News and Notes: 30 November 2007
Content and Convergence the Buzzwords at Asia Media Festival
Here are some highlights of the latest happenings from key events at the AMF 2007.A Look at Mobile TV
Participants at the Mobile TV Forum, held as part of the Asian Television Forum, were given a look at the potential applications of mobile TV – by the man who literally wrote the book on it.Mr Tomi T Ahonen, author of bestselling books on telecoms and convergence, placed mobile at the top of a timeline of media evolution, starting with print and going through music, cinema, radio, television and the Internet.
With convergence being the watchword, Mr Ahonen proceeded to cite examples from all over the world of mobile content that leverages on the properties of mobile phones, building the interactive element into television content.
He also talked about a “Y” of convergence, where Internet, mobile and television come together. And why not add to the convergence by merging advertising and credit cards into the mix?
After lunch, the discussion centred on the untapped potential of the mobile TV market, with panelists noting that mobile TV providers have yet to make a profit. Panelists agreed that the key to success was having top quality content. “Content is the glue to mobile TV success,” said Mr Tom Navasero, CEO, International Mobile Broadcasting Co.
The final session focused on the biggest global consumers of mobile TV – Japan and Korea. Panelists gave an insight into the successful roll-out of mobile TV services in the two countries, and discussed whether the achievement could be replicated in other countries around the region.
A Whole New Ballgame for Sports Content
The cake is getting bigger, but the slices are getting thinner.
Such is the view of Mr Julian Jackson (Senior Vice President, Media, Total Sports Asia) in reference to the robustness of the media content business and the increasing number of media content providers and platforms.
Mr Jackson made his comments at the Sports Content conference on Thursday, and added that having the ability to “own” the media consumer, by being a quadruple-play service provider – offering broadband Internet access, TV, telephone, and wireless –would be most advantageous for a content provider.
At the conference, where participants discussed sports content media trends, Mr Alexandre Callay (EurodataTV Worldwide Manager, Mediametrie), said that TV viewership worldwide was stronger than ever, and that numbers had not yet been eroded by new media options.
Offering a contrary perspective, Mr Jackson predicted that new media, such as IPTV and mobile TV, would make large strides in gaining audiences by 2010.
Broadcast veterans from ESPN Star Sports and Ten Sports, while employing strategies of differing depth, agreed that localisation of content was important in terms of catering to a market’s needs, and in better realising advertising revenues.
The panelists agreed that an individual’s success in a sport, for example Chinese basketballer Yao Ming’s emergence in the NBA, could add much value to that particular sport’s media content in the sportsperson’s home market, and regional market. The Beijing Olympics in China and Formula One race in Singapore next year would similarly add value to the sports content in those local markets.
MediaCorp Wins at Asian Television Awards 2007
Singapore’s MediaCorp has won the Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year title in the 12th Asian Television Awards (ATA) held on Thursday.
MediaCorp was also the second most nominated broadcaster at this year's event, after Discovery Asia, which had 17 nominations. Of the 29 categories, MediaCorp scored 15 nominations in 10 categories.
Speaking at the star-studded event, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth & Sports and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, noted that the event had grown in prestige, stature and size.
This year, ATA received over 1,370 entries from 14 Asian countries, including Australia and New Zealand for the first time. Of these, 174 entries were in the running for 29 awards.
Dr Balakrishnan said that the nominated programmes presented uniquely Asian perspectives that had the potential to resonate with international audiences.
“They reflect the promise of a confident and rising Asia whose TV and film exports – from melodramas, factual programmes, to musical productions and ‘gongfu’ thrillers – are making international audiences sit up and take notice.”
For the full list of winners, go to www.asiantvawards.com
More Singapore-France Co-Productions in the Pipeline
More Singapore-France co-productions can be expected – thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on Thursday between the Media Development Authority of Singapore and Canal France International (CFI).
The MOU serves to facilitate bilateral digital broadcasting training collaborations and co-production projects. Two proposed events to launch the MOU next year include a digital broadcasting workshop and a co-production networking session. The former aims to provide technical and policy training to support the collective effort of ASEAN countries to adopt a common digital TV broadcasting standard, while the latter aims to bring together TV, film and animation producers from Singapore and France to discuss potential collaborations.
Earlier this year, the two countries embarked on the first-ever France-Singapore television co-production, Déjà Vu, between France’s Project Images Films and Singapore’s Mega Media and Six-Six-Eight (6-6-8).
The MOU signing was held as part of the Country Showcase programme at the sixth annual Asia Media Festival at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore.
The Asia Media Festival runs till 4 December. For more information about the festival, go to www.asiamediafestival.com
For latest updates on the media industry, log on to www.smf.sg
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