SECOND PAY-TV AND SATELLITE DISHES

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (a) what are the reasons allowing for a second pay-TV operator to enter our small domestic market, when satellite dishes will have been more cost-effective; and (b) when will satellite dishes be approved for the consumer market.

The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mr Khaw Boon Wan) (for the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts): Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Steve Chia is correct in saying that Singapore's broadcasting market is small. There are only one million households. This small market is further divided among various racial and language groups. That is why the Government's broadcasting competition policy cannot simply copy those of others.

The approach we have taken is to introduce competition incrementally. Over the last seven years, we have had a single pay-TV operator. That has allowed Singaporeans to enjoy a much wider range of programming than before.

The question now is whether the market can support a second pay-TV operator. Our industry consultants have studied the problem and concluded that the market could support one more operator. This is why we have decided to offer just one additional pay-TV licence. Even then, we cannot be sure that there is market interest in this licence, or that if awarded, the second licensee will be viable. However, this is an assessment best left to interested industry parties.

The upside of having a second pay-TV operator is that the competition would help to build a more dynamic and vibrant media industry in Singapore. It would encourage greater innovation and experimentation. It would also facilitate the development of convergent applications and increase the sophistication of the Singapore marketplace. Consumers could benefit from new and improved pay-TV service offerings.

As for our satellite dish policy, this has been debated several times in this House before. The installation of satellite dishes for households was disallowed to keep out undesirable content that is at odds with our multi-racial and multi-religious society, and to prevent the influencing of Singapore politics from a distance. This was why we built up the cable network, so that Singaporeans would nonetheless be able to enjoy a wider range of programmes. Households have therefore not lost out on programming variety by not having satellite reception.

But the reasons why we should not allow undesirable contents from easy access to the living rooms of Singaporeans through satellite dishes remain. Security challenges faced by the region, such as the uncovering of terrorist networks here in Southeast Asia, have brought home the reality that we must continue to be vigilant against influences that may split or divide our society.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, since the Senior Minister of State agrees that Singapore is a very small market, is it not more cost-effective to allow individual households to install satellite dishes instead of having a second agency to do that?

The second question relates to the Senior Minister of State's reply about regulation of undesirable content. There seems to be a contradiction here, because if the Ministry does not seem to be able to regulate and control undesirable content on the Internet, especially with the advancement of broadband, why is there a need to control satellite? Is there not inefficiency or a contradiction in the policy here?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Mr Speaker, Sir, the market is small, and Mr Steve Chia therefore argued that it is more cost-effective to just allow households to put up satellite dishes. The most cost-effective means for them is to subscribe to the existing pay-TV operator. Mr Steve Chia may have the impression that putting up satellite dishes is a cheap proposition. It is not. The fact that we are able to go for this current policy of disallowing satellite dishes by wiring up is because we are quite unique. We are a very small and compact country. This is one of those few advantages of being small. If we have a huge hinterland, like most other countries, our current policy will be harder to implement. But because we are small and compact, it is quite inexpensive for us to wire up. There are one million homes and, in fact, more than 90% are high-rise HDB flats. The cost of wiring up a home works out to less than - I am relying on memory here - $300 per home. If you put up a dish, a good dish costs almost $1,000. And one dish can only receive a particular satellite up in the sky. So if you want the full works of things, then you need several dishes per home. So it is not cost-effective at all. But, of course, if you have a large country with huge rural areas, that is a different proposition. Then insisting that banning the dishes and wiring up everybody may not be a good solution.

More importantly for us is not only it is cost-effective to cable up, cabling up allows us new opportunities because at the end of the day, optic fibres can provide a much wider spectrum of frequencies than wireless can provide. It is not quite there yet today because the signals are still analogue but, in due course, I expect the cable network to turn digital. Then you would have a wide spectrum of channels to work with. So that is the reason why in Singapore, we go for cabling as against allowing domestic homes to put up dishes. It is a unique situation that we are facing, and it is a unique advantage that we are exploiting. Whether the market, as I said, can accommodate a second pay-TV operator using some other platforms, it is for the industry to decide. Technologically, it is possible to go on a second platform using copper wires (telephone wires), which are already into every home with ADSL technology. But that is for the market to decide.

Mr Steve Chia's second point that there is a contradiction, that with Internet, we seem helpless because you can get any content that you want, then why bother to tighten up on satellite transmission of broadcasting materials? If Mr Steve Chia truly believes that through Internet you can get all and sundry - I do not know whether he subscribes to cable TV, but I do - and there are 300,000-over families in Singapore who do the same thing - if he is right, that you can already get anything that you want through Internet, then they must be fools to subscribe to cable TV. So, obviously, this banning of dishes has been effective and serves a useful purpose. And for as long as it does, the ban stays.