GECs
Multichannel TV, digital video growing in Myanmar: CASBAA report
MUMBAI: Multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially in Myanmar. Around 12 months ago, the TV household penetration touched 5.8 million homes, or 55%.
Nationally pay-TV connections amounted to 12% of total households. Within the traditional TV market, there are signs of rapid expansion. In the free-to-air (FTA) sector, the number of channels increased fivefold from four networks in between 2009 and 2015.
Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.
Asia Pacific multichannel TV association CASBAA today released its exclusive, members-only “Myanmar in View” report on the fast-evolving multichannel market in Myanmar, one of the world’s most dynamic media and telecoms economies.
The “Myanmar in View 2017” report was released at the opening of CASBAA’s “Essential Building Blocks for Multichannel TV in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos” spotlight conference in Singapore on 5 December.
“Even as Myanmar experiences roller coaster political events, the multichannel TV and digital video markets continue to grow exponentially,” said Christopher Slaughter, CASBAA CEO. “According to our analysis and that of many economists and infrastructure specialists, Myanmar continues to experience high economic growth with the continued liberalization of the economy, moving towards becoming a free market and welcoming foreign direct investment as well as foreign firms.” Nevertheless, the CASBAA Report also notes that “Myanmar continues to suffer from inadequate infrastructure such as the lack of electricity and proper roads, although it has begun upgrading its infrastructure.” “Although Myanmar’s TV market stats reflect continued under-development within the broader economy they only highlight great medium-term opportunity for our sector,” said Slaughter.
Meanwhile, multichannel-TV investment continues apace, including plans by several pay-TV providers to localize and improve and programming, expanding their reach through more extensive distribution investment supporting less complexity during the subscription and renewal processes.
According to CASBAA, competition in the pay-TV sector will intensify as existing operators improve their service propositions and new players enter the market. However, while TV adspend has grown rapidly (US$120 million in 2015, up 31% since 2009) widespread piracy from “overspill” satellite dishes may dampen growth in the pay-TV industry.
Through unregistered satellite services, viewers are able access more channels at significantly lower prices than that charged by Myanmar pay-TV players. Pirated DVDs of international movies and drama, which are widely available in urban areas, also dampen growth of the pay-TV market. “Unfortunately, there is a lack of concerted effort to tackle piracy issues in the country,” said Slaughter.
GECs
EPIC Company unifies all brands under single EPIC identity
IN10 Media rebrand aligns TV, digital and films into one ecosystem
MUMBAI: The EPIC Company, formerly known as IN10 Media Network, has announced a sweeping brand consolidation, bringing its television channels, digital platforms and content IPs under a single identity, EPIC.
The move is aimed at simplifying the company’s structure while creating a more connected content ecosystem spanning television, digital and films. By aligning multiple verticals under one umbrella, the company is looking to present a sharper, more cohesive face to both audiences and partners.
As part of the transition, several channels have been rebranded to align with the EPIC identity. EPIC will now operate as EPIC TV, while Nazara becomes EPIC Bharat, Filamchi is now EPIC Bhojpuri, Gubbare transitions to EPIC Kids, and ShowBox is reintroduced as EPIC Music. Ishara will continue under the identity EPIC Parivaar, maintaining its core positioning.
The company has also refreshed EPICON, its streaming platform, to reflect a more unified and modern brand experience. The overhaul is designed to improve content discovery and create a seamless experience across platforms.
This consolidation follows the recent launch of EPIC Studio, a unified production arm that brings together Juggernaut Productions and MovieVerse Studio, as the company expands its footprint across films, OTT and television.
The EPIC Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “As our scale has grown, it has become important to simplify how we operate and how we present ourselves to the ecosystem. This consolidation gives us a clearer, more future-ready structure to partner, invest, and build at scale, while ensuring that for viewers, the experience is more seamless and intuitive.”
With the rebrand, The EPIC Company is positioning itself as a platform-agnostic content network, focused on scale, simplicity and integrated storytelling. By bringing everything under one banner, it is aiming to make its content universe easier to navigate and harder to ignore.
