| MUMBAI:
As part of ongoing efforts to enable and maintain fair market conduct and effective
competition in the media industry, the Media Development Authority of Singapore
(MDA) has revised the Media Market Conduct Code (MMCC 2010). The
revisions, which take effect today, include the incorporation of an additional
Public Interest Obligation to enable mandatory cross carriage of exclusive content
in the pay TV market. The measure was explained to Parliament by Acting Minister
for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) Lui Tuck Yew in Mica’s
Committee of Supply speech The
new Public Interest Obligation requires qualified pay TV licensees to cross carry
each other’s content that is acquired or renewed on an exclusive basis on
or after 12 March 2010. Exclusive
contracts are not uncommon in the pay TV market. However, presently, almost all
content in the pay TV market in Singapore is acquired on an exclusive basis. This
widespread use of exclusive contracts has led to a high degree of content fragmentation
and is rare in international markets. Furthermore, pay TV retailers typically
pay a premium for exclusive rights to content, resulting in higher content acquisition
costs. By
requiring cross carriage of exclusive content, it will be made available across
more pay TV retailers. Consumers will no longer require multiple set-top boxes
or have to switch pay TV retailers just to enjoy exclusive content. This will
facilitate greater consumer access to pay TV content, and shift the focus of competition
in the market from an exclusivity-centric strategy to other aspects such as service
differentiation and competitive packaging and pricing. MDA
will be consulting industry players on the implementation of the cross carriage
measure. Industry players will need to work out operational details such as technical
and billing arrangements, and service standard issues. It is expected that applicable
exclusive content – exclusive content acquired or renewed from 12 March 2010
- will be made available on a cross carriage basis by 1 September 2010. As the
measure is prospective, it will not apply to existing exclusive content. MDA
may fine-tune the implementation details after reviewing feedback from the industry.
MDA has also expanded the scope of the MMCC 2010 by widening the application of
positive obligations, so as to facilitate the participation of more media players.
For instance, “feeds” of Events of National Significance, such as National
Day Parade and National Day Rally, were previously available only to free-to-air
TV and radio licensees. With the change, such feeds can be made available to other
channels as directed by MDA. The
MMCC 2010 also requires the dominant media players to provide all media licensees,
which now include smaller media players, with the ability to purchase advertising
capacity to promote their media services on reasonable and non-discriminatory
prices, terms and conditions. New
regulations have also been introduced to ensure that media players do not unfairly
engage in anti-competitive practices by leveraging on its own or its affiliates’
significant market power in a media or non-media market. This will address potential
anti-competitive behaviour arising from convergence and provide more opportunities
for players to enter the market. MDA
director of development policy Michael Yap says, “The MMCC 2010 is the result
of an extensive review of the MMCC. With the contributions of media players, the
MMCC 2010 provides an updated framework that aims to better serve our consumers,
provide wider opportunities for our industry, and encourage innovation, leading
to a more vibrant media sector.” | 
