Event Preview: CASBAA Convention

By 2014, almost 450 million homes in the Asia Pacific will be subscribing to pay-TV services, according to a recent forecast. All the major players catering to that huge base—be they channel operators or cable, satellite and IPTV platforms—are expected to be in attendance at this year’s CASBAA Convention at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong from October 25 to 28. Organized by CASBAA, a trade organization representing the pay-TV industry in the Asia Pacific, this year’s convention takes place under the banner of "Unlock Your Networks."

Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of CASBAA, explains, "Unlock your networks refers to your TV network, your personal networks, even your algorithms. Unlocking is allowing the market and the dynamics of the relationships [in the market] to become transparent."

Regulation will certainly be one of the key topics during the four-day convention in Hong Kong. Among the issues on the table is sure to be “exclusivity,”—the ability for broadcasters to sign exclusive contracts with carriers.

In the recent debate on Singapore’s mandate for “cross-carriage” of content, CASBAA has emphasized that “prohibitions on exclusivity are an unwarranted intrusion into the market, which will distort the market and ultimately cause broadcasters to begin to step back from their investments in Singapore. If you’re a channel that may have been going to invest in a market like Singapore with a new product, like 3D content, for example, [you may decide not to] because you’ve got no guarantees in terms of revenues from an exclusive contract."

However, for Twiston Davies, a key issue in Singapore is that of "contagion." He notes, "Singapore has been seen as a poster child for the industry. Thus, for instance, in Vietnam the issue of exclusive contracts has suddenly become an issue. Similar questions are being asked in Thailand. The implications of the new Singapore regulations for the rest of the region could produce a radical unbalancing of the business model, dramatically changing the dynamics of our industry."

Singapore will be in the spotlight with other markets during the session "Taking Center Stage," exploring territories vying to be Asia’s top media hub, with representatives on hand from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and India. Another key Asian market, China, will be examined in the "Brand New China" session.

The schedule also includes a presentation by Tomoyuki Moriizumi, the president and CEO of Japanese cable giant Jupiter Telecommunications, during a session called "The Great Asian Network." The program also features David Haslingden, the CEO of Fox International Channels; Ajai Puri, the director and CEO of the DTH business at India’s Bharti Airtel; Rudy Tanoesoedibjo, the CEO of Indonesia’s Indovision; and Alex Arena, the group managing director of PCCW.

Other panels will cover Asia’s news channels, mobile TV, 3D, online business models and sports rights. Advertising is also a major component, with a keynote by Nick Brien, the CEO of McCann. A keynote is also slated from Robert M. Bakish, the president of MTV Networks International.

The tone of this year’s CASBAA Convention is expected to upbeat, Twiston Davies says, given the overall rosy outlook for the region’s multichannel industry. "The market is healthy," he says. "We’re still seeing subscriber numbers going up. Pay-TV advertising revenues in some markets have gone up almost 50 percent since last year. Recovery is in full swing: new channels, investments in HD, investments that are coming for 3D. Broadcasters are very bullish about the future."