By Chua Hian Hou

SINGAPORE is reviewing regulations governing competition in the evolving pay-TV market, especially in light of a troubling spike in the number of exclusive content deals inked.

It commissioned a study late last year, said Acting Minister for Communications Information and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew, in reply to questions in Parliament related to SingTel's win over StarHub for the rights to host pay-TV's crown jewels, the English Premier League (EPL).

He did not say what sort of regulations, if any, are on the cards, but noted that they would have to take into account Singapore's obligation to protect the rights of foreign content owners and commercial agreements for the broadcast of content.

That was the case for the EPL, where the Football Association Premier League dictated the terms for the sale of broadcasting rights and the ability of retailers to share these rights.

What the Media Development Authority (MDA) could do, and did, was to ask SingTel and StarHub to clarify its pricing policies so it could decide if it should intervene to protect consumers' interest.

SingTel has since said that its charges would be comparable to StarHub's; StarHub has also said that it would not penalise sports subscribers who terminate their contracts after July.

"Most consumers will thus not be adversely affected," said Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui.

He drew a line between government intervention and consumer choice.

The state will make sure essential services are affordable, and in the case of television, it ensures key sporting events deemed to be of "national significance", such as the Olympic Games, are broadcast free-to-air.

The EPL, however, is essentially entertainment, he said, adding "although I'm sure consumers may disagree on this to some extent".

Ultimately, it was for consumers to weigh the cost and benefits of paying to watch the EPL.

Three MPs had raised questions on the issue, asking if competition in the pay-TV market was hurting consumers and whether Singapore had a big enough market to sustain the players.

His answer: Since SingTel joined the pay-TV fray two years ago, the number of channels for viewers had gone up from 99 to 179, including 13 dedicated to sports.

Advances in technology has also led to more high-definition programmes and the quicker release of popular American TV serials to the Singapore viewer.

As for whether Singapore's pay-TV market could sustain two players, this was for operators to determine over the course of time, just as Singapore Press Holdings and MediaCorp decided to end its competition for free-to-air television viewers in 2005 and consolidate.

"For pay TV, we have not arrived at this situation."

The market is unequal, he said, noting SingTel's 100,000 subscribers versus StarHub's 530,000.

"And over the coming years, how that will shape up, we really don't know."

That said, the MDA is concerned with the rise in exclusive contract deals inked, from 64 several years ago to 131 today.

Too many such deals, said Rear-Adm (NS) Lui, could "introduce new barriers of entry to potential service providers".

He is hoping that companies would take advantage of Singapore's upcoming high-speed broadband network to launch new services. But they could be stymied if existing service providers lock up the best content for themselves.

The issue of content rights is a complex one given the international treaties and commercial agreements involved.

Britain, for instance, has been mulling the same issue since January 2007 and has yet to find a good solution to this issue, he said.

There, under an agreement with the European Commission, the rights to telecast live EPL matches went to Sky and Irish broadcaster Setanta. Financially troubled Setanta has since forfeited those rights, which were resold to sports network ESPN.

"Therefore, when the government thinks about intervening in a competitive marketplace, we should think carefully about what we should do and how much we should intervene...not because our assumption and considerations of the past were wrong, but because the landscape over the last three years has also evolved and the number of exclusive arrangements have also grown," he said.

chuahh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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