Singapore: a hub for digital cinema

Post, Nov, 2004 by Claudia Kienzle

SINGAPORE -- For Hollywood motion picture studios seeking to distribute their digital cinema movies throughout the Asian-Pacific region, sending the movies as digital files rather than film prints is appealing because it cuts down on delays caused by printing and shipping 35mm prints. But the prospect of sending pristine, high-resolution digital files anywhere, let alone the other side of the globe, raises concerns that their intellectual property rights could be violated and the content pirated.

Also, the distribution of digital cinema movies throughout Asia involves editing movies to respect local cultures and customs, adding subtitles for each language, as well as collecting payment from customers that use different currencies--all of which is very time consuming and complex to manage.

This is where Singapore's Digital Media Exchange comes in. Since its inception in late 1999, this government-backed initiative seeks to establish Singapore as a "digital shipping port" that can receive digital cinema content, such as movies and online games, and manage all aspects of the redistribution of that content to Asian markets.

"Our vision is to offer digital content producers a hub that facilitates

the rapid redistribution of digital cinema content throughout Asia," says Thomas Lim, director of games and entertainment for the IDA, or Infocomm Development Authority, (www.ida.gov.sg) in Singapore. "We are building an infrastructure that will not only handle the high-speed transfer of massive data via satellite, fiber or cable, it will manage the content, collect the payments and protect against piracy."

Singapore was ranked first in Asia for Intellectual Property Rights Protection, by The Global Corruption Report of 2003 and other studies, as an excellent location for companies to securely store and distribute digital content.

"With our passage of laws enforcing intellectual property rights, Singapore is uniquely positioned to offer Hollywood an assurance of security for their digital movies," says Lim. "This can be done by employing state-of-the-art encryption methods, watermarking or other technologies capable of reducing or eliminating theft. Also, the picture quality on display at digital cinemas is so superior to the scratchy film prints that Asian consumers have always seen in theaters that they will be willing to pay to see the movie in a digital cinema rather than obtain a pirated DVD copy."

Lim estimates that by transporting movies in digital form, the movie industry would save approximately $700 million per year in transportation costs. And he says, "By using Singapore's digital media exchange for Asian distribution, Hollywood companies would save even more money, because our close proximity to Asian customers and our familiarity with their social and commercial mores means we can be a far more effective partner in managing and processing their digital content throughout the region."

Among the resources in Singapore are: SingTel's (Singapore Telephone's) high-speed ATM network, ST Teleport's huge satellite network and a thriving community of visual effects artists and high-end post facilities, Also, Singapore is the most connected city in Asia with more than 10Gbps of extensive and direct Internet connectivity to over 20 Asian countries. Singapore's network, infrastructure offers 21 Tbps of submarine cable capacity and international and regional telecoms connectivity to more than 100 countries. Including Singapore's 22 digital cinemas, the Asian region is considered by many to be the fastest growing digital cinema market.

"By demonstrating our commitment to digital cinema, we hope to engage members of the Hollywood community--including the studios, the DCI [Digital Cinema Initiative], production companies and other entities interested in digital cinema--in a discussion that helps us develop new business models and customize Singapore's digital media exchange infrastructure to meet their needs," says Lim. "Without a doubt, we can be part of the value chain that enables rapid, safe, cost-effective digital cinema distribution in Asia."