Singapore- New IPTV service provider SingTel’s second appeal to gain access to cabler StarHub’s content covered by exclusive carriage deals with content providers was turned down by Singapore’s Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA), Lee Boon Yang, on July 27. Following a three-year study on the impact of exclusive carriage contracts, the minister upheld the Media Development Authority of Singapore’s decision against SingTel’s initial appeal on May 10, 2006 which ruled that StarHub’s deals do not necessarily restrict competition in the local market. He stated SingTel had been unable to prove that StarHub’s agreements “foreclose” potential entrants’ access to key content in the market, and that “there remained ample scope for commercial negotiations”.