Singapore – The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has issued a Niche TV Licence to Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), which plans to launch Razor TV, an interactive Web TV service with a strong emphasis on local content offering both live and video-on-demand programmes. The five-year Niche TV licence will facilitate SPH’s entry into the local IPTV market, establishing it as the first media company in Singapore to develop a new genre of TV with live web studio streaming and real time audience interactivity. Part of the two-tier licence framework, the Niche Subscription TV Licence was introduced by MDA in 2007 to facilitate the growth of IPTV services in Singapore. There are currently eight Nationwide and Niche commercial and trial IPTV/VOD service providers, including SPH, offering more than 125 TV channels to viewers in Singapore. “MDA encourages traditional media players such as SPH to reach out and engage our increasingly Internet and technology savvy viewers in Singapore with interactive content through new media broadcasting platforms such as IPTV and participative web 2.0 technologies, “said Ling Pek Ling, director, media policy, MDA.