Study structure and methodology

Transcription

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2 Study structure and methodology This report has been entitled Laos TV market, The following eco-system players in Laos markets have been included in the study: Terrestrial Broadcasters, Satellite and cable TV operators. The report is made up of four chapters: Laos market summary, Terrestrial Broadcasters, Satellite TV, and Cable TV. The Laos market summary chapter captures historic TV household development figures and forecasts for Laos market. The chapter captures regulatory bodies influencing the market and also highlights digital terrestrial regulation and time frame for the market. Accordingly, the chapter entitled Terrestrial TV forecasts the terrestrial digitization in the country. This chapter captures profiles terrestrial broadcasters and forecasts pay DTT revenues and subscribers. The third chapter, Satellite TV, summarizes the update on satellite platform operators, satellite pay-tv operations in Laos. This chapter also forecasts satellite TV households, satellite FTA and pay-tv subscribers and revenue to operators from satellite operations. This chapter also includes private and government run satellite broadcasters and their profiles. The last chapter on cable TV captures market for cable TV. This chapter has forecasts for cable subscribers and market size of cable TV in Laos. Key profiles of operators are encapsulated in this chapter.

3 Executive Summary In 2012, Laos had 6.5 million population and 0.7 million TV households. Since Laos is a landlocked country, Lao culture has been influenced by Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos is culturally dominated by Buddhist community. The prominent languages captivating the market are Lao - the national language, English and Thai. Laos s media segment is constricted by political control and has resulted in complete lack of private, independent media. International broadcasters face significant restrictions in reaching audiences in Laos. While Lao TV offerings are limited, channels from neighbouring country especially Thailand are enjoyed with great popularity, given the wide usage of Thai language across the country. Government run terrestrial station remains less popular and all media are subject to scrutiny and censorship. FTA terrestrial broadcaster LNTV has not appealed significant mass and its viewership has suffered over the years due to poor programing. Lao Digital TV is the first pay-dtt service launched by the Chinese operator Yunnan Television using the chinese DTMB standard. Although there are few information available publicaly, Dataxis estimate that the pay-dtt service has also failed to attract large customers due to the availability of better channel portfolio on competing platforms, cable TV or FTA satellite from Thailand. Currently, there are no related laws and regulations on Broadcasting, but the Government has laid out policies and regulation for terrestrial digitization and envisions digitizing all major towns by 2015, and the entire nation by The digitization is currently driven and funded by Chinese media houses, which are keen on promoting the DTMB standard. There are several other broadcasters, both Government and private owned that broadcast channels via satellite in Lao, English, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and French languages. These channels are viewed across geography through cable television and via a satellite dish. Satellite TV services has gained quick acceptance in urban and semi-urban Laos households. All the FTA satellite channels are beamed via Thaicom-5 satellite and no license or distinctive permit is needed for the purchase and use of a satellite TV dish. Satellite TV is currently dominated by Thaicom-5 and Laos Government s initiative to launch domestic LaoSat 1 satellite in 2015 will boost this segment and satellite pay-tv services could develop in coming years. The provinces bordering Thailand are also able to receive Thailand satellite pay TV services, which are purchased by the

4 Laos households and Thai satellite services have been far more attractive with their channel offering and international content. Cable services are popular in the capital region and there are several small, unorganized local cable operators all across the provinces. The two most popular cable TV operators in the Vientiane capital are Lao Cable TV and NTC Holdings. CTH, a Thailand based large cable TV operator has partnered with local partners in Laos to establish operations in the country. The company aims to begin operations at the end of 2013 and plans to offer a single digital cable platform to its cable network partners in Laos in next 3 years. Dataxis observes that CTH will drive the digitization effort of cable segment in Laos which is currently in the analog era. Although most media organizations in Laos practice a reasonable degree of self-censorship, the Laos government reserves the right to strictly control all media (newspaper, radio and television broadcasts) thus slowing down the growth of the segment. In Laos, it is illegal to go against the government and it is punishable by law. It is also legally allowed for people to tap into Thailand s and other countries broadcasting. There is a need to frame new laws and regulations to create an open-market in the television industry and to favour competition in the broadcasting sector. In summary, this report captures the market potential for terrestrial, satellite and cable TV service revenues. The report projects that terrestrial, satellite and cable operator s service revenue annually would approach USD 0.7 million, USD 7.5 million and USD 53 million respectively by 2020, with total pay-tv households in excess of 0.7 million by that year. This report was developed in the period October This report is targeted at giving the reader an overview of the Laos market to be sufficiently informed. The currency conversion rate used through the report is historic LAK to USD rates as applicable and 1USD=Lao Kip 7,880 is used for year 2012, projected years.

5 Table of Contents 1. Laos market summary 1.1. Laos overview Exhibit 1. Laos geography map. Table 1. Socio Economic Indicators. Laos Television penetration Graph 1. Households and TV households. In Million. Laos TV Market Background 1.4. Television Regulation 2. Terrestrial TV 2.1. Background 2.2. Digital Terrestrial TV transition plan Graph 2. Analog and Digital Terrestrial households. In Million. Laos

6 2.3. Key Terrestrial TV broadcaster profile Laos National TV (LNTV) 2.4. Digital Terrestrial Pay-Tv Graph 3. Digital Terrestrial pay-tv subscribers. In Million. Laos Graph 4. Digital Terrestrial pay-tv revenue. In USD Million. Laos DTT- pay TV operator profile Laos Digital TV 2.5. Background 2.6. Profiles TV Lao MV Lao Lao Star Champa TV Lao PSTV

7 3. Satellite TV 3.1. Background 3.2. Satellite platforms Table 2. Thaicom-5 FTA channels and satellite details Thaicom-5 Table 3. Thaicom-5 Satellite Fleet details LaoSat 1 Table 4. LaoSat 1 Satellite Fleet details 3.3. DTH forecasts Graph 5. Satellite TV households. In Million. Laos Graph 6. Satellite pay-tv services revenue. In USD Billion. Laos Satellite FTA Broadcasters Background Lao satellite FTA TV TV Lao MV Lao Lao Star Lao PSTV

8 4. Cable TV 4.1. Background 4.2. Cable TV Forecasts Graph 7. Cable TV households. In Million. Laos Graph 8. Cable pay-tv services revenue. In USD Million. Laos Key Cable operator Profile Cable TV Lao (Lao cable TV) NTC Holdings CTH SSN 5. Conclusion Graph 9. Pay-TV households. In Million. Laos Graph 10. Pay-TV services revenue. In USD million. Laos Graph 11. Pay-TV penetration by technology. In percentage. Laos