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China
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] China’s impressive population numbers mean the most these days to companies with the kinds of online hopes, dreams and wishes once harboured by 24-hour foreign channel brands. And, of course, to content rights holders, who have racked up some unprecedented format successes. Regional and foreign channels remain where they were last year and the year before – firmly on the sidelines.... more
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Hong Kong
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Hong Kong operators, fresh off some strong gains in 2008, are nervously looking into 2009. There’s talk that subscriber growth forecasts may not be what pay-TV platforms had hoped, and the only certain bet being placed is that advertising and subscription dollars are going to be a lot harder to come by in the next 12 months than they were in the past 12. At the same time, Hong Kong’s digital terrestrial hopes, dreams and ambitions are flying high. The Special Administrative Region’s DTT coverage is upwards of 75% and is on track to hit the 99% target by 2011, and the two free-TV broadcasters have rolled out 12 channels between them. Perhaps the biggest question as the region heads into 2009 is the identity/ies of TVB’s new owners... ... more
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India
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009]India’s digital household numbers have gone from zero to significant in a few years, with every indication that the country’s infrastructure upgrades and migration to digital systems will continue. 2009’s pain will be felt most keenly by content players, and particularly new entrants who have blown through initial funding and are looking for more. ... more
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Indonesia
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Indonesia could be back on the media industry’s new best friends list, not least because the pay-TV industry in a country of about 240 million people appears, finally, to be moving beyond single digit penetration. The country’s adspend growth forecasts outstrip expectations for the rest of the region; TV will continue to take the lion’s share; pay-TV penetration is still dismal at about 2% but it’s changing fast; and there’s widespread and growing awareness that the pay-TV debacle between Malaysia’s Astro and the Lippo Group was not because the idea was bad. ... more
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Japan
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Among all the gloom about a shrinking economy and a country headed towards recession, Japanese format creators are riding high on the seemingly insatiable international taste for their ideas – the more oddball the better. There’s also lots of enthusiasm about online, not least because Japan is in the world’s top three countries with super-high-speed networks. Plus public broadcaster NHK has, as usual, streaked ahead with tech developments that look further into the future than any other broadcaster in the world. ... more
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Korea
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] 2008 was a big-excitement year for Korean television, with a new government, a new broadcast regime, a new ownership environment, and the green light (after years of fuss) for full IPTV platforms. But it’s the value of the Korean Won, which fell to a seven-year low against the U.S. Dollar in October 2008, and fears about the country’s ad and subscription markets that are top of mind as the new year dawns. ... more
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Malaysia
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] If regional pay-TV channels moan about Astro’s diminished appetite for new services, Malaysia does nevertheless have one of the strongest subscription television platforms in the region, a stellar commercial free-TV operator, grand plans for a national broadband rollout, and healthy (if still unproven) ambitions to be a player beyond the country’s borders. ... more
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Pakistan
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Media freedom, censorship and Indian channels remain flash points in Pakistan’s broadcasting environment, with President Asif Ali Zardari’s government insisting that things are being done differently under democracy than under dictatorship. Still, distributing Indian channels is difficult, and content codes are firmly nationalistic.
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Philippines
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] The Philippines remains a free-TV market, with the hottest action among rival networks GMA and ABS-CBN and highest demand for telenovela-like drama serials. There’s some activity in the low-end pay-as-you-go cable market, but for 2009 there’s little hope that the subscription market is going to deliver anything major for anyone other than HBO and maybe a handful of others. As for mobile, DTH, and the never-never-TV-bill? Patience. ... more
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Singapore
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] If there are two things Singapore – a country of about one million households and about 4.6 million people – is not short of, it’s television and government support for anything and everything that keeps Brand Singapore in the global public eye. Government data lists eight national and niche commercial and trial IPTV/VOD service providers offering more than 125 TV channels. The country is also about to get its first commercial mobile broadcast platform and a mega-speed next-generation network has been promised by 2012, courtesy of a consortium in which telco SingTel is involved. ... more
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Taiwan
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Pay-TV continues to whip terrestrial television – and no one expects much to change on that front. At the same time, the multichannel industry continues to wail about regulations it hates and an environment it feels holds it back at every turn. Will that change? The Gods have been given offerings... ... more
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Thailand
Sep. 01, 2008:
[From The Big List 2009] Political instability and a long history of not being a great performer on the regional (or international) television scene are likely to keep Thailand at the outer edges of Asia’s media industry in 2009. Locally, there’s optimism of growth in the wake of the new Broadcasting Act and hopes (albeit diminishing as global markets plummetted) that the triple-digit increases reported in 2008 will continue. Meanwhile, all eyes are on Sondhi Limthongkul, the one-time “Rupert Murdoch of Asia” and now high-profile voice behind the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). ... more
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Vietnam
Sep. 01, 2008:
Vietnam & Indochina: [From The Big List 2009] Vietnam is increasingly taking its place on the regional media map. Although values remain low, the country’s appetite for everything from formats to infrastructure development – including mobile broadcast and digital terrestrial – remains voracious. ... more
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