Who is leading in the Broadcasting and Pay TV market in Australia and why?

The broadcasting and pay TV market in Australia includes regulatory, free-to-air market, digital TV, radio broadcasting, datacasting, history and overview pay TV market, content and advertising markets, satellite TV and MDS, business TV, film market, cable modems and cable telephony. Which companies are leading and why?

Research and Markets have announced the addition of the "2003 Australia - Broadcasting and Pay TV Australia" report to their offering.

Annual report on the broadcasting and pay TV market in Australia; includes regulatory, free-to-air market, digital TV, radio broadcasting, datacasting, history and overview pay TV market, content and advertising markets, satellite TV and MDS, business TV, film market, cable modems and cable telephony. Company profiles major companies.

7.2 million TV households;

60 TV stations around the country;

Metropolitan markets attracted 80% of TV advertising;

TV and radio advertising totalled some $3.5 billion in generally depressed market;

Continued adoption of online advertising;

$750 million in revenue for the pay TV industry, over half of this to Foxtel;

$4.6 billion net cumulative loss for the whole pay TV industry;

Estimated 1.44 million pay TV subscribers;

Similar numbers of cable and satellite customers;

Pay TV penetration of 22%;

Foxtel, then Austar and finally Optus had greatest number of pay TV subscribers;

Foxtel and Optus secure content sharing deal;

Effects of Foxtel-Optus content sharing deal yet to be seen on bottom line, but changes to content offerings and pricing evidenced immediately;

Digital TV in approximately 53,000 homes;

Government decided not to proceed with long term licensing of datacasting transmitters, but trials continue;

775 radio licensees, of which 281 were commercial and 312 were community radio licensees;

41% of all radio programming networked or syndicated, 68% of which is music;

8.4 million commercial radio listeners over the age of 10;

Commercial radio makes up 72% of all radio listening, compared to 20% for the ABC;

Breakfast radio listening still the most popular of all time periods;

Average Australian listened to 19 hours and 16 minutes of radio during the week;

Digital radio trials underway in Sydney in 2003 using Eureka147 technology.

Free-to-air TV

The five metropolitan markets continue to capture 65% of the national population and have, since the mid-1990s, attracted close to 80% of TV advertising. Despite this, broadcasting revenues were down in 2002 by 3.4% to $3.2 billion, giving a net profit increase of 0.2%, or $410 million. There has still been no resolution of proposed changes to media ownership rules.

For the viewer, reality TV, lifestyle programs and sport were popular programs in 2002. Some 59 million people watched the top 20 programs with lifestyle, reality and sporting genres being the most successful. In addition, 2002 saw the Ten Network record ratings success in the crucial 16-39 year age group with programs like Big Brother and Secret Life of Us. The Seven and Nine Networks saw slight falls in their ratings.

Pay TV - content deals

By the start of 2003, there were some 1.44 million pay TV subscribers, representing 22% national penetration. The Foxtel-Optus content sharing arrangement of 2002 aimed to stimulate take-up, but we remain sceptical of its impact. In fact, we predicted that Optus pay TV subscriber numbers would lose customers after the deal, and by March 2003, the company had lost 40,000 of these customers. And while the effects of the deal remain to be seen in the number of subscribers, the availability of channels on Austar, Foxtel and Optus has increased.

The deal itself was announced in March 2002 and knocked back in mid-2002 by the ACCC on competition grounds. However, the pay TV companies and Telstra submitted commercial undertakings and won ACCC approval in November 2002. Our extensive analysis explains why the deal is not in the long term interests of pay TV customers or operators, and only strengthens the monopoly power of Foxtel and Telstra.

Digital TV - the non-event

Despite general compliance with the regulated broadcasting of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) from January 1st 2001 in major cities and regions, the number of households tuning is low, with just over 50,000 in early 2003. Take-up has improved considerably since broadcasts began, when just 10,000 homes had a digital TV receiver, but such a low base after two years of transmission indicates there is much to be done to attract consumers. A survey of 90 key players in the broadcasting and advertising industries published in 2002 predicted digital TV uptake in Australia of 46% by 2008 (including FTA and pay TV digital).

Services are generally DVD quality Standard Definition (SD) broadcasts, CD quality MPEG audio, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some broadcasters also provide 16:9 widescreen programming, extra channels (ABC and SBS), some High Definition (HD) programs, program guides, 'now and next program information and closed captioning on prime time programs.

The problems with the regulatory framework for digital TV came to the fore again in 2002, this time in the form of the datacasting review at the end of 2002. Its findings were released in December 2002, acknowledging the absence of viable business models under the existing regime.

Radio

Radio is available over AM and FM frequencies, and almost three-quarters of all radio is commercially operated. The ABC accounts for almost all of the remaining radio audience. This audience is made up of about 8.5 million Australians over the age of 10 years, and they listen to radio broadcasts for nearly 20 hours every week. There are three major commercial radio broadcasters: Austereo, the Australian Radio Network, and Southern Cross Broadcasting. All three have established national networks through aggregation. Expensive content is produced centrally and provided to the regional stations.

As for digital radio services, there is no timetable for the introduction of digital radio and the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 has no specific provisions for digital radio. However, in December 2001 the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) agreed to support the application of the Commercial Radio Industry to commence digital radio trials in Sydney. In 2003, Commercial Radio Australia is coordinating the establishment of trials on VHF Band III in Sydney on behalf of Commercial and Public Broadcasters.

For a complete index of this report click on http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/37926

REPORT DATA SUMMARY:
2003 Australia - Broadcasting and Pay TV Australia
Number of Pages: 240
Category: Markets
URL: www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/37926

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