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CASBAA Announces Asia Subscription TV Figures Higher than Rest-Of-World Combined

Hong Kong, Nov 4, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) today announced new data for subscription TV penetration across the Asia Pacific, noting that the region now has 326 million pay-TV, up 26 million homes in 2009.

According to CASBAAestimates, backed by global data, subscription television in Asia Pacific now reaches more homes than the rest of the world (ROW) combined. Digital pay-TV subscription households now account for over 115 million homes.

China and India have spearheaded much of the growth, accounting for 90% of all Asian pay-TV subscribers in 2009.

India now has 19 million digital pay-TV households, while China represents 69 million digital video connections. Overall Asian digital penetration stands at 35%across 14 markets.

"These are very encouraging figures," said Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of CASBAA. "Much of the digital promise of the last five years is now being delivered."

Other good news released by CASBAA during its annual Convention in Hong Kong is the emergence of 18 new pay-TV operators across the region the in past 18 months*.

Meanwhile, CASBAA's annual pay-TV piracy survey of 15 Asia Pacific markets conducted in association with Standard Chartered Bank reflects theregional growth but also generating an updated estimate of US$1.94 billion in annual revenue losses to the industry.

"This estimate uses highly conservative assumptions; actual totals are likely to be much higher," said Lee Beasley, Director of Media & Entertainment, Origination & Client Coverage at Standard Chartered Bank. Last year's CASBAA piracy survey produced an estimate of US$1.75 billion in annual pay-TV revenue leakage in Asia.

Evolving factors in the past 12 months include thestrong growth in the legitimate pay-TV market which, inevitably, has meant more piracy; as new content is made available in more Asian languages, the stimulus to piracy increases. "Pay-TV is becoming more attractive," said Twiston Davies, "but that means more people want to steal."

As new markets open, previously hidden pockets of piracy have become apparent as in Indonesia, for instance, where the local industry and government have paid increasing attention to pay-TV signal theft in the lastyear. "Likewise, Vietnam is going through the same process," said Beasley.

At the same time, in some places piracy has declined as investment in digital technology make signals more difficult to steal. Thus, piracy numbers in Hong Kong and Manila have declined as cable operators have deployed new digital transmission systems.

Tax specialists at PricewaterhouseCoopers participated in the analytical exercise, and came to the conclusion that the revenue leakage from the legitimate pay-TV industry cost regional governments at least US$247 million in uncollected taxes.

The biggest revenue losers were the governments in Thailand (US$76 million), Pakistan (US$56 million) and the Philippines (US$39 million).

* Hikari TV(Japan); Korea Telecom and SK Telecom (Korea); Cignal (PLDT), G-Sat (Global Destiny), PLDT/Smart (MyTV) (Philippines); Aora-TV and Okevision (Indonesia); Top Up TV (Next Step Co.) (Thailand); VSTV (VTV/Canal Overseas), VTC (HD channels), HTV (Ho ChiMinh TV), FPT Telecom and VNPT (Vietnam National Posts & Telecom) (Vietnam); Telecom Malaysia (Malaysia); Reliance, Videocon and Bharti Reliance (India)

About Standard Chartered - Leading the Way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

StandardChartered PLC, listed on both London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, ranks among the top 25 companies in the FTSE-100 by market capitalisation. The London-headquartered Group has operated for over 150 years in some of the world's most dynamic markets, leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Its income and profits have more than doubled over the last five years primarily as a result of organic growth.

Standard Chartered aspires to be the best international bank for its customersacross its markets. The Group earns around 90 per cent of its income and profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, from its Wholesale and Consumer Banking businesses. The Group has over 1600 branches and outlets located in over 70 countries. The extraordinary growth of its markets and businesses creates exciting and challenging international career opportunities.

Leading by example to be the right partner for its stakeholders, the Group is committed to building a sustainable business overthe long term and is trusted worldwide for upholding high standards of corporate governance, social responsibility, environmental protection and employee diversity. It employs around 70,000 people, nearly half of whom are women. The Group's employees are of 125 nationalities, of which about 70 are represented in the senior management. For more information on Standard Chartered, please visit www.standardchartered.com.

About CASBAA

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) is an industry-based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel TV via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents some 130 member organisations in the pay-TV business, which in turn serve more than three billion people. Patron members include Al Jazeera, Asia Broadcast Satellite, AsiaSat, ASTRO, Australia Network, Bloomberg Television, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Disney-ABC International Television (Asia-Pacific), Genesis Networks, HBO Asia, Intelsat, Irdeto, ITV Global Entertainment, Macquarie Group, MTV Networks Asia, NBC Universal Networks Asia Pacific, NDS, now TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, SES WORLD SKIES, SingTel, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Tiger Gate Entertainment, Tom Group, TrueVisions, Turner International Asia Pacific and VOOM HD Networks Asia. To view the full list of CASBAA members, please visit here. For more information, please visit www.casbaa.com.

Source: CASBAA

Contact:

Rita Vannithone 

Director Marketing & Communications, CASBAA 

Tel: +852 2854 9940 

Email: rita@casbaa.com 



Helen Shek 

Manager Communications, CASBAA 

Tel: +852 2854 9943 

Email: helen@casbaa.com 



Johnson Hui / Will Ip 

iPR Ogilvy 

Tel: +852 3920 7670 / 2136 6175 

Email: johnsonhui@iprogilvy.com / willip@iprogilvy.com