MDA Awards First Niche TV License

SINGAPORE, March 6: The
Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has issued its first niche
subscription TV license to VeeV Interactive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sky
Media.

Under the five-year niche
subscription TV License, VeeV will be able to offer a broad range of programs,
including scheduled and on-demand TV services, over any delivery platform for
up to 100,000 subscribers in Singapore. Additionally, VeeV plans to roll out a
commercial IPTV service focused on educational content and intends to expand
its digital-media business into Singapore.

The niche subscription TV
license is part of the two-tier license framework that the MDA introduced in
2007 to facilitate the growth of IPTV services in Singapore by offering
operators greater flexibility to roll out services for different market segments.
The other license category is the nationwide subscription TV license, which
caters to operators targeting the mass market. The first nationwide IPTV
license was awarded to SingNet in January 2007 for its mioTV service.

“MDA is pleased that our
pro-business regulatory framework has helped pave the way for new IPTV service
providers to enter the market with innovative and diverse programming content,”
said Ling Pek Ling, the director of media policy at the MDA. “We hope to see
more IPTV service providers use Singapore as a launch pad to regionalize their
business and test-bed new IPTV technologies and solutions.”

—By Irene Lew