January 10 Round up

Members & Colleagues,

Welcome to the January 2010 edition of AIME’s K&N News, offering a brief summary of AIME activity over the last month, and also highlighting upcoming events. Although, designed as a quick catch up, we do also like to run a showcase piece highlighting industry success or new and innovative applications/services developing in the Interactive Media Industry. So please keep us updated with your company news that may support this section and hopefully we’ll be able to demonstrate 2010 as a year of returning confidence and greater investment in industry.

On February 9th, we have an AIME Board meeting and if you have any key issues you feel the Executive should be taking forward, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

We are pleased to say 2010 has got underway well and we welcome a good industry cross section of new members, Five, Questico, Fox Mobile Group, 2Comm, paythru and A2B.

We look forward to working with all members in 2010.

Toby Padgham
AIME General Secretary

Chairman's Brief

Dear Members,

Welcome back to 2010!

I am pleased to report that AIME has hit the ground running and we welcome six new members to our Association. As you know, the executive is on a drive to increase membership by 25% so that your Association can continue to invest in policy, representation and networking. However, we are acutely aware that we have to deliver value. This is why I am working closely with the team of Toby, Roy, Zoe, Bianca and the newly arrived David to ensure that our ongoing mission is one of relevance and focus!

If I had been offered the end of year position in December 09 in January, I would have taken it. This is because we saw a transformative year of progress for AIME in its re-positioning which will evolve over the next 12 months also. However, we also saw a more stable industry battle front with less crises and complaints well down. Combining this with some of the policy initiatives and we saw real progress in the industry ecosystem working together to start rebuilding consumer trust.

However, the numbers speak for themselves. We saw an industry in decline, albeit less steep than before and with some green shoots of recovery which have been reinforced by other trade associations recently such as MEF's business confidence survey. Our mission for 2010 has got to be growth in premium revenues and AIME's three year plan strives to see consumer paid revenues hitting £1.5bn by the end of 2012 - there's some way to go.

However, it's achievable. If you believe the Think Tank research that some two-thirds of adults in the UK don't use premium rate services due to a lack of trust then there's an interesting challenge for the industry. If we were able to convert say 10% of this group to regular users then we would immediately see an additional £100m of revenues - simple eh?

How will we achieve this? 1) Transparent pricing 2) Strict adherence to compliance 3) Investment in customer care 4) Investment in products and services so that consumers enjoy the experience and receive value for money 5) Working together across the value chain 6) Driving out companies who simply break the rules to make short term gain and 7) Developing the right combination of self-regulation and formal regulation. Remember the words by the great Winston Churchill: "If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law......."

There have been a number of consultations including product placement (submitted 8 Jan), PPP 2010/11 draft budget, PTV3 (submitted 25 Jan) and also an update on the PRS bad debt issue. If any member has questions on these, anyone in the executive would be delighted to help.

We are also progressing a number of initiatives including Terminating Provider Best Practice (met Jan 27th), Regulatory Best Practice, a new area (met Jan 27th), Interactive Broadcast Forum and SMS voting and also a Virtual chat help note in response to PPP concerns which were communicated in December.

Toby and I had a very constructive quarterly meeting with PPP and a number of important issues arose. Firstly, the new 12th Code and its new focus will have a major impact on the Information Provision (IP) community and an educational and awareness programme has to be planned. This will be an important area of focus for AIME in the coming months. Secondly, the Registration Scheme, a long awaited AIME initiative which is now WIP at PPP needs to be carefully monitored and we have stressed the need for industry input at all stages for this; we will be receiving an update from PPP and will be inviting members to respond with input/concerns. Thirdly, with the increasing level of fines and collection of, we have had discussions about future levy and levels of funding and more details will emerge in due course.

There is an AIME board meeting on 9th Feb and the next Members' GM is on 10th March. I hope that as many as possible will be able to come to the GM.

Edward Boddington
AIME Chair

Showcase

Matching Mobile with Football

There’s a lot of buzz around the potential for mobile marketing and content at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Earlier this month AIME was fortunate to attend, as a media partner, a unique mobile content event hosted by Camerjam at the Emirates Stadium in London unsurprisingly called M-Football.

High level speakers from Real Madrid, Everton, Sponge, Turkcell and Flirtomatic, among others, focused on how the mobile medium can not only transform the football experience for fans, but also how content and service providers can exploit the opportunities available from these large-scale sporting events.

According the event chairman, Jonathan MacDonald, founder of JME.net and mobile consultant, there is a disconnect between what football fans actually do at a match and what they could be doing in order to have an even more enjoyable experience. Mobile can fill this space and there are massive potential revenues to be made by doing it right.

Representation

Meetings

Participation TV Part 3 - Psychic working group meeting - 12th Jan
AIME & PPP quarterly meeting - 14th Jan
PPP meeting on SMS Voting - 14th Jan
PPP meeting on Industry Communications - Jan 14th
PRS Industry Group meeting - 26th Jan
AIME Terminating Provider Best Practice review meeting - 27th Jan
AIME Regulatory Best Practice working group meeting - 27th Jan
AIME & BIS quarterly meeting - 29th Jan

AIME Initiative - Mobile Terminating Provider (TP) Best Practice Guide

Working group met 27th Jan to review Issue 1 of AIME's Mobile TP Best Practice Guide
Mobile TPs shared experiences of complying with the Best Practice guide and improvements suggested
Issue 2 Draft is currently with the TPs for approval

AIME Initiative - Regulatory Best Practice

New working group formed, initially of Mobile TPs, to consider improvements to the current Regulatory environment
AIME currently working with PPP on the criteria for their triage system, which assesses the severity of offenses and the need for investigation

AIME Initiative - Interactive Broadcast Forum

SMS working group met with PPP to review current regulation for Participation TV Services

Regulatory Update - Virtual Chat Help Note

AIME members consulted on Virtual Chat Help Note issued by PPP in December
AIME response submitted to PPP for review of member concerns

Regulatory Update - PRS Bad Debt Surcharge

Members raised concern over notification received from BT that the PRS Bad Debt Surcharge would be increased to 9.7% on the 1st April 2010
AIME has been in discussions with Ofcom who will be shortly publishing the results from their Independent Review
Further details can be obtained from the AIME Executive

Industry PR

BBC's current affairs' programme Working Lunch, broadcast on 15th Jan commented negatively on the use of revenue share
AIME wrote to Working Lunch to raise concern over the unbalanced nature of the programme content

Industry Consultations

DCMS - Product Placement on Television

AIME letter of support submitted - 8th Jan

PPP - Business Plan & Budget 2010/11

AIME response submitted - 15th Jan
- PPP's new presentation of its budget and business plan was welcomed
- AIME would like further differentiation between PPP's core and non core activities
- A commitment to develop a co-operative, co-regulatory relationship with Industry was also requested in order to achieve a reduction in regulatory resource over time
- Furthermore AIME suggested the introduction of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to identify trends in overall Corporate measurement, e.g. Regulatory Costs

Ofcom - Participation TV: Rules on the Promotion of PRS

PTV working groups met on several occasions to produce a consolidated Industry response
AIME response submitted - 25th Jan - supported by Mobile Data Association
- AIME pleased with Ofcom's recognition that Adult and Psychic PTV Services have operated for many years and are well received by consumers
- The classification of these services as Teleshopping and the need to change the TV advertising rules was accepted
- AIME noted the need to address Adult and Psychic PTV services separately and raised concerns the two genres were being considered together in this consultation
- It was suggested that Psychic genre PTV services (except those designated as occult) should enjoy the same freedom as other teleshopping services with minimal restrictions to advertising and broadcast
- Furthermore AIME raised concerns over Ofcom's proposal to restrict content on Freeview due to programming display technology and believes regulation should be based upon technical neutrality
AIME to continue working with Industry to produce a Best Practice Guide for Psychic PTV Services

Ofcom - Draft Annual Plan 2010/11

Ofcom Draft Annual Plan - deadline for responses 17th Feb
Members comments to be sent to zoe@aimelink.org

Ofcom - A Review of Consumer Complaints Procedures

Ofcom A review of Consumer Complaints Procedures - deadline for responses 12th Mar
Members comments to be sent to zoe@aimelink.org

Industry consultations & AIME responses can be found on the AIME website

Information & Networking

6 NEW AIME Members - Five, Questico, Fox Mobile Group, 2Comm, Paythru and A2B
AIME attendance at M-Football - 21st Jan
AIME Ofcom Participation TV Response PR in January issue of T360
Member email alerts sent out including:
- Consultation Update: PRS Bad Debt Surcharge
- PPP Business Plan and Budget 2010-2011 Response
- Ofcom Participation TV Part 3 Response
- Industry PR Update: Working Lunch Coverage
- AIME Response to PPP on Virtual Chat Help Note
- Mobile Terminating Provider Best Practice Guide - Issue 2 Draft

Dates for your diary!

2-3rd March - FT Digital Media & Broadcasting - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
10th March - AIME GM - Members only
15-16th March - Mobile Social Networking - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
18th March - Changing Media Summit - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
23-25th March - IPTV World Forum - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
24-25th March - Mobile Internet - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
21-22nd September - ad:tech London - AIME Supporting Association, member discount

If you would like further information on any of AIME's activities, initiatives or benefits of membership, please contact me at zoe@aimelink.org

Kind Regards,

Zoe Patterson
General Manager

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