watchlist2023: how did we do? print from its long-held movie roots into the streaming space for the first time. The strategy leverages CTE’s
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strong partnerships in the region as well as its strengths in curation, honed over the past 20 years in delivering Chinese movies to audiences in Asia. The app will carry movies from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with some Singapore titles. Among these are edgier titles that canAt the end of 2022, we put the channel/ platform balance of power on our watchlist for
not be streamed on linear channels. There’s also Shitiz Jain’s Eazie TV, which has gathered about
two NDTV Indian channels. At the same time,
2023. In an inexplicable moment of restraint,
75 linear channels with some on-demand access for a single
Singtel picked up Rock Entertainment’s Rock
we described the relationships as “evolving”.
price. The aim is to create a simple, easy-to-use, go-to space
Action, showing that its pull back from video
10/10 for understatement on this one.
for consumers, as well as an entertainment platform that
entertainment is not as complete as some fear.
2023 turned out to be a year of high
telcos can bundle with mobile/broadband services. Eazie
There were other shifts here and there as
drama, with linear relationships all over the
TV launched in Singapore in August 2023, and rollouts are in
distribution agreements were renewed (or
map, some wins and turnarounds, and a few
discussion across the region.
not) and platforms adjusted their strategies
decisions that mean this world is never going to be even remotely the same, ever.
But that came later. For linear channels and platforms, the year didn’t begin so well. Exactly six weeks in, on Valen-
and offerings. These showed ongoing confidence in the traditional pay-TV space.
The question for 2024 is the shape of the
tine’s Day 2023, Hong Kong’s i-Cable – one of pioneers in the
In Malaysia, WBD dismantled years of HBO
new world. Starting with the good stuff: the
business – said it was killing its 30-year-old pay-TV platform.
exclusivity in a September deal with Telekom
launch in 2024 of Hong Kong-based Chinese
The decision pulled the rug out from under approx 180 linear
Malaysia’s Unifi TV, which is now carrying nine
programmer, Celestial Tiger Entertainment’s
channels that had called i-Cable home for like ever.
channels + on-demand platform HBO Go.
(CTE) standalone app. The app expands CTE’s Chinese entertainment foot-
i-Cable cited Hong Kong’s “rapidly changing media
As Disney continued to disappear the old
landscape” along with “fierce competition among global
Fox/Star channels in Asia, Philippines’ pay-TV
pay-TV content providers and pay-TV operators” as reasons
platform Cignal filled the gap from October
for the decision. Detractors said i-Cable had long taken its
2023 with, among others, Rewind Networks’
eye off the cable-TV ball. By 1 June, the service went dark.
Hits Now, which launched in February 2023.
i-Cable’s decision was described by regional channel pro-
Also in Singapore, StarHub welcomed two
grammers as “the end of an era” and a “big set-back” for
Warner Bros Discovery channels – Discov-
Asia’s pay-TV ecosystem.
ery and HGTV – back onto the platform in
2023 was also the year Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), KC
October, five years after the 2018 high-profile
Global Media and sports network beIN finally got fed up
bustup that saw seven Discovery channels
enough with not being paid in Indonesia to make a call.
and three of the old Scripps channels go dark.
In May 2023, WBD pulled its bouquet of 14 channels off In-
The love started much earlier in the year. In
donesia’s largest platform, MNC, ending decades-long affili-
May, WBD said HBO channels were returning
ate arrangements. The dramatic decision involved channels
to Singtel-affiliated Thai telco, AIS, for the first
from HBO and Cartoon Network to Discovery and TLC, all of
time in three years, joining other WBD chan-
which went dark on 12 May. WBD’s move followed a decision
nels in an expanded carriage deal. The new
in November 2022 by Qatari sports network beIN to exit MNC.
agreement followed years of musical chairs
Regional channels operator, KC Global Media, followed
for HBO, which jumped from True to AIS to
mid-2023, pulling its services off Indonesian pay-TV platform, Transvision, citing ongoing payment failures. The channels – in-
Triple T/3BB and now back to AIS. By many accounts, pay-TV affiliate fees con-
cluding AXN, which is among Asia’s most popular brands, and
tinue to be squeezed as traditional platforms
anime channel Animax – went dark at midnight on 12 July.
struggle to hold onto subscribers. Meanwhile,
The darkness continued. In August, a total of 16 channels
“transformation” is the holy grail. This is playing
from multiple suppliers exited Singapore platform Singtel TV
out in a rush to aggregate video streaming
from 1 October – 12 as a result of “low viewership” and an-
apps. Commercial terms of these deals aren’t
other four due to Disney’s decision to shutter its linear services.
being disclosed. From the outside though,
The mass exodus included a few Discovery channels, some
what they’re doing pretty much looks like pay-
from Warner, and a few Love Nature channels as well as
TV 2.0, rather than a radical new world.
Hell’s Kitchen on Rewind Networks’ Hits Now
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contentasia december 2023