[Satellite News 11-30-09] Asian pay-TV regulation may better equip the regional broadcasting industry to handle piracy issues, Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) CEO Simon Twiston Davies told Satellite News.
    However, Davies admitted that the growing losses associated with piracy are troubling and that action is urgently needed. Piracy has cost Asian pay-TV operators almost $2 billion in revenues per year, according to CASBAA’s latest survey, released early November in association with the Standard Chartered Bank. “This year we saw revenue leakage due to piracy reach almost $2 billion. Such losses continue to undermine investment in content and services. It is disturbing that costs associated with piracy in Asia have doubled over the last three years,” he said.
    Standard Chartered Bank analysts believe that CASBAA’s $2 billion figure falls short of actual losses. “This estimate uses highly conservative assumptions. Actual totals are likely to be much higher,” said Lee Beasley, director of media and entertainment at Standard Chartered Bank.
    There also is a growing threat of online piracy in the region, which in turn, affects broadcasters, Davies said. “That is one of the biggest challenges facing the global broadcast business. Just two years ago, there was a sense we should not talk about this. We are now looking at regulatory solutions, for example, making ISPs more responsible here. That is emerging here in Hong Kong, Singapore and even on the mainland in China,” he said.
    Davies believes the piracy solution for regional markets is improved government regulation, especially in India, where a large number of new satellite pay-TV operators are emerging. “India is the market most in need of urgent attention. However, there are signs that after several years of discussions with the Indian regulators, the government is taking piracy more seriously and that digital connectivity, either via broadband, digital cable or satellite is going to help. This is where the strong growth in satellite services has come into play,” he said.
    One of the advantages of a digital reality, according to Davies, is that governments are better able to calculate accurate subscriber numbers and eventually collect due taxes based on that revenue, which leads to better accountability. “You have more transparency around the operator, and that enables the tax base to be increased. The lessons learned with DTH are also being taken into account with planning authorities in India regarding digital cable TV services,” he said.
    However, Davies believes governments throughout the region are more receptive to talking to the pay-TV industry now, as a strong pay-TV industry can lead to benefits throughout the economy. “We find that governments are more willing to have meetings and listen to industry concerns. In the last 12 months, as regards to piracy, we have also seen some small, but vital moves in markets like the Philippines. There is a greater awareness in Malaysia about the contribution that pay-TV makes to the overall media and communications market. As satellite and cable services get deeper penetration into markets, we become much more a part of the overall telecommunications market. That, too, increases the profile of the sector and contributes to economic health,” he said.
    Despite the looming threat of piracy, Davies said he is heartened by the latest figures in terms of digital TV take-up in the region, which has seen many new platforms launch in the region — a large number of which, are on satellite. “In 2009, we see a growth in excess of 15 percent of the number of subscribers who take multi-channel TV across the region. There are now 326 million connections to subscription television across the region, up 35 million in the past 12 months,” said Davies. “We have seen 18 new platforms across the region in the last 18 months. That’s encouraging in terms of investment, providing re-assurance to governments that we are a serious industry, and that we should be given our due weight.”