English Entertainment
‘India is the biggest market in which SPT Networks, Asia operates’ : Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia executive VP, GM Ricky Ow
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AXN Network has recently created a new position to focus in its biggest growth market. Sunil Punjabi has been appointed as the business head and will be handling AXN and Animax in India.
Punjabi will lead the team in developing the go-to-market strategy for new channels as well as oversee the development, acquisition and production of a content mix for SPT’s networks in India. He is also charged with driving marketing strategies to grow the channel brands and to pursue further distribution opportunities. 
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia executive VP, GM Ricky Ow talks about the growth prospects, particularly as India enters the digitisation era.
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Q. Has India become more of a priority market for SPT Networks Asia in the wake of an economic slowdown which has affected other Asian markets more like Japan and Singapore? |
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Q. So is India gaining importance in terms of business for SPT? This year we’ve invested in research and made a big effort to understand the change in the Indian viewers in the context of the rapid changes in the Indian pay TV landscape with digitisation and the huge increase in new players entering the market. |
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Q. What does the research show so far as AXN is concerned? Consequently, we have kept this in mind as we programme, schedule and promote the channel, which has helped us maintain AXN’s position as the No.1 English GeneralEntertainment channel in India despite the tremendous competition. |
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Q. Is that why AXN Network has created a new position and appointed a business head to run the India operations? |
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Q. In India we are seeing more players entering the English entertainment space due to anticipation of digitisation. How will this impact viewership?
Digitisation will offer the consumers more choices not only in the number of channels but also in the quality of their viewing experience which was not possible with the current analogue system. We are already seeing some of the impact of digitisation in some of the semi-digitised metros like Mumbai and Delhi where viewers are spending more time with the genres of their choice as well as heading straight to their favourite channels rather than having to surf through channels to get to their final destination.
In a fully digitised world channel brand recognition and what they stand for will become paramount. Fortunately the AXN brand is still very much loved in India and we have become synonymous with the action genre which continues to be extremely popular in India. |
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Q. Are you strengthening your localisation strategy?
So we’re not relying on acquisition alone for tent pole programming. Our original productions enable us to have better control of our own fate, the relationship we have with our viewers and key stakeholders and partners. |
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Q. Are content costs escalating with more demand for content and how do you judge whether or not a property is worth an increase in price? |
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Q. AXN Beyond was re-branded as beTV across Asia. What prompted this move?
beTV was previously AXN Beyond. A very well focused channel dedicated to fans of sci-fi, paranormal and horror programming.
We made the strategic decision to rebrand AXN Beyond because we wanted to build a mainstream Englishentertainment channel that appeals to a wider audience. One that can be a complementary and companion channel to AXN and allowing us to offer a more complete portfolio of English entertainment channels. beTV thus offers easy viewing and engaging entertainment, a place for viewers to chill and unwind much like their favourite hang-out café or hang-out joint. |
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Q. Are you launching this channel in India or are you waiting for digitisation to take concrete shape? |
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Q. How is SPT Networks Asia leveraging HD and 3D and how do you see them enhancing the TV viewing experience?
Our distribution in India is much wider than the top 10 key cities, so the plan to roll out HD is a massive effort for us. In the US, Sony Corporation together with Discovery Communications and Imax Corporation has launched the world’s first and only 3D channel – 3net.
For us, the key for launching HD and 3D is finding the right timing and formula that works for us. |
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Q. Has the pay TV business across Asia been hit by the slowdown or are consumers still willing to pay a good price if they see value?
We have also continued to see growth in our advertising business as pay TV is one of the more cost effective advertising mediums for marketers. AXN not only provides a quality environment that enhances advertisers’ brand image but also appeals to and reaches a very desired audience – the SEC A and SEC AB. Our audience is less affected by the economic crisis and continues to have considerable spending power, which is why it is important for marketers to continue investing with us. |
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Q. In the US, new media is seeing people spending more time watching shows online rather than on the TV channels. Is this a challenge you are starting to face in India and Asia?
The good news for advertisers is that pay TV, in spite of the wide choice available, is still less fragmented than the Internet and offers a well targeted, distinct brand environment for marketers to select. Pay TV brands command loyalty amongst viewer who have been relying on pay TV brands for the past 15 to 20 years and we believe they will continue to do so especially as shared family |
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
