NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

CASBAA Convention Kicks Off in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Nov 5, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - The CASBAA Convention 2009, organized by the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), officially kicked off with a keynote address from John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, HongKong.

More than 600 VIPs, delegates, speakers and media from around the world attending the CASBAA Convention 2009, titled "Extending your reach", tackled urgent issues facing the subscription TV business today, not least the challenges presented by the on-line distribution of video services (both authorized and unauthorized), the ever more urgent need for enhanced audience measurement and the continued deployment of digital systems across the Asia Pacific.

Digital guru Jeff Cole of theCenter for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, spoke on the "Digital Technology Revolution". He said: "TV is getting closer to the movie experience and HDTV increasing interest in television."

"People's perception of advertising is changing as advertising becomes more relevant, the less intrusive and much more interesting to watch."

Highlighting the importance of the continuing growth in India on the opening day was a keynote "In Conversation" session with SubhashChandra, Chairman of Indian media giant Zee Entertainment Enterprises which concluded with a special life time achievement award for his contribution to the Asian pay-TV industry.

Some of the biggest names in global pay-TV distribution are featured in the conference programme include Kim Williams, the CEO, Foxtel in Australia; Hiroyuki Nakatani of J:Com in Japan and Jean-Noel Tronc, the Chairman and CEO Europe's largest platform operator Canal Overseas.

Today's excitement included a BBCHARDtalk conversation between Hernan Lopez, COO, Fox Int'l Channels and BBC World News presenter Stephen Sackur.

Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award 2009 was presented at the end of the first day of Convention. MTV EXIT was awarded for producing the powerful music video for Radiohead's "All I Need". The compelling video gives insight into the realities of exploitative child labour and shows that everyone has a role to play in ending child exploitation and trafficking.

"Broadcast platforms of all kinds are one of the most powerful tools for educating and promoting child rights issues. On behalf of the industry, CASBAA salutes the on-going participation of broadcasters from across the Asia Pacific region in this year's Award process," said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA.

To coincide with the Convention 2009, CASBAA announced the launch of its three new reports exclusively for its Members, including "Vietnam in View", "The Philippines in View" and "Regulating for Growth 2009" to access the market landscape and highlight the regional trends. All these initiatives have continuously demonstrated the Association's commitments to its members.

"The strong speaker line-up as well as the positive demand for sponsorship and exhibition space has proven the Convention as an effective networking platform for industry executives to share their latest information. At the same time, this is a significant reflection on the confidence of the pay-TV growth opportunities across the Asia Pacific," added Twiston Davies.

"More pay-TV's top leadership will continue to show up and share their vision for the Convention tomorrow. We are looking forward to it!"

You can download some Convention pictures with captions from here: http://www.casbaa.com/ftpdir/Press%20Release/convention_pictures_nov4.zip

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