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MDA Changes Affect Mass Media Services Code
01 November 2012
As part of its triennial review of Singapore’s Code of Practice For Market Conduct in the Provision of Mass Media Services, the Media Development Authority has brought several changes to the Code into effect effective March 12. Lawyers at Rajah & Tann, writing on the firm’s website, say the revised Code has added a Public Interest Obligation on regulated persons, which is primarily applicable to pay TV operators who provide pay TV services to consumers through set-top boxes.
“The new Public Interest Obligation has removed the possibility of pay TV operators entering into agreements with content owners for the exclusive rights to broadcast their content,” the Rajah & Tann lawyers said. “For example, the current practice in Singapore is that one pay TV operator will purchase the rights to broadcast certain content in Singapore on the condition that no other pay TV operator will be allowed to broadcast the same material. This means that TV programs and shows that are purchased by a particular operator can only be viewed by the consumers subscribing to that operator. It follows that if a consumer wanted to view a show that had been locked-in by an operator other than the one to which he had subscribed, he either needed to switch his operator or subscribe to multiple operators.”
This resulted, the law firm said, in content becoming “highly fragmented,” with available content exclusively divided between operators, and with operators charging higher prices.
“The Revised Code is aimed at putting an end to this practice by making cross-carriage of exclusive content mandatory,” they wrote. “This means that any content that is the subject of an exclusivity agreement between content owners and pay TV operators will have to be carried by another pay TV operator who is not a party of the exclusivity agreement.”
The requirement only applies to exclusivity agreements entered into or renewed after March 12. The MDA has postponed the requirement of crosscarriage until September 1.
Rajah & Tann lawyers warn that businesses should be “very cautious” when entering into agreements for cross-carriage of content or when discussing prices so as not to run afoul of Singapore’s competition law.
