The seminar focused on enhancing the Thai television sector amid the ASEAN Economic Community, addressing topics such as technologies, regulatory challenges, and the economics of audio-visual (AV) services. Key discussions included the evolution of AV delivery systems, the impact of non-linear access, and global trends in copyright enforcement amidst digital piracy. Regulatory variations across Asia regarding content control, copyright protection, and market definitions were highlighted as significant barriers to development in the sector.

1. Special Seminar and Focus Group on
“Improving Thai Television Sector in the face of ASEAN Economic
Community”
27 March 2015
Conference Room 1, Conference Building
Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications
Commission (NBTC)
Bangkok, THAILAND
•
Dr John Ure
Director, TRPC Ltd (Singapore)
Director, TRP
Social Science Research Centre
University of Hong Kong
1

2. AGENDAAGENDA
• Technologies, access and delivery systems
• Business models and regulatory challenges
• The economics of AV and copyright issues
• The audio-visual market, services and trade
• The digital dividend
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3. Not too much for Muchie!
This is Muchie, a two-year old girl from the
Philippines
She taught herself
•Numbers
•Colours
•Names of animals and how they sound
•Parts of the human face
at the age of 1½ years on
YouTube
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4. The AV JigsawThe AV Jigsaw
Broadcast TV
Internet
Social mediaSmartphone
Multi-platform
Apple TV
Web TV
Amazon TV
Netflix
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5. The AV Evolution
Fixed
telephony
Wireless
Broadcast
Fixed backendFixed backend
Wireless frontendWireless frontend
Radio spectrum issuesRadio spectrum issues
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6. AV Technologies, Access and DeliveryAV Technologies, Access and Delivery
Technologies Digital + HD
Internet + HDMI
Access TV sets
PCs
Wireless devices such as tablets,
smartphones, games consoles, etc.
Linear vs. non-linear
Delivery 1. Broadcast vs. streaming
2. Linear vs. non-linear
3. OTA broadcast, cable/Satellite, VOD,
IPTV, Web TV, Mobile TV, OTT, CDNs,
social media/YouTube, DVDs, etc.
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7. Business models and regulatory challenges
Regulatory How to define the market?
•By audience?
•By revenue sources?
•By cross-elasticity? (what are the
close substitutes?)
Linear Broadcast (subs + ads) + syndication +
sales (DVDs, etc.) + re-broadcast
rights
Non-linear Broadcast (subs + ads) + IPRs (how
easy to monitor/enforce especially
across jurisdictions?) + ratings to cover
all views? + merge, partner, sponsor
social media? 7

8. • Globally, on average around 50% of TV revenues come from ads.
(Ref. ADB (2012) Audio-visual Services: International Trade and Cultural
Policy)
• Domestic TV
 Regulation based upon social impact? (or social influence by
powerful interests? Economic, cultural, political, ideological factors)
= what impact non-linear access and distribution?
 Is competition seen as good or not-so-good? = choice? Innovation?
Race to the bottom? Cultural marginalization?
 Converged regulation? = real or not?
• Global TV
 Import market – by commercial agreement vs. cross-border
spillage vs. Internet and the cloud?
 Export market – need economies of scale and/or innovation
Business models and regulatory challenges
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9. Summary of regulatory issues
Regulations vary considerably across Asia – what is the criteria?
• Is there an independent regulator
• Copyright protection
• Restrictions on retransmission of
foreign channels/advertising
• Uplink/downlink policies
• Licence fees
• Authorization of alternative
distribution platforms (can they be
regulated?)
• Regulation of wholesale and retail
rates
• Cross-media ownership restrictions
• Is programme tiering allowed?/a la
carte programming mandatory?
• Pay TV ads allowed or not
• Pay TV ad mintuage
• Content control
• Local content quotas
• Regulations on language, dubbing,
subtitles
• Exclusivity, ‘must provide’ and ‘must
provide’
• FDI limits on Pay TV wholesale or
distribution
See Casbaa Regulating for Growth 2012 (2014 for members only)
http://www.chinagoabroad.com/sites/v2/files/article/attachment/Regulating
%20for%20Growth%202012%20Chinese%20and%20English.pdf 9

10. The economics of AV and copyright issues
“… audio-visual services are non-rival and partly non-
excludable. The latter characteristics imply that
markets must be created through the establishment and
enforcement of intellectual property rights. Cross border
trade in audio-visual services is essentially transactions
related to the right to distribute, view or listen to audio-visual
content.”
Ref: Nordås, H. K. et al. (2014), “Services Trade Restrictiveness Index
(STRI): Audio-visual Services”, OECD Trade Policy Papers, No. 174,
OECD Publishing http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jxt4nj4fc22-en
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11. Technology and Copyright
• Broadcast vs. streaming: Nielsen has agreed to revise audience
ratings system to include non-linear audience estimates
 Important for setting ad tariffs & therefore revenues
 Can copyright be enforceable over Paul Goldstein’s ‘Celestial
Jukebox’? (Copyright’s Highway: From Gutenberg to the
Celestial Jukebox – 2003) – the public-private use distinction
remains critical
“… it would be a serious mistake for policy makers (and I include the courts) to
reflexively reach for a new exemption or an expanded fair use any time copyright
appears to stand in the way of the roll out of some new technology. It would be a
mistake because the characteristic impediment in all of these cases is not
copyright, but the transaction costs associated with securing licenses under
copyright. The proper target, then, is not copyright, but transaction costs, and
digital facilities, including the Internet, offer dramatic possibilities for reducing
these transaction costs to close to zero.” (Paul Goldstein’s Copyright’s Highway: From
Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox – 2003 - see: http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/?
s=Paul+Goldstein)

12. The economics of AV and copyright issues
“Despite international agreements, the will to actually
implement and uphold copyright at ground level is not
shared with equal enthusiasm in all territories around the
globe. Countries such as, for example, the PRC and the
Philippines have been characterized by weak enforcement of
copyright related to audio-visual works and by high levels of
piracy in recent years (Cocq and Levy 2006: 79; Edgecliffe-
Johnson 2011). Digital piracy has been prevalent in Korea
where levels of connection to an exceptionally well-
advanced internet infrastructure are high (Ibid.) “
ADB (2012) Audio-visual Services: International Trade and Cultural
Policy
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13. Copyright Issues: Content & Control… Digital Media Project (Harvard)
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/techade/pdfs/Gasser2.pdf
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14. Audio-Visual services and tradeAudio-Visual services and trade
“Audio-visual services account for a relatively small share
of GDP, between 0.5 and 1% in the countries for which
information is available. Nevertheless audio-visual services
are among the most globalised of all services industries and
a sector where cross-border trade is vital. The proliferation of
broadband internet services has brought new opportunities
and challenges to the industry as well as to policy makers and
regulators.”
Ref: Nordås, H. K. et al. (2014), “Services Trade Restrictiveness Index
(STRI): Audio-visual Services”, OECD Trade Policy Papers, No. 174,
OECD Publishing http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jxt4nj4fc22-en
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15. Audio-Visual Services and TradeAudio-Visual Services and Trade
• “The STRI (Services Trade Restrictiveness Index) indices take
values between zero and one, one representing a totally closed
and zero a fully open sector. The results show that the overall
index level is low to moderate with an average of 0.16 for sound
recording, 0.18 for motion pictures and 0.28 for
broadcasting. Limitations on movement of people account for
a large share of the index value for most countries in sound
recording. Motion pictures are relatively liberal on average, but
there is substantial variation among countries. The highest
scores are found in countries where there are foreign equity
limits for movie theatres, producers or distributors; where
there are quotas for local films in theatres or on television, or
where national treatment is not granted for foreign
suppliers.” 15

16. jj
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17. The Digital Dividend
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ASO/DSO – Several factors influence the pace of adoption of DTT, and analogue switch-off
• Consumer resistance to, and the cost of, upgrading TV receivers, buying DTT
decoders or adopting Internet-connected devices
• Technology developments in digital broadcasting, NGN mobile broadband, devices,
advances in cognitive radio, etc.
• Legacy issues, such as past allocations of bands to particular services or users, such
as the military, government departments, emergency services, private users, etc.
• Recommendations of the WRC12, WRC15, regional bodies such as ASEAN, and the
outcome of bilateral and trilateral consultations between regulators, etc.
• Future market demand for services which may vary
• The progress of convergence, for example will emergency services require
bandwidths to support future broadband apps such as streamed video?
• Harmonization of frequency requirements to support regional roaming of services
across compatible platforms
Other local conditions may play a part. For example, currently the Philippines are
considering adopting the Japanese ISDB standard for DTT rather than the DVB standard
Source: IIC Asia Forum, The Digital Dividend in Asia – www.trpc.biz/forum

18. Penetration of Digital TV by OECD country as % TV households, 2011
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19. ASO in ASEAN
Economy Analogue Switch Over (ASO)
ASEAN 2015-2020 – DVB-T 2 standard to be adopted and the ABU will collaborate on a
‘Colours of ASEAN’ HDTV programme initiative by 2013
http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/micacrd/speech/
S-20120301-1.html ; the ASEAN Digital Broadcasting (ADB) meetings are chaired by
Brunei Darussalam. The 10th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information meeting
endorsed:
1. ASEAN adopts a phased approach towards ASO from 2015-2020
2. A common set of technical specs for standard digital STB for ASEAN
3. ASEAN Member States to co-produce digital content and promote exchanges of
content. http://www.mda.gov.sg/International/Pages/ASEAN.aspx
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20. Thank YouThank You
johnure@trpc.bizjohnure@trpc.biz
MuchieMuchie
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