Hong Kong – During the CASBAA OTT Summit 2014 held in Singapore on March 25, CASBAA and international media and technology law firm Olswang unveiled “Digital, Legal and Anywhere – Innovation in Australian TV”, a new report showcasing the varied and abundant audio-visual content available through non-traditional media platforms and delivery mechanisms in Australia.

The directory is being launched in tandem with www.finddigitaltv.com.au, an online directory of digital content available from legitimate sources. This pilot directory is an example of the type of resource that could help raise consumer awareness on the breadth of options available for accessing legal content in Australia.

The intention of this new report and website is to drive awareness about innovation in the Australian TV industry and generate discussion about the changing face of TV in Australia and the challenges for legitimate services in competing against continuing piracy.

“Industry in Australia is now offering, arguably, the broadest range of legitimate content offerings available in any market in Asia-Pacific with a wide variety of different commercial models and content types covered. We found more offerings being launched almost monthly just during the time we were writing the report,” said Elle Todd, Partner, Olswang Asia.

Drawing on a combination of publicly-available data (from Government and other sources) and discussions with academics, industry bodies and senior executives across the media and technology industries in Australia, “Digital, Legal and Anywhere” looks at the changing face of TV in Australia and the drivers for change at the consumer level. It considers the challenges and opportunities that exist for the TV industry and the way in which it is reacting.

Alongside this report will be the www.finddigitaltv.com.au website, a pilot “one-stop” online resource showcasing legitimate TV services available to consumers in Australia and to help keep track of the range of content offerings available. It follows on from a similar online resource launched in Singapore last year and also builds on work done by organisations in Australia such as the MPAA and IP Awareness.

An intended benefit of both the report and the website is to aid in the battle against piracy in Australia.

“Many Australian consumers are still accessing pirate content and, unfortunately, piracy levels in Australia are high by any international standard,” said John Medeiros, Chief Policy Officer, CASBAA. “It is our hope that consumers would benefit from a service that will help them find the legitimate sources of content and therefore reduce the incentive to access pirated content.”