Broadcast Explosion in Greater China

According to IBISWorld’s TV & Radio Broadcasting market research report, China’s TV and Radio broadcasting industry is expected to increase at a yearly rate of 13.0%. The figure is driven by the accelerating convergence of telecommunications, internet, cable TV network operations and digitisation rate. Revenue in the industry is expected to increase by 9.8% from 2010 to $7.2 billion in 2015.

With an estimated population of nearly 1.4 billion, the world’s most populous nation boasts the largest number of internet users; 668 million. With nearly half of its population on the internet, online video websites- Youku Tudou, iQIYI, PPTV, Sohu, Tencent, LeTV- are increasingly more popular.

Youku Tudou, China’s biggest online video giant, features commissioned programmes from a myriad of channels including Hong Kong’s TVB and CTE and also user-generated content.

In November 2015, Youku Tudou and Mirriad Advertising entered a long-term exclusive collaboration arrangement in China. The alliance will see Youku Tudou connecting brands with Mirriad’s technology, enabling advertisers to digitally insert their brands into video content. Samsung capitalised on the first Mirriad campaign that lasted throughout 6 episodes over a two week period.

In that same month, Alibaba and Youku Tudou signed a definitive merger agreement whereby an affiliate of the Alibaba Group will acquire Youku Tudou in an all-cash transaction. Shareholders of Youku Tudou will have the right to receive $27.60 per American Depositary Share (representing 18 ordinary shares of Youku Tudou) in cash.

Prior to this in late September 2015, G.hn standard in-home networking products were made available on Chinese e-commerce sites such as Alibaba and Taobao. The products include G.hn power line adapters attached via Ethernet to broadband gateways. Embedded in IP-Networked HD TVs, G.hn can also be used to connect Blu-Ray players and set top boxes. With G.hn, users can automatically gain access to the Internet and other home network devices as soon as they plug their smart TV into an AC outlet.

In March 2015, Irdeto announced its latest anti-piracy success with Alibaba, whereby over 5,000 online advertisements for pirate devices from 71 manufacturers and suppliers on Alibaba.com were identified and taken down in a month. Alibaba played a pre-emptive role in assisting with the removal of 5,389 ads marketing pirate devices offering content from Irdeto’s pay-TV operator customers. As at 15 June 2015, iQIYI had reached five million paid streaming subscribers; a 765% annual increase. With a wide range of premium content to its members, iQIYI hosted over 60% of movies played in cinemas in China, alongside over 400 internetonly movies.

Besides acquiring programmes, online video platforms like Youku Tudou have started to include more local productions via user generated content. Youku Tudou has a revenue sharing programme that allows qualified participants to be paid from advertisements placed in their videos which encourages more usergenerated content.

In November 2015, Honyee Media’s Chinese version of BBC’s Top Gear launched its first five episodes of the second season with a combined audience of 217 million across TV and online. Also, two-part series, China From Above, had gone viral with 130 million views on Tencent.

Strategic partnerships

In 2015, DHX Media signed a series of deals with these SVOD operatorsnamely Alibaba in September, and iQIYI and LeTV in November. iQIYI had acquired AVOD and SVOD rights to more than 400 half-hours of content. LeTV acquired OTT TV and web broadcast rights to 313 half-hours of Teletubbies in English and Mandarin. Alibaba had acquired more than 2500 half-hours of content for its VOD service.

In October 2015, BBC Worldwide signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mango TV. The partnership will allow exploring for opportunities capitalizing on the strengths of each party, including coproduction and format opportunities in iconic BBC programmes targeting the Chinese and global market.

BBC Worldwide had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) last April, expanding their strategic relationship to include programme and format production, programme distribution and co-production opportunities. The agreement will see BBC Worldwide working with several of SMG’s subsidiaries including BesTV, DocuChina, Dragon TV, Wings Media and Toonmax Media.

Internet content delivery

In October 2014, Akamai Technologies announced a strategic partnership agreement with China Telecom Corporation’s cloud division CT Cloud. As part of the partnership, CT Cloud will offer an integrated solution that incorporates Akamai’s full suite of media delivery, web performance and cloud security offerings to Chinese businesses. The partnership is also designed to enable close cooperation between the two companies in areas of technology and network access.

CT Cloud plans to leverage Akamai for content delivery network (CDN) technology that will be available for the delivery of its Cloud services. Akamai enables operators to deploy a highly scalable, completely turnkey CDN that leverages the same technologies found within the Akamai Intelligent PlatformTM.

PCCW Global, China Telecom Global (CTG) and Chunghwa Telecom International (CHTI) took the initiative to create a unified IPX (IP-eXchange) platform for Greater China, with agreements signed last year in May. The three partners will improve their seamlessly integrated service to their carrier, multinational and consumer customers, with unified platform.

Services supported from the deal includes VoIPX, GRX, Diameter, HD calling, HD video conferencing, Ethernet, cloud offerings and SDN. The platform will connect IP services between mobile and fixed networks using MPLS as the transport layer.

Co-productions

China has also upped its number of co-productions, working with several broadcasters and producers in the Asia-Pacific region. Huaso Film/TV Digital Production, the joint venture production company of Sony Pictures Television (SPT), and CCTV6’s HuaCheng Pictures concluded a deal with Croton Media to co-produce a local version of the highly popular and criticallyacclaimed comedy Mad About You for audiences in China. Shanghai Media Group has acquired the exclusive, first-run satellite TV rights to the series which debut early January 2016. The deal was made in December 2014.

In addition to Mad About You, Huaso has produced local versions of other popular SPT scripted and non-scripted formats in China, including talk show Dr. Oz, as well as competition series Raid the Cage and Dancing Nation.

In August 2015, UK drama producer Left Bank Pictures and China International Television Corporation (CITVC) have signed a co-development deal for an English language drama for the Chinese and international market. The deal will see both parties taking ideas to the table with a view to selecting one series to go into production.

Is That Really Your Voice? debuted on iQIYI with its first five episodes receiving 200 million views, great reviews and taking the title of the most-watched online show in the country’s history. The format from Global Agency has 24 episodes planned in total.

In September 2015, the Chinese version of Big Brother, the international reality television franchise, begins production on the outskirts of Mumbai, making use of the available resources, infrastructure and expertise from Endemol Shine India. The Chinese version will be screened exclusively on Youku Tudou.

In December 2015, MyChinaChannel (MCC) and China Business Network (CBN) announced that they will be co-developing two brand new infotainment/documentary series as well as 100 hours of financial business content in English.

 

Tense market

I n November 2014, CASBAA urged the Hong Kong legislature to end a decade of delay and pass amendments to Hong Kong’s copyright law to give content creators and owners the right- at least in theoryto authorise electronic dissemination of their content.

CASBAA Chief Policy Officer, John Medeiros noted that CASBAA – along with other copyright industry groups – has been pressing for improvements in Hong Kong’s law for years. In the decade since the government began this process, he said, “The world of TV has been transformed. Old copyright laws never foresaw the degree to which broadband connections can be used to bring huge quantities of pirated digital content to every home in Hong Kong from places where copyright protection is weak.

“Establishment of a right to authorise communication of copyrighted works will not solve the piracy problem,” he said, and further steps are urgently needed. “Hong Kong is now way behind the curve,” Medeiros added. In addition, CASBAA is urging the government to immediately begin considering further steps to restore balance and provide a new breath of life to Hong Kong’s creative industries.

In December the following year, CASBAA renewed its appeal to pass amendments to Hong Kong’s copyright law- critical to the future of the content industries in the SAR. Medeiros says, “Hong Kong’s IP law is in dire need of updating in order to take account of legal and illegal digital distribution of copyrighted materials, including entire online packages of pirated pay-TV programming.”

The legislature held considered a series of more than 900 amendments to weaken the bill, and the netizen lobby is pushing for the bill’s defeat. However, opposition lawmakers in Hong Kong pushed back the discussion as the debate ran out of time in the last full meeting of 2015. Last updated in 2006, the government and industry believes that the copyright law should be updated and be able to restrict online piracy.

Recent deals and launches In May 2015, JSBCI partnered now TV with the launch of now jelli in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. The new channel was officially launched on 13 May that year. now jelli will screen popular entertainment shows produced by JSBC and other producers in China. The channel is targeting other major platforms in Asia.

Last August, PCCW Media Limited was awarded exclusive rights to broadcast the Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional (La Liga) in Hong Kong for the next three football seasons through 2017/18. now TV will deliver SD and HD formats of the matches to its viewers via the now Player app or now TV’s video-on-demand service.

The following month, as part of its expansion in the Asian region, Netflix first became available in Japan. Netflix aims to complete its global rollout by end 2016, and will expand to Hong Kong early this year. The service will be available at launch on smart TVs, computers, a range of internet-cabled game console, settop boxes, tablets and smart phones. In October 2015, HK Television Entertainment unveiled the name and logo of its new free TV service, ViuTV. The channel will offer to viewers a comprehensive wide range of genres from factual entertainment to sports, drama and variety shows. A soft launch of ViuTV is scheduled for the end of March this year.

In that same month, PCCW Media announced plans to launch Viu OTT video service- a global innovative Internet video platform. Viu OTT was launched in Hong Kong late October and will progressively rollout across Asia. Viu OTT video service will capitalise on the shift in users’ viewing habits and demand.

Satellite

In September 2014, SatLink Communications launched its new Point of Presence (PoP) in Hong Kong. The new South East Asian based PoP, which accompanies SatLink’s multiple PoP’s in New York , London, Frankfurt and additional worldwide located PoP’s via partners, has been selected to provide both broadcasters and TV operators located in Asia and those looking to expand their reach into the Asian region.

Located at the Equinox Data Centre, the PoP provides both international and local connectivity for broadcasters and operators allowing for quick and low latency connectivity to and out of the APAC region. The PoP will be integrated into SatLink’s global satellite and fibre network to enable customers to extend their audience reach into new markets and gain access to SatLink’s full range of end-to-end broadcast services. Satlink currently operates two MCPC (Multi Channel Per Carrier) platforms on the AsiaSat 5 C-band satellite, delivering content for tier one international and news broadcasters to Asian Pay TV markets in DVB-S2 and Free to air markets in DVB-S.

Audience measurement

now TV, CSM Media Research (CSM) and Kantar Media had introduced Hong Kong’s first integrated crossplatform audience measurement using Return-Path-Data (RPD) technology for tracking viewership of content on now TV’s television, online and OTT platforms. The Return-Path Rating Service (RPR) will be the first cross-platform viewership measurement by using RPD in Hong Kong based on automated systemcaptured data. To deliver accuracy and to enable more detailed customer segmentation, a large panel of 2,000 samples representative of now TV’s customer demographics is used for the projection of the lifestyle and consumption pattern of nowTV’s 1.2 million-strong subscriber base.