Malaysia’s dominant broadcaster Media Prima Berhad (MPB) is acquiring the 20% of 8TV it doesn’t own for RM20 million (US$5.8 million) as it benefits from a 10%-15% surge in sales this year. The aggregate audience share of MPB’s four stations grew to 54% in Q1 2007 vs 50% at the end of last year, ahead of public broadcaster RTM’s two channels (17%) and pay-TV operator ASTRO (29%). Media Partners Asia attributed the increase to improved content led by local dramas and … [Read more...] about Media Prima increases viewing share and mops up rest of 8TV
format licensing
Baseball boosts Chunghwa Telecom’s IPTV service
Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) reported subscriber numbers for its IPTV service jumped by 17% to more than 300,000 since it launched live broadcasts of Major League Baseball at the end of April. However CHT has revised its year-end subs target down to 515,000 from 580,000 as it continues to lag rival cable TV operators in content carriage and acquisition, according to Media Partners Asia. CHT is also testing an IPTV system from Microsoft with 1,000 users and will expand the trial to about … [Read more...] about Baseball boosts Chunghwa Telecom’s IPTV service
Thai TV ad spend down 3.2% in six months to June 2007
Bangkok – Thailand’s TV industry faced a 3.22% fall in advertising spending in the six months to June to 25.45 billion baht (US$748.59 million) from 26.299 billion baht ($773.5 million) for the same period last year. Neilsen Media Research data released July 11 also showed TV’s share of ad spend fell to 58.37% from 60.03% over the same time. June’s monthly data revealed Thailand’s troubled political climate and uncertainties over the past year, where TV ad spend … [Read more...] about Thai TV ad spend down 3.2% in six months to June 2007
X|Media|Lab Melbourne to act as a bridge to Beijing
Sydney- The X|Media|Lab Melbourne creative workshop to be held August 10-12 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, themed "Digital Worlds: Social, Virtual, Mobile," is attracting an illustrious list of practitioners including film director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), Dr David Liu, founder/ CEO of Beijing’s Cyber Recreation Development Corporation, Kamar Shah, Worldwide Head of Industry Marketing at Nokia, and Marcelino Ford-Livene, Head of Interactive Advertising for Intel’s … [Read more...] about X|Media|Lab Melbourne to act as a bridge to Beijing
StarHub Malay channel slated for Q3 debut
Singapore– StarHub has appointed local content distributor Content Network Asia as the sole channel development partner for its upcoming Malay cable TV channel, launching Q3 2007. The premium cable channel will offer a variety of Malay programmes from around the region. Content Network Asia will package the channel as well as oversee strategic development. The Channel Director is Puzi Mohamed, former Programming Director of Suria Network Programming and Promotions under MediaCorp TV12. He … [Read more...] about StarHub Malay channel slated for Q3 debut
MediaCorp to launch commercial HD channel by Q4
Singapore– Terrestrial broadcaster MediaCorp will launch HDTV commercial channel HD5 in Q4 2007 and plans to offer all its channels in HD by 2012. HD5 is a simulcast of English-language Channel 5 with programmes enhanced for display on HD-ready TV sets. June 2006 saw the start of MediaCorp’s 1000-strong HDTV trial, enabling households, community clubs and retail outlets to experience HD programmes such as CSI, Smallville, local productions and co-productions with China. Trials showed … [Read more...] about MediaCorp to launch commercial HD channel by Q4