 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific I 2007 |
| Article no.: | 18 | |
| Topic: | Asia-Pacific: the next-generation of satellite services | |
| Author: | David Ball | |
| Title: | Regional Vice President Asia-Pacific | |
| Organisation: | Intelsat Corporation | |
| PDF size: | 532KB |
About author
David Ball is Intelsat’s Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific. Mr Ball joined Intelsat following the merger between PanAmSat and Intelsat. David Ball served as PanAmSat’s Vice President for Asia, having previously worked at the company’s headquarters and in a variety of sales, engineering and space systems development positions. Prior to joining PanAmSat, he served as a commissioned officer in the RAAF, specializing in communications system management. Mr Ball is a member of the Council of Governors of CASBAA, Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, and is a member of the CASBAA Satellite Industry Committee. David Ball holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Communications Engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and a Graduate Diploma in Business Management from Deakin University.
Article abstract
Satellite services play an important role in the growth of communications and entertainment services in the Asia-Pacific region. Satellites are facilitating the spread of high-definition television and direct-to-home programmeming, IPTV and mobile TV services. Satellite transmits special events throughout the region using multi-casting to provide local language coverage in each country. Although Asia, historically, has imported much content, satellite distribution now lets Asian providers distribute their content throughout the region and to Asian communities around the globe.
Full Article
From broadcasting Italy’s winning goal over France during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in high-definition (HD) to delivering interactive programmeming, satellite technology is making possible some of today’s most sought-after applications and services. The Asia-Pacific region continues to be in the forefront when it comes to benefiting from advancements in satellite communications. New opportunities within this region are emerging for direct-to-home, DTH, platforms, HD broadcasting, special-event programmeming, IPTV and Mobile TV services, and broadband applications. Regional content service providers are seeking seamless transmission capabilities as they expand and diversify their offerings. Satellite technology alone, or coupled with existing terrestrial or wireless networks, is providing next-generation transmission solutions within Asia, enabling business growth. Recent years have witnessed satellite-enabled broadband projects accelerate in Asia, and bring high speed Internet to areas where terrestrial alternatives either did not exist or were cost-prohibitive for the network service providers. Today, satellite-based broadband services continue to grow rapidly within countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand. Broadband penetration in many developing countries in Asia, however, has remained low due to a combination of regulatory constraints and limited computer access of most consumers. Pakistan, however, is an excellent example of a country benefiting from the adoption of an open market structure and implementation of forward-looking government policies on consumer IT enablement. Nevertheless, technological advancements within Asia-Pacific are not stopping with broadband services. The region’s next-generation innovations will revolve around advanced video applications. In fact, satellite-enabled broadcast transmission platforms are assisting Asian broadcasters in expanding their programme distribution into new markets. Likewise, HD content is increasing among DTH programmers, special-event broadcasting is becoming more robust, and feeds of breaking news and entertainment to hand-held equipment are becoming commonplace. DTH Frost & Sullivan forecasts the Asian DTH sector will grow to roughly US$45 billion in revenues by 2012. Japan is still the largest DTH market in the region, but now all eyes are focusing on promising countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Vietnam. Although China currently has DTH services, it plans to have a stronger platform in place by 2008, which will include enhanced HD programmeming to coincide with the Olympic Games. Even though emerging DTH markets in Asia-Pacific are primarily focusing on provision of standard definition TV, the near term availability of reasonably priced HD-enabled consumer equipment will create an opportunity for new pay TV service providers to leapfrog directly to this technology. This progress within the DTH sector is creating stronger demand for satellite technology. For years, satellite operators have hosted DTH platforms but now, programmers are creating more high-quality content and increasing the bandwidth requirements. This bandwidth growth is why the fixed satellite service sector must continue to find innovative ways to serve the Asian video community. Likewise, market demand by Asian broadcasters wanting to expand their programmeming reach is on the rise and satellite-enabled transmission services will be needed to meet their needs. In fact, analysts at NSR forecast that four out of every five new dollars generated by the commercial satellite sector in the coming six years will stem from broadcasting and video services. They also believe that South Asia will experience rapid expansion in the use of commercial capacity for DTH services. Asian content distribution As the market matures, for broadcasters within Asia-Pacific the need to export and import regional programmeming will increase. In the past decade, Western programmers came to Asia and Asian broadcasters transmitted their programmes to cable headends around Asia. Now, many Asian customers are exporting their channels worldwide. There is strong demand for Asian news, sports and entertainment from Asian communities outside of their home regions. Satellite enables seamless delivery of such content on a global scale. Asian audiences throughout Europe and the Americas now receive more than 150 ethnic channels that originate in 15 Asia-Pacific countries almost entirely distributed via satellite. High definition In addition to expanding ethnic programmeming distribution, tech-savvy Asia promises to be a strong growth arena for HD programmers. Consumer demand is on the rise for high-quality regional and international content much of which, however, must be customized for each country. Multicasting the same programmeming to various countries – translated into each country’s languages – is a strong, growing, business for Asian broadcasters. Multicasting efficiently uses the satellite transmission capabilities – particularly of operators with broad regional beam offerings – to capitalize on new markets. Recently, Asian broadcasters benefited from satellite-enabled multicasting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup to Asia in both standard and high-definition formats. The high-definition feed used by the Pay-TV industry drove subscriptions to World Cup Event bundles that included HD-capable plasma or LCD receivers and HD set-top boxes. User demand emerges with such special events and the greater the number of HD capable TVs, the greater the demand for HD content. The HD market is expanding, but satellite service providers know there will be some initial growth challenges throughout the region. Even so, some countries are growing steadily. Japan, Korea and Australia are leading the region in HD programmeming and NSR’s analysts expect Hong Kong and Singapore to be the next markets where demand for HD content will emerge. Special-event programmeming Special-event programmeming is also gaining momentum within Asia. The need to disseminate news, sports and regional events simultaneously to multiple destinations makes satellite-enabled transmission ideally suited for this application. Special-event programmeming will fuel growth for content providers and satellite operators. Transmission services to broadcasters that do not hold their own rights to broadcast a given event, SNG, satellite news gathering, operators and other service offerings can be made available for programmers, enabling a ‘one-stop shop’. Working with such satellite operators streamlines the service procurement for broadcasters and provides them with an end-to-end solution that eliminates the challenge of signing with multiple vendors, simplifies procurement and makes their business more operationally efficient and cost effective. Beyond the Asian Games, the entire world will look to the region in 2008 because of the Summer Olympics. Content providers, carriers and network operators are increasing their business with China. Asia-Pacific’s broadcasters will need access to live and on-demand coverage of the Olympics to deliver the programmeming to their global and regional audiences. IPTV Another market segment that is growing in Asia-Pacific is IPTV. Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan are among the countries that currently have IPTV initiatives. One pan-Asian satellite broadcaster in Japan has already launched an interactive IPTV service. In fact, Asia has led the way in the development of many IPTV distribution platforms. However, technical problems and security are challenging the rollout of IPTV. Satellite, however, provides a redundant and secure transmission platform for content delivery to IPTV networks by deploying digital subscriber line access multiplexers, DSLAMS, for IPTV rollouts. Given the market potential of IPTV, satellite service providers have developed a solution to enable IPTV. Equipment modelled on a ‘super headend’ for content distribution upgrades and converts video streams. Specifically, the system centralizes the aggregation of national TV programmer content and offers full digital quality video and audio channels. This lets users bundle standard and high-definition programmeming with voice and broadband services without incurring upgrade costs. With these advances in satellite technology – in network efficiency, data throughput and support for a diverse array of connectivity platforms – Asia-Pacific is seeing robust growth of its IPTV sector. Mobile TV Mobile TV is also gaining momentum in the Asia-Pacific region. Trial applications in Japan, India and Korea provide important examples of innovative mobile TV business models. The developers are examining satellite technology and watching hybrid deployments in the United States, Europe and South Africa, where satellite is providing efficient and secure distribution to a terrestrial infrastructure. Nevertheless, the satellite component in the transmission chain remains in its infancy and mobile TV service providers are currently tackling some market-entry challenges. Specifically, international standards are not finalized, market applications need to be solidified and decisions need to be made regarding the content distributed to hand-held equipment. Once mobile TV service providers overcome these challenges, this sector should realize long-term business growth. Whether it is broadcast distribution to an already established wireless network, directly to the hand-held equipment or to provide redundant backup services, satellite technology offers many solutions to this fledgling application. China recently proposed that all mobile phone service providers in the country use a common standard for broadcasting television signals to mobile phones. Countrywide rollout of its Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multi-service Infrastructure, STIMI, standard, if approved by regulators, could materialize as early as this year’s end. Indeed, if it makes it to market, satellite technology will be the primary driver of China’s mobile TV services. With all this underway, the Asia-Pacific region is enjoying a renaissance based upon next-generation satellite services and technologies. That is why the region is starting to reap the benefits of satellite-enabled services, both in terms of economic development and market growth.
