value partners perspective - singapore exclusive content cross-carriage - 20100903

8/8/2019 Value Partners Perspective - Singapore Exclusive Content Cross-Carriage - 20100903

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Introduction o the Measure

In March 2010, the Media Development Authority o Singapore (MDA) announced a Public Interest Obligation

requiring pay TV licensees to cross carry each others content on a cross-transit basis.

The cross-carriage measure enables a Supplying Qualied Licensee (i.e. purchaser o exclusive content) to

provide access to its content on a paid retailer-customer basis to consumers on any pay TV platorm via a

network transit arrangement. In this way, it diers rom other cross-carriage measures which may have

been implemented in other markets.

From a consumer perspective, Singaporeans will thereore have the convenience and reedom o gaining

access to all content available in the Singapore pay TV market, via a single set top box, or which they will still

be billed by the owner o that content.

From a pay TV operators perspective, the exclusive content owner will continue to be compensated

directly at the retail level or consumption o their content, with content being monetised by customers o

another operator incurring a network transit charge. The content is thereore eectively decoupled rom the

platorm.

MDAs proposed regulation ollows a series o events, most notably SingTels aggressive bidding or exclusive

broadcast rights or the Barclays Premier League (EPL) and Starhub-SingTels joint bid or FIFA World Cup 2010

broadcast rights events that resulted in content costs skyrocketing and elicited concerns that the cost might

eventually be passed on to consumers. Although, on the surace, some have argued that MDA is overreacting

to these events, Value Partners analysis reveals MDAs actions are specically and eectively designed

to address the undamental issues o consumer benet, viability o the pay TV market and overall industry

development. In summary, the rationale or the introduction o the measure lies in three actual arguments:

The Singaporean pay TV market is already in a somewhat ailing state, with low-to-negative industry

protability;

Consumers are suering inconvenience and higher costs rom having to purchase dual subscriptions

to enable them to view popular but exclusive content concentrated between pay TV providers and

platorms;

The breadth o content and level o innovation in the Singaporean pay TV market was at risk o stagnation

due to the oligopoly now in place and high entry barriers or new entrants to reach end consumers.

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Exclusive Content Cross-Carriage Obligation in Singapore:

An innovative intervention that promises to create value

or all stakeholders

Ruggero Jenna

Managing Director, SEA

Cheryl Lim

Engagement Manager

Singapores pay TV industry is experiencing a transormation. The advent o erce

competition and rights bidding, ollowed by a controversial regulatory development,

namely the Media Development Authority o Singapores (MDA) proposed introduction

o an exclusive content cross-carriage measure, has captured the attention o pay

TV industry groups and other interested parties worldwide. Well-voiced concerns on

both sides o the spectrum regarding the ormulation, easibility and impact o such

a regulatory measure have been ercely debated by stakeholders, with the ace-o at

one stage threatening to snowball into an international incident.

However, contrary to some quite negative arguments put orward publicly to date,Value Partners independent analysis over a 10-year timerame shows that the MDA

measure is not an ill-conceived or hasty retort to a temporary market anomaly which threatens to destroy economic value,

but an innovative and well-grounded measure. Its efcacy lies in a simple, yet overlooked, mechanism, enabling exclusive

content owners to retain - and enhance - monetisation o their asset. It is this mechanism which sets this measure apart

rom any other o similar name adopted around the world and, subject to certain implementation prerequisites as discussed

herein, promises to create and preserve economic value or all Singaporean pay TV industry stakeholders.

Dominic Arena

Partner, Head o TMT

Consulting SEA


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Overview o Singapores Pay TV market and the key issues

Singapores pay TV market has, or most o its history, been a monopoly market with a single dominant cable

(CATV) operator - Starhub Cable Vision. With the entry o SingTels mioTV in July 2007, competition increased

in the pay TV sector and pay TV penetration has grown steadily to reach approximately 52% o households,

or 659,000. The importance o pay TV in the Singaporean media sector has thereore been rising steadily,

and despite the traditional dominance o ree-to-air (FTA), its viewing share ell rom 76% in 2001 to 61% in

2007.

As a result o new competition in the pay TV sector in 2007, Singapore saw an initial broadening o content

and consumption options. Specically, SingTels oering has introduced 56 channels over and above the 160

linear channels oered by Starhub, and their a-la-carte oering, with a strong ocus on on-demand movies,

dierentiated it rom Starhubs more traditional tiered bundle business model.

SingTel also inked a number o strategic rights/content agreements in a classic market entry play, as seen in

some other markets such as Hong Kong, which has proven highly successul in gaining critical mass marketshare. These include a deal with Sony Pictures and the high-prole 2009 acquisition o the Barclays Premier

League (EPL) ormerly with Starhub or which it reportedly paid a record S$350m or the exclusive

broadcast rights or 3 years.

However, now there are some quantiable consequences or consumers arising rom strategies adopted to

underpin market share or the dominant operator and enable the challenger to attain critical mass.

Exclusive content driving the need or dual subscriptions

Whilst on the surace, the entry o a new player on the scene and growth in pay TV subscriptions appears

positive or Singapore, a growing phenomenon being masked by the headline growth is that o dual

subscription households. Dual subscriptions have become a necessary evil in Singapore wherevercustomers wishing to view specic combinations o content such as popular linear channels like CNN or

HBO (available exclusively on Starhub), along with EPL (available exclusively on SingTel) are required to

double subscribe to gain access to the programmes.

Percentage of pay TV subscribers with dual subscriptions

Pay TV content in Singapore is considered to be highly concentrated, with only 5% o all pay TV channels

in Singapore available on both Starhub and SingTel pay TV platorms. This is due to both the prevalence oexclusive carriage agreements (ECAs) between pay TV operators and content providers and the lack o content

wholesale agreements between the two operators. The implication o this is that pay TV subscriptions have

grown aster than actual market penetration, and consumers seeking to view popular content rom both

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3.0%

10.0%

13.5%

18.0%

EY2008 EY2009 1Q2010 EY2010 (forecast)

18% of

subscribers areincurring the

unnecessary cost

of having asecond set-up

box

Assumptions for forecast:

Pay TV penetration reaches 54% or 689K subs

Starhub and Singtel subscriber base reaches

503K and 310K respectively

implying an overlap of 124K dual subs or 18%

of total subscriber baseSource: Value Partners analysis


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operators are required to subscribe to both Starhub and SingTel, acquire and maintain a set-top box rom

each provider and incur any accompanying costs.

Value Partners estimates that dual subscriptions already exceed 15% o the market and by the end o 2010,

will surpass 18%, taking into account EPL transer rom StarHub to SingTel but without any regulatory

intervention. This means pay TV subscriptions will reach 813,000 (or 62% o households) versus actual market

penetration o 689,000 households (54%) and this gap would continue to widen in the uture, with dual

subscriptions reaching 25% by 2020. Whilst this indicates a sizeable latent demand or accessing content

rom both operators, it also implies that a signicant number o consumers are incurring the unnecessary

cost and inconvenience o maintaining a second set-top box in the home.

There remains room or real growth in the Singaporean pay TV market

Despite the increase in competition in the Singaporean pay TV market, based on a basket o Asia Pacic

benchmarks, it is evident that Singapore is below its natural penetration level or pay TV based on aordability.

In terms o real household penetration, Value Partners believes that there is urther growth to be enjoyed

in the Singapore pay TV market over the next 10 years, even balancing countervailing actors such as thestrength o ree-to-air (FTA) oerings and other cultural specicities in this market.

The high level o content concentration in Singapore, however, will orm a natural barrier to real uture

growth i not addressed; it will prevent the Singaporean pay TV industry rom reaching its ull potential and

consumers rom enjoying the benets.

2009, pay T V penetration rate versus normalized ARPU

Rising cost o content threatens to stunt growth

Whilst the walled garden approach was not so signicant historically, when the market was a monopoly, in

recent years, it has contributed to operators more narrowly ocusing competition on exclusive content as the

primary source o dierentiation, and driving operators to pay more or exclusive rights and channels.

Specically, Value Partners has ound that compared to the benchmarked content cost o 35% o revenues,

Singapores pay TV operators spend a higher proportion o revenue on content than their peers at 60%, as

shown below.

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0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8%

South Korea

India

Hong KongTaiwan

Japan

Malaysia

New ZealandSingapore

China

Philippines

Thailand

Indonesia

Pay TV penetration rate (%)

ARPU as % of GDP per capitaSource: Inorma, EIU, Value Partners analysis


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Content costs as share of pay T V revenues

The eect o paying signicantly more or content is lower operating margins or pay TV operators. Based on

our analysis, Singapores pay TV operators currently operate below the assessed average benchmark o 21%

EBITDA margin or have negative EBITDA margins, as shown in the exhibit below.

EBITDA benchmarks of pay TV operators

Estimated Singapore pay TV operator business EBITDA (2009-2010)

The high cost o content and poor/negative protability may be attributed to initial competition, which brings

with it the natural desire o the incumbent to deend its market share (i.e. Starhub) and the challenger to

signicantly increase its market share (ie. SingTel) and could be transient. However, our analysis over a 10-

year timerame indicates that although protability will improve, EBITDA margins are likely to remain low at a

modest 7% without regulatory intervention such as the proposed measure.

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60%

34% 34%

41%

32%

Singapore UK New Zealand US Australia

Content costs as share of pay TV revenues in

Singapore are significantly higher than international

benchmark average of 35%

2009

24% 24%

35%

15%13%12%

DishNetwork DirecTV US BSkyB Foxtel Sky NZ Austar

Average EBTIDA

benchmark 21%

0%10%

-60% -90%

2009 2010 2009 2010Both pay TV operators fall below the

average benchmark EBITDA of 21%

Source: Value Partners project experience, Value Partners analysis

Source: Value Partners analysis


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This brings into question the sustainability o the pay TV sector in Singapore over the longer term, which risks

diluting consumer benets through a reduction in:

The ability to provide good quality pay TV at reasonable consumer prices; and

Further innovation in the orm o new content, channels and business models.

Singapore Pay TV industry EBITDA forecast (without Measure)

Decoupling the Media/Pay TV value chain or the benet o the industry

The essence o the MDA measure is that content is eectively decoupled rom the pay TV viewing platorm

choice o consumers. At the time the MDA introduced the proposed cross-carriage measure in March 2010, it

cited a number o social, industrial and economic benet reasons or its intervention, including:

Reduction in content concentration - based on the act that only 7 o over 180 channels today are

available on both Starhub and SingTel Pay TV platorms;

Improvement o consumer convenience and programme access - by removing the need or dual set-

top boxes to access popular content, and enabling consumers to gain access to pay TV on the platorm

available at their premises;

Reocusing competition away rom exclusive content - to other areas such as customer service, packaging

and value added services; and

Reducing barriers to entry or new pay TV players.

MDA also reiterated its commitment to not intervene in the prerogative o pay TV operators or content

providers to continue to enter into exclusive arrangements, to protect the rights o intellectual property

owners and to avoid unreasonable losses to any stakeholder group, whilst achieving the aorementioned

objectives.

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-10%

-6%

-3%

0%

3%

7% 7% 7% 7% 7% 7%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

EBITDA ranges based on

international benchmarks

(12%-35%)



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With the eect o the measure being a decoupling o the media/pay TV value chain, with content being untied

rom the platorm, the end user relationship is being opened up. Customers will be able to purchase and view

almost any content on any platorm and will become direct customers o exclusive content providers (SQL),

whilst retaining their platorm relationship with their current provider (RQL). This is shown in the exhibit

below.

This decoupling o retail relationship and carriage inrastructure has been applied in several inrastructure-

intensive industries. For example, in power and utilities, the power producers and retailers are otenindependent o the electricity grid operator. The grid operator charges a ee or transmitting electricity rom

source to end user. Although the inrastructure operators and retailers in Singapores pay TV industry are

not yet independent rom each other, the measure serves to simulate such an environment. The concept o

decoupling and a generic reerence model is illustrated below.

Content

Provider(RightsOwner)

Advertisers

Pay TV

Operator(SQL)

Pay TV

Operator(RQL)

Pay TV

Customers(RQL Customer)

Pay TV

Customers(SQL Customer)

Distribute content

through RQL

as a pipe

Broadcast ECA +

other bundled

content

Pay for

content at retail

(bundle) price

Pay to advertise

based on viewership

Bid & pay for

ECA + other

content

Pay for

content at retail

(bundle) price

Distribute SQL

content

RQL

SQL

Singapore pay TV operators

Content

aggregationTec hno logy D is tribut ion

Own end-

userconsumptionContent

production

Rightsownership &

management

Rights

ownership &

management

Content

production

Content

aggregation

SQL end-

user

relationship

Own end-

user

consumption

Today

Post-measure

Content

production

Content

aggregationTechno lo gy Distribution


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Enabling continued monetisation o exclusive content preserves value

Despite the decoupling, the subtlety o MDAs proposed measure which enables pay TV operators (SQLs) to

ully extract economic value rom their exclusive content at the retail level (as opposed to a wholesale cross-

carriage model) makes it unlike any other measures benchmarked globally.

Coupled with the orecast growth in viewership as a direct result o the measure, content owners will

potentially be in a position to grow revenues rom exclusive rights beyond what was available to them prior

to the measure. This is only evident when analysing the impact o the measure over a period such as 10 years,

as has been done by Value Partners.

This is a salient point, which to date has not been highlighted by various parties commenting on the impact o

the measure on stakeholders and the market, possibly because it may be dierent to what some stakeholders

may initially assume by using measures in other markets as a rame o reerence, and also the true impacts

and opportunities created may not be immediately obvious when ocusing on day one.


With the introduction o the measure, Singapores pay TV market is likely to positively evolve in a number o

ways, namely:

Increased viewership/content consumption through increased access to content independent o

platorm;Reduced customer barriers to switching pay TV platorm operators and access to desired content,

regardless o specic platorm unavailability;

Reduced entry barriers or new entrants such as IPTV players on NGNBN, since previously difcult to

obtain exclusive content will now be available via cross-carriage arrangements;

Possible emergence o new virtual pay TV operators, similar to MVNOs, who only need to make limited

inrastructure investments but ocus on content add-ons to other value added services;

Accelerated direct-to-consumer eorts rom major content providers, like ESPN and BBC, who have

previously reached consumers via pay TV operators and ocused their direct-to-consumer eorts on the

internet/online; and

Increased number o pay TV channels and content available in Singapore.

The net eect would not only be increased competition but also increased choice and value or the consumer.These, in turn, will drive Singapores pay TV penetration to reach its potential more quickly, reaching higher

ARPU levels and overall higher industry growth and sustainability.

Producer 1

Producer 2

Retailer 1

Retailer 2

Retailer 3

Consumer

Producers Pipe Retailers Consumers

Can sell to any

retailers Can set up own retail

network

Use pipe to distributeproducts to

consumers Compete on

- price

- Quality- Innovation /

efficiencies

Key role is to

distribute products toconsumers

Typical compensation

for the service utility-line (cost-plus, etc)

Often used in nationalmonopoly (i.e.

electricity

transmission, railway,NGNBN)

Compete on

efficiency/reliability(often regulated)

Can buy from many

producers Typically small part of

overall value chain

Compete on- customer service

- portfolio of offers- attractive pricing by

negotiating favourable

wholesale price f romproducers (through

market power,

exclusive distributionnetworks etc.)

Can buy from any

retailer and evendirectly from

producers

Perceived to becheaper for the

bundle of productsconsumer buys

Has limited visibility

on overall value chain

Examples of

industries in whichthe decoupling modelhas been applied:

Power and utilities

Telecommunications

(MVNOs)

Transportation(railway)

Content, goods, services

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Long-term quantitative benefts o the measure are clear

Specically, over the coming 10 years being the period o our analysis Value Partners estimates that pay TV

household penetration will reach 67%-70% by 2020 with the measure, compared to 64% without the measure.

We urther believe ARPU levels will reach S$71-S$76 by 2020 with the measure compared to S$65 without the

measure, representing a 25-29% increase in overall annual market revenues by 2020.

Pay TV household penetration forecast Pay TV Market ARPU forecast

Pay TV operators are not only likely to gain in revenues; the overall protability o the industry is likely to

improve to a level that will allow its uture sustainability. We estimate that EBITDA margins can improve to

18% by 2020 in line with international benchmarks, albeit at the lower end o the range.

Singapore pay TV operators EBITDA forecast

52% 54%56%57% 58%

59% 60%61%62% 63%64%

52%56%

60%63% 64%65%

66%67%68%69%70%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

PercentPay TV penetration

ranges based on

international benchmarks

(58%-97%)

Counterfactual (without Measure)

Factual (with Measrue)


Factual (with Measrue) SGDCounterfactual (without Measure)




54

5861 61 62 62

63 63 64 646554

5861 61

6365

67 6869

7172

20

40

60

80

100

120

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

ARPU ranges based on international

benchmarks (SGD33-104)



-10%

-6%

-3%

0%

3%

7% 7% 7% 7% 7% 7%

-10%

-6%

1%

5%

8% 9%10% 11%

12% 13%

-3%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

EBITDA ranges based on

international benchmarks (12%-35%)

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Specically, Starhub and SingTel (and any other new entrant) would be able to continue to compete equally,

since:

The majority o households are able to reely choose between operators, given that almost all homes

(99%) are xed line and most (94%) cable ready;

The measure does not reduce contents value as a competitive lever, so operators can still use this as a

component or bundling; and

Operators hubbing strategies are still intact, since both are still ree to oer their pay TV service with their

other oerings.

Content owners will benet rom the measure through monetisation o the combination o an increase

in market size and addressable viewers made possible by the measure. Specically, content providers are

expected to enjoy a neutral-to-marginally-positive impact rom the measure through the net eect o :

Gain in additional revenues rom increased subscriptions rom pay TV operator customers monetised

through viewership-based contracts;

Gain in additional revenues rom increased advertising and sponsorship; andLoss o some strategic rights premium due to non-exclusivity o content but potential or underpinning o

economic value through the ability to calculate incremental revenues rom wider viewership orecasts.

Although content costs as a percentage o pay TV revenues is likely to decrease to levels in line with

international benchmarks as a result o the measure, absolute content cost will still grow at 4% CAGR, driven

by overall industry growth. This urther indicates that content providers will still enjoy healthy revenue

growth, although this will vary across dierent categories o content providers, with premium sports content

providers retaining the biggest share.

This also means that Singapore is likely to remain an attractive market or content providers.

Pay TV content cost forecast

For consumers, the overall impact o the measure will be positive as consumers have access to more content

and pay less in dual subscriptions. Although consumers collectively spend more, we expect individual

consumers to enjoy savings o around 2-8% over the 10-year period.

We expect advertisers to experience a minimal impact, since pricing or advertisements is based on viewership

and advertisers are not expected to pay more to reach the same number o viewers.

Content cost as % of pay TV revenues

based on international benchmarks

(32%-47%)

60% 60% 59%57% 56% 55%

53% 53% 53% 53% 53% 53%60%

58%

56% 54%52%

50% 49% 48% 47% 46% 45%

266281

310329

339 347355

368378

389400 410

-30

20

70

120

170

220

270

320

370

420

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Percentage Content cost (SGD Mn)

Content cost

increases at

4% CAGR



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Finally, in concert with determining the potential or market growth and new entrants, Value Partners also

made an assessment o the potential growth in the number o channels in the Singaporean pay TV market

over the next 10 years, as a direct result o the measure. Based on this, we believe that the number o channels

in the Singaporean pay TV market could grow rom 187 in 2010 to 269 in 2020, representing absolute growth

o 82 channels, or 44%.


While the measure appears to be conceptually sound and well conceived, its ultimate success in achieving

the benets outlined above in practice over the coming 10 years will depend on actual implementation.

Fundamentally, MDA needs to ensure that the measure remains true to its intentions, is air to all players and

does not impede stakeholders ability to deliver their content/services to all subscribers.

In particular, there are implementation challenges we have assessed as being the most linked to the

realisation o benets. Those that must be careully considered can be grouped into Commercial, Operational

and Technical, and Scope Limitation considerations, as ollows:

Commercial considerations, including the extent to which SQLs are obliged to bundle/unbundle their

content (both basic and exclusive); cross-carriage ee model, both the orm (e.g., Interim proxy-based

Average Channel Cost, TSLRIC-based cost-plus, Retail-Minus, revenue share), the actual quantum and

whether it should be symmetric/asymmetric across operators with dierent platorm technologies;

billing and customer support, specically with regard to increasing the number o billing relationships

or consumers and the complexity o customer support interactions.

Operational and technical considerations, including handling o on-demand and live content; cases where

customer content contracts are shorter than their platorm subscription contract; copyright protection o

supplied content once transmitted over the receiving network; sharing o customer inormation across

pay TV operators or resolution o billing and customer care issues.

Scope limitation considerations, including limiting the scope o the measure to specic content genres

enabling market power to be exerted; embedding a review date in the measure, where issues such as

content concentration and programme access will once again be assessed; enabling content owners to

continue to restrict ECA content, but only or a limited period ollowing which they would have to make

it available.

Implementation principles underpinning success o the measure

In Value Partners view, the above considerations could be eectively addressed by upholding the ollowing

principles during implementation o the measure:

Ensuring that transit ees between operators are broadly symmetric and represent incremental cost1.

recovery, so that operators are not over or undercompensated and relatively lower cost platorms arenot exploited unairly, particularly by new entrants. Value Partners believes that MDA would benet rom

being prescriptive and transparent in setting the transit ee, instead o allowing it to be determined by

market orces.

Preserving competitive dynamics, especially with regards to operators ability to extract value rom their2.

content and bundled oers. We believe that operators should be allowed to continue to oer content in

its bundled orm and oer content a-la-carte only i they choose to do so.

Mandating that the relationship between operator and subscriber remains intact regardless o platorm.3.

We believe that, to ensure equity and minimal intererence to market dynamics, contractual obligations

or set-top boxes and content should be separate, meaning that the onus is on the customer to ensure

they have the appropriate inrastructure to access the content they have purchased.

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Gaining a competitive advantage in times o change

In conducting our analysis on the impacts o the proposed MDA measure, several insightul revelations came

to light regarding how dierent pay TV industry stakeholders could potentially position themselves to gain a

competitive advantage rom the change, as the measure is likely to alter the market landscape in a number

o ways. This is summarised below:

Due to dierences in business models, market share, content/rights and platorm (ie. CATV, xDSL IPTV,

NGNBN), the MDA measure will have diering impacts on pay TV operators in Singapore, creating

asymmetric opportunities or stakeholders.

Implementation o the measure will require pay TV operators (ie. variously in the SQL and RQL roles) and

content providers to reassess their strategy both at the retail level and in sourcing & distributing content.

Specically, changes will evidently be required in retail content pricing & bundle structure, advertising

on exclusive channels (to be seen when viewing on competitors platorm as RQL), as well as exclusive

content sourcing/bundling and contractual mechanisms (eg. viewership based compensation).

For content providers and market entrants particularly direct-to-consumer content aggregators and/or

virtual operators new opportunities are being created, with strategic elements o the business model

needing to be evaluated, such as retail content/bundle pricing and structure, distribution platorm

exploitation and associated value-added services, increasing in importance.

For existing operators who are also exclusive content owners opportunities are also evident, such as the

potential or them to look beyond their existing platorms or distribution, under a hybrid distribution/

exploitation model.

ConclusionOverall, Value Partners believes that over the next 10 years, as assessed in our quantitative analysis, MDAs proposed

cross-carriage measure will have a net positive impact on the Singapore pay TV industry and participating

stakeholders, and will not be value destructive nor cause unreasonable loss to any key stakeholder group o pay TV

operators, content owners, consumers or advertisers.

Coupled with the act that Singaporean pay TV household penetration is below benchmarked levels, the design

o the measure will bring about increased viewership, a broader basis or competition, reduction in content

concentration and improvements in program access or consumers. At the same time, it will enable stakeholders

to monetise their assets airly. Thereore, the Singapore pay TV industry has the potential or continued sustainable

growth and innovation.

As the pay TV industry experiences stronger growth and broader-based competition, pay TV operators will in turnenjoy healthier nancial results that ensure the long-term viability o the industry. Consumers will avoid unnecessary

costs and enjoy wider content availability, and at the same time, content providers will preserve and likely grow

their revenue streams as a result o the increased viewership, potential or direct-to-consumer business models, and

growth o the industry overall.

Finally, it is our view that the measure is also a regulatory innovation that, once implemented and proven in

Singapore, could potentially set a new model or media regulators around the world who are grappling with how to

deliver similar consumer and industry benets whilst at the same time, preserving economic value and upholding

ree market principles.

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About Value Partners

As one o the largest TMT

practices worldwide, Value

Partners works across all sectors

o the telecommunications

and the digital marketplace,

with a particular expertise

in public and commercial

broadcasting, satellite and pay

TV, publishing, digital media,

sport, ixed and mobile voice and

broadband, licence bids, network

inrastructure and equipment.

Over the last 15 years, we have

delivered real beneits or ourclients, building on our deep

industry insights into the key

issues or these sectors. Our

TMT practice draws on over 200

proessionals worldwide. We

assist 13 o the top 20 telecoms

operators in Europe, Asia,

Middle East and Latin America,

and we work with the leading

blue chip media companies

internationally, including 30 o

the leading Pay-TV and Free ToAir broadcasters in more than

20 markets. Additionally, we

serve 100% o the largest Private

Equity irms with an interest in

telecom and media. This means

we can help our clients to adapt

their business models in an

increasingly complex business

environment, to maximise impact

and returns rom digital media.

Founded in 1993, Value Partners

is a global management

consulting irm that works with

multinational corporations and

high-potential entrepreneurial

businesses to identiy and pursue

value enhancement initiatives

across innovation, international

expansion, and operational

eectiveness. It comprises two

sister companies: Value Partners

Management Consulting and

Value Team IT Consulting &

Solutions.

With 14 oices across Europe,

Asia, South America and MENA,

Value Partners expertise

spans corporate strategy, due

diligence and inancial business

planning, cost transormation

and organisational development,

commercial planning,

technology decisions, and

change management. Its 3,300

proessionals, rom 25 nations,

combine a methodological

approach and analytical

ramework with a hands-on

attitude and practical industry

experience developed in an

executive capacity within their

sectors o ocus: media, telecoms

and IT, luxury goods, inancial

services, energy, manuacturing

and hi-tech.

For more inormation on the issues

raised in this note please contact

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected]

or one o our ofces below.

Find all the contacts details on

www.valuepartners.com

Milan

Rome

London

MunichHelsinki

Istanbul

Dubai

So Paulo

Rio de Janeiro

Buenos Aires

Mumbai

Beijing

Hong Kong

Singapore

P

ER

SP

EC

TIV

E

value partners perspective - singapore exclusive content cross-carriage - 20100903

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