Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) August 2016 • Volume 33, Issue 7

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www.apb-news.com

NEWS & VIEWS
WORLD IN BRIEF

NHK to hold 8K public
viewing of Rio Games
TOKYO – Japanese public broadcaster NHK is holding 8K public
viewings in six venues for the
Summer Olympic Games in Brazil,
in addition to an 8K experimental
terrestrial transmission conducted
in tandem with Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo in Rio de Janeiro.
The events that will be broadcast
in 8K include the opening and
closing ceremonies, as well as
judo, swimming, athletics, basketball and the men’s football final.

APAC pay-TV revenue
slowing down
SINGAPORE – The Asia-Pacific
pay-TV industry will grow at a
5.8% average annual rate from
2016-2021, says a Media Partners
Asia (MPA) report. However, the
pace of pay-TV subscriber and
revenue growth is showing signs
of slowing down, particularly in
South-east Asia.

Twitter to stream
Bloomberg shows live
NEW YORK – Bloomberg Media
and Twitter are in a live streaming tie-up that will see the latter
stream three of Bloomberg’s
weekday TV shows — Bloomberg
West, What’d You Miss? and With
All Due Respect. The partnership
is said to represent the company’s
continued investment in innovative distribution models.

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CREATION

14

MANAGEMENT

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DISTRIBUTION

| AUGUST 2016 | VOLUME 33

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X-PLATFORM

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ISSUE 7

26

Switching TV platforms at
to launch
touch of a red hot button SBS
new channel
by shawn liew

SINGAPORE – There should no
longer be a differentiation of platforms when it comes to content
consumption; broadcasters need
to eliminate the dimension of time,
and ensure that viewers are only
concerned about content and the
viewing experience.
This philosophy, according to
Anil Nihalani, head, Connected
Media, Mediacorp, is the main
driving force behind Mediacorp’s
launch of the Toggle Red Button
service.
Powered by Hybrid Broadcast
Broadband TV (HbbTV) technology, the Toggle Red Button service
brings together live broadcast TV
and Toggle’s vast catalogue of video-on-demand (VoD) services into
a “single, seamless environment”.
By pressing the red button on
the TV remote control, users can
gain direct access to Toggle’s library
of programmes, while watching

Powered by Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) technology, Mediacorp’s
Toggle Red Button service brings together live broadcast TV and Toggle’s vast
catalogue of video-on-demand services into a “single, seamless environment”.

Mediacorp’s free-to-air (FTA) TV
channels, all on one screen.
The service is delivered via
HbbTV-enabled smart TVs that are
certified for the Toggle Red Button
service, and available on selected
models by major TV manufacturers.
Nihalani told APB: “We still
have a lot of our audience in the

broadcast space. Toggle, which
started off by offering catch-up to
our linear offerings, is progressively
offering a wider range of content
over VoD.
“Rather than have our viewers
move between two worlds, we

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ARTARMON – Australian public
broadcaster Special Broadcasting
Service (SBS) is partnering with
VICE, a global youth brand, to
launch a new channel in Australia.
The new lifestyle and culture TV
channel will feature programming
from the VICELAND TV channel,
and will be screened free-to-air on
SBS later this year.
SBS will own and operate the
new channel, which will be avail­
able on the SBS 2 channel spectrum, as well as on SBS online
platforms. Programming will focus
on original lifestyle and culture
content for young viewers and
will feature Australian-produced
programmes.
Michael Ebeid, SBS’ managing
director and CEO, said: “We are
excited to be partnering with VICE
to bring some of the best available
content from across the world,
never before seen in Australia ...
free to all Australians on SBS channels and platforms.”

Asia-Pac leaning towards time-shifted viewing of content
LEVALLOIS-PERRET – The proliferation of
multi-device ownership, increased broadband
penetration and speeds, and the sheer number
of video-on-demand (VoD) services available is
encouraging a continuous uptick in time-shifted
viewing.
In 31 countries measured in the new One TV
Year, Multiscreen Report 2016 Edition 1 by French

audience measurement company Eurodata TV
Worldwide, time-shifted viewing is accounting
for 7% of total viewing time, translating into 15
additional viewing minutes overall.
And as non-linear viewing habits continue
to develop, it is Asia-Pacific viewers who are
displaying the greatest tendency to move away
from traditional TV viewing.

“Traditional TV is less viewed in Asia-Pacific
than anywhere else in the world,” Estelle Chandèze, research manager, Eurodata TV Worldwide, told APB. “The region has the lowest TV
daily viewing time at an average of two hours
and 32 minutes per viewer.”
Conversely, video viewing on connected

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