In an interview with TV Asia Plus during the recent CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2012 in Singapore, Davies talks about CABAA’s role and responsibilities as an industry organisation, some of the changes he made since he took up its leadership position, as well as provides some of his outlook on the satellite TV broadcast industry.

Q: Tell us how the role of CASBAA has evolved since you came on board.
A: CASBAA has been tracking the development of the market by the time I had been with the association. CASBAA reflects the growth of the market—it has been following the evolution of platforms, content owners, and their relationships. We have 130 companies today, from about 50 members around 10 years ago.

We have also reworked the structure. The industry has requirements for us as a trade body—and that is to have more sophisticated approaches to regulations. And that has been my remit when I came in: to be reactive to the needs of the members and the market.

One of the most important things that you have to do if you are going to build your brand is to take the lessons you learned about major broadcasters building their brands and how they have retained the its value. I think that’s a very important part of over the past 10 years or so: keeping that brand assurance that you are delivering on promises as much as possible.

Q: What are some of the major changes you have made?
A: There has been a shift in emphasis from the agenda being solely set by the broadcasters and by the content owners, as the content owners have grown closer to the platforms and then you have to reach out to the platforms. The development of the platforms and to be reactive to their needs has been essential in the development of the association. Also, building the credibility of the association as an industry voice has been very important.

Q: How has CASBAA helped in consolidating the Pay-TV industry in Asia?
A: Our long term objective is to build consensus about growth and the opportunities for growth by having more sophisticated ways of approaching the consumer, and to encourage understanding that Asia-Pacific is not just one market—we have 18 diverse markets across the region. Just 10 years ago, there was a tendency to consider APAC as being APAC; so we’ll send up a satellite signal and someone will catch it when it comes down. That has become a huge difference in the development of the domestic market; it was very important.

Q: What key issue have you found challenging in you work as CEO of CASBAA?
A: The most challenging issue we have faced, and continue to face today, is revenue theft. How can you build your business if somebody is stealing 80 percent of your revenues? It won’t work.

Q: What can you say about the over-regulation in the industry?
A: CASBAA represents the 130 companies whom we’ve worked with. I’ve always taken the position of where we’ve wish to see less regulatory intrusion into the marketplace. Let the market decide; let the consumer decide as a grownup what he wants to watch—and what he wants to pay for that content. Regulatory intrusions into the market mechanism are to be greatly regretted, and almost always have unexpected outcomes, which are not necessarily in the interest of the consumers or the industry.

Q: What are the biggest demand drivers for satellite services in Asia?
A: The consumers, who want more and better, are driving the demand. They are getting used to multichannel TV and understanding more what multichannel TV can add and bring to the table. The advertising community is beginning to get a better handle on the power of Pay-TV, and how it can deliver more targeted audiences with more dollars in their pockets. Whether that plays out entirely in the Asia- Pacific, I don’t know, but the indicators are going up. That reflects consumer demand for high quality content, for competitive content, which can delineate a Pay-TV operator from the competition.

Pay-TV provides quality, choice and opportunity. If you deliver on promise of choice and quality, then you will see incremental changes into the demand for Pay-TV multichannel television. And the more that the consumers are able to experience Pay-TV, the more you will find demand rising.

Q: How do you see the future of the satellite industry from the broadcasting perspective here in APAC?
A: Satellite communications remains the ultimate backhaul for delivery of content across this vast region. In the long term, declarations that all of these are not going as well, or may not go as well as we hoped, I think are hugely exaggerated. Just a few years ago, there was a great concern about the development of fibre as a competitor to satellite services. Well, fibre is there, and is part of the value chain, but fibre is only a partner. I think the satellite industry will remain central to the communications market in APAC for a long time to come.