Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) November 2018 Volume 35, Issue 10 | Page 9

NEWS & VIEWS November 2018 Singapore makes its presence felt at MIPCOM 2018 CANNES – At last month’s MIPCOM 2018 held in Cannes, France, Singapore’s Info­ comm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) left the biggest ever dele­ gation of 19 Singapore media companies. Collectively, these companies presented over 460 hours of compelling stories from Singapore and Asia across some 70 titles. For instance, First Man Out is a large-scale survival series in 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) format, produced by Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP) and Singapore’s Beach House Pic­ tures as part of a partnership between DNAP and IMDA. Other highlights included Wasted Earth, a three-episode virtual reality (VR) documentary by Singapore-based produc­ tion company Sorahouse (Sora Media). Wasted Earth takes viewers on an immer­ sive 360-degree experience of spectacular places in Asia, which have now turned into wastelands at the hands of men. Supported under a partnership between IMDA and HBO Asia, Singapore production house Zhao Wei Films produced Folklore, a horror anthology gathering six well- known directors — including Singaporean filmmaker Eric Khoo from around Asia to bring to life haunting tales based on Asian supernatural beliefs. IMDA will also be organising the Singa­ pore Media Festival (SMF) in Singapore from Nov 28-Dec 9 this year. A flagship annual event, the SMF is South-east Asia’s leading international media event that serves as a platform to showcase and recognise the best of Asian storytelling, bringing Asian talent from around the region to network, connect and collaborate. According to IMDA, SMF has established itself as a must-attend event, gathering influ­ ential, promising and prominent names from the region. In 2017, the festival welcomed an attendance of more than 20,000 delegates and festival attendees from over 50 countries. Over the past four editions of SMF, more than US$1 billion worth of deals and partnerships have been made. In line with the festival’s aim of driving investment opportunities into the region through collaborations, SMF 2018 will be spotlighting the Philippines as its Country- of-Focus, in celebration of the 100th year of Philippine cinema this year. SMF 2018 will also highlight the country’s rich stories, talents and achievements across all of its constituent events. White Paper @ www.apb-news.com v The missing link To cater for increasing bandwidth needs, more and more operators have started to build fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. According to NetComm, connecting the last part of the network provides the greatest challenge; there are a significant number of homes that are currently underserved and looking for higher speed alternatives. Reverse Powered Gfast Distribution Point Units (DPU), said NetComm, offer the missing link between the fibre running in the street and the copper lead-in, resolving all major concerns and challenges operators have with other Gfast deployment options. In this white paper, this new solution is introduced to cater to a greater number of subscribers, and ultimately, increase the market share by winning more loyal customers through offering high-speed broadband services in a quicker, most cost-effective way. n NOVEMBER n MARCH November 14 - 16 March 4 - 7 NAB SHOW 2019 Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.abu.org.my n MAY March 12 - 14 COEX Exhibition Centre, Seoul, South Korea www.kobashow.com INTER BEE 2018 Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, Japan www.inter-bee.com n DECEMBER December 6 - 7 IABM ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CONFERENCE & AWARDS 2018 Hilton Metropole, Birmingham, UK www.theiabm.org 2019 n FEBRUARY February 26 - 28 BVE 20189 Excel London, UK www.bvexpo.com ABU DIGITAL BROADCASTING SYMPOSIUM 2019 CABSAT 2019 Dubai World Trade Centre The UAE www.cabsat.com n APRIL April 3 - 5 VIETNAM INT’L BROADCAST & AV SHOW (VIBA 2019) Hanoi International Exhibition Center, Vietnam www.vibashow.com April 6 - 11 Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada, USA www.nabshow.com May 22 - 25 KOBA 2019 n JUNE June 18 - 20 CONNECTECHASIA2019 •BROADCASTASIA2019 Suntec Singapore •COMMUNICASIA2019 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore www.connectechasia.com/ 9 How can pay-TV operators truly capitalise on the Android TV opportunity? A short time ago, I wrote a blog about the impending digital denouement for the pay-TV industry. By that, I meant the tipping point where operators sink or swim based on the truly digital capabilities of their backend, back-office, CMS, data ana- lytics and cloud platforms. The point where digital transfor- mation stops being just a buzzword, and where accelerated improvements to the product and service portfolio, technology, commercial and operating models really start to happen. This is all occurring in a context where the very content bundle is be- ing reinvented, likely evolving into a platform-agnostic combination of inherently skinny baseline packages with a collection of OTT add-ons — and presenting a clear opportunity for TV operators to reinvent themselves as super-aggregators, converging it all back into one coherent experience. And naturally, as part of this con- versation, one inevitably comes across leading client device ecosystems such as Android TV, a newly emerging level playing field upon which diverse con- tent sources through their respective apps naturally blend in the consumer’s home. Because it’s true that Google, in fine tuning Android TV along the way, has progressively addressed the concerns of the market and created something more flexible for operators. And it’s true that, for some, it’s already proven a watershed moment — the opportunity to have an Operator Tier branded user experience, Google TV services, and direct carrier billing to name a few, rolled into one. With more than a million devices activated every two months the momentum is hard to ignore. Of course, its broadening appeal to operators of all sizes doesn’t necessarily mean that it yields a perfect solution without any further ado. Operators using Android TV still need to ensure any service built on the platform is secure, protecting both the content owners and consumers’ data. There have also been concerns that Google requires service providers Ivan Verbesselt, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, NAGRA to follow a fixed three-year update scheme, with no support offered after that. What does this imply? Perhaps that a built-in obsolescence of the most important Capex driver of any pay-TV deployment may kick in earlier in the deployment lifecycle. However, in a BYOD model this may become less of an issue since it more naturally matches the device renewal cycle in consumer electronics. Ultimately, as Android TV contin- ues to extend its reach across major markets, operators will be shrewd to first consider what it is that they will have to give up. For example, all of these benefits might well be kept in check by the idea of Google advancing into their territory. However, the risk of not exploit- ing Android TV’s cost savings, fast time-to-market, easier access to third- party OTT apps de facto facilitating a pragmatic super-aggregation role, direct carrier billing, deep linking for additional search benefits and advanced voice-driven technology, is increasingly deemed to be greater by many operators. But a TV ecosystem entails much more than that. Operators must still work with solution providers to find those service-defining ingredients that make a compelling pay-TV ser- vice — including end-to-end multi- device and multi-network content val- ue protection such as NAGRA’s Security Services Platform, and an engaging user experience, as provided by NAGRA’s OpenTV Signature Edition, a ready- to-deploy, always evolved OTT TV ecosystem driven by a business back- end with the data analytics that enable active content and service monetisa- tion with Android TV . Only then can pay-TV operators truly capitalise on the Android TV opportunity. q