online communities and tightening windows. All these go back to support our core business.” 

The growth of the Indian channel market was also a focus at the convention, notably the increasing channel choice and 105-million strong subscriber base. The debate on China’s video services was another area that attracted attention. According to David Rubio, the COO of Cisco China, there are 300 million-plus Internet users and more than 70 percent are online video consumers, the majority of whom are not fully satisfied with the online video experience. Rubio said China represented a “huge opportunity” for the right delivery systems. 

Sports was another hot topic, as competition for rights continues to heat up. "Sports fans demand the best available content and that is what we deliver," said Russell Wolff, the executive VP and managing director of ESPN International. "We also favor the market and we are in favor of laissez faire on rights." Added Ma Guoli, the CEO and managing director of Infront Sports & Media, “While there is some competition for sports rights in China the reality is that only CCTV can afford the huge fees for major events such as the World Cup soccer and the Olympics.” 

During a special address, Makato Harada, the director-general of the international planning and broadcasting department of NHK, said their network is aggressively moving to digital and will complete its digital transition by July 2011. “NHK now has 100 percent of production in HD and we are working on generating super HD. We don’t know if the effort of digitalization and HD will lead directly to an increase in revenue. But if we do not make the effort to expand with new services, we could lose our leadership position, especially with younger viewers.” 

Also addressing digital issues, Bernhard Glock, the president of the World Federation of Advertisers, called for a concerted effort on the part of advertisers and agencies to focus on the development of advertising for the digital space. Glock claimed that the basic principles of effective advertising had not changed, noting that the 30-second spot continues to be important, but he added that “the way people experience it will be different.”

The convention wrapped up with the CASBAA Bollywood Charity Ball, which raised $45,000 for The Dream School Foundation to help children in India. 

“We are delighted with the outcome of the Convention 2009,” said Marcel Fenez, the chairman of CASBAA. “Our industry can only continue to grow in the digital era and consumers can only benefit from more choices offered by content providers and channel operators.”