Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) Satellite Special 2018 | Page 11

HTS a hit in Asia-Pacific An update on the video broadcast market BY ALAN CRISP T he video broadcast market in Asia remains one of solid growth, with channel counts, capacity leases, and pay-TV subscribers on the up and up, albeit at less dynamic levels than have been seen historically. At the same time, a number of headwinds will cause market erosion in East Asia, such as greater levels of competition with over-the-top (OTT) platforms and increased channel encoding. Simultaneously, increasing levels of disposable income by citizens in South-east Asia and South Asia mean that there is significant room for increase in demand with many new first-time subscribers paying for direct-to-home (DTH), cable TV and IPTV subscriptions. NSR expects opportunities to be strong in the short term through to the long term, if you know where to look. Growth recently, however, has been rather concentrated by a handful of players, with new platforms being broadcast in Asia, and especially in South- east Asia seeing strong development in recent years. Much of this is coming from the opening up of countries such as Laos and Myanmar. The latter alone has seen multiple new platforms launched over the past couple of years, with several operators benefiting from multi- transponder contracts. In addition, Indonesia especially, is expected to see some greater demand through the sheer size of the country and number of households getting a TV for the first time. However, this market also sees some saturation, with several DTH platforms operating in the red. The Philippines provides perhaps the best long-term combination of market size, economic growth prospects, and a relatively undeveloped pay-TV market. In terms of technologies moving forward, top-down demand for 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) content — while being more prevalent in North America and Western Europe — is adding to satellite capacity requirements in Asia, in particular East Asia. Japanese public broadcaster NHK even intends to broadcast the 2020 Olympic Games from Tokyo in 8K. However, NSR does not believe that the enormous demand requirements for 8K content will result in opportunities across the video broadcast value chain elsewhere. On the other end of the spectrum, it is important to remember that the majority of channels are currently broadcast in standard definition in Asia, meaning there is significant capacity growth potential in the longer term. Despite some gloom in some more- developed video markets, the very real value of satellite in terms of point-to- multipoint content carriage is not going away. The lack of high-speed connectivity for many residents in South-east Asia is resulting in limited forms of competition with OTT platforms like we have witnessed elsewhere, and increasing levels of disposable income are also driving subscribers to DTH and pay-TV content. However, satellite operators and pay- TV platforms alike will need to enter the market sooner rather than later, as the window for new entrants is slowly closing as the region inches towards maturity.  Despite some gloom in some more-developed video markets, the very real value of satellite in terms of point-to-multipoint content carriage is not going away.  Alan Crisp is senior analyst at Northern Sky Research (NSR), an international market research and consulting firm specialising in telecommuni- cations technology, with a particular focus on satellite and wireless networks, emerging technology and media applications. An Supplement 9