Conclusion of 3rd Digital Future Symposium China, Beijing 2010
CONCLUSION OF 3RD DIGITAL FUTURE SYMPOSIUM CHINA, BEIJING 2010
Major
content owners and technology providers met in Beijing on the 24 March
2010 for the Digital Future Symposium (DFS) event organised by the
Centre for Content Protection (CCP) to discuss the future of digital
distribution in China and the Asia region. Amongst the attendees were
government officials, technology providers, content protection
companies and legal practitioners. 119 people from all over Asia
attended, including those from the United States, Europe and China.
The
event partnered CDTV, a local Chinese TV publication and entity, with
the Motion Picture Association's representative office in China.
The
meeting found that China’s State Council has announced the decision to
advance the three-network convergence (Telecom, broadcast TV and
internet) to introduce new services and drive consumption. The
convergence network solution will enable audience to enjoy more TV
programs. New distribution channels are inspiring new revenue streams.
Hot discussion remains on how to balance between content owners’
legitimate rights and public interests.
China's
State Administration for Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) opened the meeting
with its keynote speaker Wang Xiao Jie. The meeting found a keen
interest between Chinese companies to partner with content companies
and foreign entities. It was found, however, there are still some
misalignments regarding the role of copyright in China and protection
of intellectual property. On a more positive note, there are strong
indications that piracy and copyright infringement are beginning to be
questioned as business models for UGC and Internet sites.
In
the New Media panel, the attendees found that new and upcoming media
for entertainment include mobile as a key delivery mode for movies and
TV in future. Mobile content was seen as the area which would bring new
business and revenues to content owners and producers in the Asian
region including China.
Another
important finding was the possibility of legal recourse for companies
seeking court action against piracy in China. The legal panel found
that while the process remained significantly complicated for foreign
companies to address piracy issues in the Chinese courts, it is not
impossible to do so and there are now cases to reflect.
The
technology panelists found interest in the China market for content
protection. For content companies to invest and participate in China
business, strong and dependable content security is required. It was
found that content protection enables pay-per-view and other legitimate
business models in various platforms. Content protection is provided
for by content protection companies in the region who are also members
of the CCP.
The
increasing occurrences of piracy and "control-word sharing" in content
protection inform content producers that there is much work to be done:
and that security cannot be overlooked when delivering high value
content on broadcast channels. "Control-word sharing" is an example
where a hacker obtains the codes to a specific set-top box, and
redistributes the code over the Internet to enable larger illegitimate
channels.
The
conference overall identified that content distribution and delivery
very much remains hot topics in China and it is envisaged that new
business models will accompany the rise of mobile in China.
