Convergence and regulation of multi-screen television: The Singapore experience

This article addresses complicated convergent and regulatory issues arising from cross-platform audiovisual services and analyzes Singapore's multi-screen television experience. A “platform neutrality” multi-screen TV regulatory scheme is proposed to concentrate on content classification in order to respond to the fast-changing audiovisual industry and competition. Under the scheme, different content and license regulations are applied to four types of TV-like services which are categorized by “socio-cultural impact” (i.e., broadcasting and mass market vs. VOD and niche market)” and “content production/aggregation model” (i.e., gatekeeping vs. participatory mechanism). In addition, competition, content regulation, and digital copyright are identified as key issues involved in the fast-growing cross-platform audiovisual media industry. Finally, this study analyzes market development, regulatory issues, and national plans for multi-screen TV services in Singapore and examines them under the proposed regulatory scheme. Market and policy recommendations are discussed.     

The economics of online television: Industry development,aggregation, and “TV Everywhere”

Although still dominated by standard television, the online TV industry is growing rapidly. Entrants employ a range of business models, and we identify a prevalent tendency for leading providers to aggregate programming from a variety of different content owners. We focus on one form of content aggregation by multi-channel programming distributors (MPVDs) widely known as “TV Everywhere (TVE).” Following a brief taxonomy of TVE systems, we develop an economic model to show how this “free-with-authentication” (of MVPD subscribership) bundling practice can be explained as a price discrimination device intended to slow MVPD disconnections. We show that TVE bundling could also deter entry into the online TV market. We discuss the potential roles of horizontal and vertical integration of MVPDs and ISPs in online TV industry development, again focusing on TVE, and conclude with policy implications.     

Cable as choice

The major benefit that cable TV has to offer the UK customer is choice. The question is: should choice be limited in any way? Vested interests in the television and film industry are pressing for restrictions on two ‘no go’ areas-live sport and first release films. Gareth Locksley argues that there is no case for restrictions, and that choice will benefit the television and film industries and the consumer.     

Regulation,enforcement, and entry: Evidence from the Spanish local TV industry

Although we have many tools to understand the effect of regulation on firm entry, we know little about the importance of actual regulation enforcement. For this purpose, this paper uses data from Spain's local television industry from 1995 through 2001, which provide a unique opportunity for examining how firms' profitability changes with the introduction of regulation and a posterior liberalization. During this period, the local television industry transitioned from a state of alegality (no regulation in place) to being highly regulated and finally to being informally deregulated. Using a firm entry model from Bresnahan and Reiss (1990, 1991a,b), we estimate local TV station entry thresholds by number of entrants across years. We find the entry threshold in 1998 increased relative to the thresholds in 1995 and 2001, suggesting that entry was less attractive during the period when the local TV industry was highly regulated. We decompose the entry thresholds into the fixed costs and variable profits, and find the fixed-cost ratios increase in 1998 and stay constant in 2001. Meanwhile, we find an increase in the variable-profit ratios in 2001. These findings suggest that the informal deregulation did not invalidate the regulation introduced in 1995 on the cost side. However, the deregulation seemed to have an impact on variable profits through how local TV stations competed.     

Emerging issues in white space regulation

The secondary use of vacant television channels (TV white spaces) and the reallocation of the digital dividend to provide wireless broadband services are in the final stages of implementation in some countries. Originally seen as a once in a generation opportunity to better allocate UHF spectrum, further digital dividends are now underway as regulators and industry strive to meet exponential increases in demand for mobile data services. Concurrent developments suggest that TV white spaces may be rapidly exploited by global networks with billions of supported devices. The potential for sub-optimal outcomes is identified if the prospect of further digital dividends is not taken into account as technical and regulatory arrangements are put in place to allow productive use of TV white spaces. The importance of considering the potential interaction between further digital dividends and the use of TV white spaces is discussed and technical and regulatory approaches to support optimal outcomes are identified.     

互联网电视真相

什么是互联网电视？“顾名思义就是可以上网的电视,但并非接上网线就可所向披靡地浏览网页,你只能看到电视厂家推送的有限内容。”电视机生产企业会这样跟你解释,这听起来有点古怪,但事实就是如此。     

The stalemate of cable digital switchover: A study of competition effects and deregulation

This paper addresses the phenomenon of delayed cable digitization in Taiwan and reports the results of a longitudinal analysis, determining that (1) inter-platform competition, primarily from internet protocol television (IPTV), generates a strong and positive impact on the digitization of cable service after it acquires numerous customers; (2) the installed cable base induces economies of scale that increase its digital penetration; (3) the overbuild of the equivalent-size rivalry can increase digital adoption, whereas unequal-sized competition might reversely decrease it; and (4) the monthly flat fee charged to customers does not influence digital adoption. In addition, this paper presents a discussion on the policy instruments derived from econometric results. Although repealing the horizontal integration cap in the cable TV industry could generate economies of scale, doing so may encourage monopolization over several franchises. The efficacy of intra-platform competition is reserved only for certain cases. Combining the results of these analyses reveals that inter-platform competition most effectively stimulates cable operators’ digital conversion. Hence, regulators should create a level playing field among various TV platforms, such as equal programming access and open standards, to ensure a high degree of cable digitization     

长虹的未来

最近，中国彩电企业的老板．们又开始频繁出入韩国，目的就是拿到更多的液晶屏。从今年初开始，曾因经济危机陷入低迷的液晶电视产业链出现反转迹象，到5月份以后，整个中国市场在政策的驱动下更是蓬勃向上，终端市场的快速上量，使得先前“关停并转”的上游液晶屏的生产突然变得紧张起来。随后液晶屏的价格翻番上涨。     

Developing and Using Forecasting Models of Consumer Durables The Case of Color Television

Predicting the future sales of new and established products is a critical activity for companies to be able to plan and control their operations. Forecasting consumer durable sales is an especially difficult and challenging task since the marketplace is always changing. Barry Bayus, Saman Hong and Russell Labe present the concept of a market-driven forecasting model and discuss an application involving the forecasting of color television industry sales for RCA's Consumer Electronics Division. An important aspect of this application is that a single approach or model was inadequate to accurately forecast sales over the entire period since the introduction of color TV. Econometric and simulation models which were developed are described, along with their forecasting performance and management acceptance and use.     

Regulation of the Canadian cable industry: A comparative analysis

The Canadian and US cable television industries have similar economic characteristics and market structures, yet each has a distinct mix of programme services and a different history of development. These differences are largely due to a different economic status in each country, cultural peculiarities and contrasting theories of regulation. The US regulatory environment is gradually moving toward a laissez-faire market approach while in Canada more traditional and formal rules still apply which constrict economic behaviour. This difference in regulatory philosophy is most evident in the treatment of pay television. Canadian regulatory policy has given rise to rules which are at variance with economic incentives and efficiency.     

Is Netflix a threat to the cable TV industry? Evidence from Brazil

In recent years, the Brazilian cable TV industry has experienced a sharp downturn. In parallel, the over-the-top platform Netflix gained popularity and Brazil has become one of its biggest markets. The objective of this paper is to investigate the competitive effects of Netflix's entry on the incumbent cable TV industry. We explore the regional variability of Netflix's popularity (measured by Google Trends) and combined this information with official data of the cable TV market. Using a two-way fixed effects estimator with state-month observations (covering the period of 2012–2019), we showed that the increase in one standard deviation in Netflix popularity is associated with a 3.62% reduction in the density of cable TV subscribers and with a 19.69% reduction in the number of small firms that operate cable TV.     

A TV whitespace ecosystem for licensed cognitive radio

The paper looks at the role of cognitive radio in TV whitespace and suggests that European and US policy makers have limited its exploitation because of a predominant focus on cognitive radio as a device that is primarily suited for unlicensed opportunistic spectrum access. The paper suggests that markets for pragmatically conceived cognitive radios can be safely exploited within the confines of licensed spectrum, rather than solely in the domain of unlicensed opportunistic scenarios. Both European and US policy perspectives are analysed as they pertain to both cognitive radios and the TV whitespace, identifying the contradictions and opportunities therein. The analysis shows that regulators have already formulated many of the policy tools necessary to create a coherent ecosystem for license-based exploitation of TV whitespace by cognitive radios and that there are opportunities for broadening the regulation of TV whitespace.     

Can the US transition to digital TV be fixed? Some lessons from two European Union cases

This paper compares the regulatory incentives created by government policies aimed at promoting the transition to digital TV in the US, France, and the UK. It argues that US policies have aggravated coordination problems and even created incentives for terrestrial broadcasters to retard the transition in order to receive compensations from wireless telecommunications providers for vacating frequencies before the statutory deadline. The institutional analysis framework is applied to explain the observed policy variations across countries as well as the factors retarding the transition in the American case. The conclusion suggests possible remedies to accelerate the transition to digital TV in the US based on the British experience.     

我国卫星电视产业市场结构实证分析及优化对策

文章所研究的卫星电视产业限定于播出和节目制作领域,并认为这一领域的电视产业具有竞争性产业的特点。在把握我国基本国情和电视产业的特点基础上,借助哈佛学派的SCP范式,以市场集中度等为指标,指出我国电视产业的高政策性壁垒、寡占型的市场集中度和行政垄断是我国卫星电视产业资源配置效率低下的原因所在。并针对所存在的问题对我国电视产业的市场结构优化问题给出了改革和开放的具体政策建议。     

Inter-firm price coordination in a two-sided market

In many two-sided markets we observe that there is a common distributor on one side of the market. One example is the TV industry, where TV channels choose advertising prices to maximize own profit and typically delegate determination of viewer prices to independent distributors. We show that in such a market structure the stronger the competition between the TV channels, the greater will joint profits in the TV industry be. We also show that joint profits may be higher if the wholesale contract between each TV channel and the distributor consists of a simple fixed fee rather than a two-part tariff.     

Riding the US wave: spectrum auctions in the digital age

Given its significant technological advantages compared to analog broadcasting, digital television (DTV) will be the television system of the future. However, it requires a full replacement of analog television sets by digital receivers, as DTV can only be watched with special equipment. In order to make this transition happen smoothly without losing the analog television audience, both signals have to be simulcasted until a substantial coverage with DTV broadcasting has been achieved. Australia and the US meanwhile have established a regulatory framework to lead this transition towards the end of analog broadcasting, the so-called analog switch-off. Part of the US regime is the FCC's obligation to reassign analog frequencies after the switch-off has taken place by means of auction. Spectrum auctions, however, originate not from the US but from New Zealand, where they have been used since the end of 1989 and ever since been subject to legal and political criticism. The article outlines the principles of both the DTV and spectrum auctions regulation and shows the links between both areas of telecommunications regulation. It concludes by suggesting that the analog switch-off is a unique opportunity to reconsider current spectrum policies, as it frees large amounts of the radio spectrum that are today occupied by analog broadcasting and will soon be subject to one of the biggest frequency reassignment processes in the history of telecommunications regulation.     

The emerging oligopoly of pay-TV in the USA

The pay-television industry in the USA has been developing very rapidly in the past five years and is providing network quality alternatives to the mass taste programming of commercial television. However, the industry has been developing along lines very similar to the early history of radio in the USA with the emergence of strong distributor networks, restrictive affiliation contracts, and wide-spread vertical integration across all stages of production. History and economic efficiencies suggest that the result will be a strong oligopoly market structure. The proper public policy, then, is to insure that the unavoidable degree of concentration is not greater than that needed for efficiency reasons.     

Estimating Market Power in the US Copper Industry

Before 1978, most of the domestic copper production in the US and an important share of imports were traded at a price set by the major US producers. At the same time, the rest of the world was trading copper at prices determined in auction markets. This two-price system ended in 1978, when the largest US producers began using the Comex price of refined copper as a benchmark for setting their prices. Using this regime shift, I empirically test the competitive behavior of the US copper industry before 1978. The results show that copper prices were close to the levels predicted by a competitive model of the industry.     

Management, technology and work in commercial broadcasting, c. 1979–98

This article explores the relationship between management strategy, technological change and collective bargaining in the British commercial television industry. The demanning and deskilling potential of digital production technologies remained largely untapped until the second half of the 1980s. The termination of national collective bargaining that had regulated minimum crewing levels was the watershed in terms of work organisation.     

Foreign and domestic US policies: Spectrum reservations and media balance

This article examines the US opposition to a priori planning of the HF and space satellite spectrum, and ‘orbital slots’. This opposition is then contrasted with the rationale of domestic pre-engineered allocation and allotment plans for television and FM radio. The article then contrasts the US animus towards Third World calls for a ‘balanced’ information flow with the longstanding US commitment to fairness, balance, equal access and diversity. The author suggest that the operation of a foreign-domestic double standard could damage US credibility.