The Singaporean government has announced that pay-TV providers such as SingTel and StarHub will be obliged to share any content they have purchased for transmission with rivals, effectively ending exclusive content deals in the city-state.

The new regulation applies to contracts signed from March 12th of this year onwards, meaning that the English Premier League (EPL) coverage which SingTel has signed for its IPTV service 'mio TV' is unlikely to be affected until 2013.  The company which successfully bids for the EPL rights in 2014 however, will be obliged to share its content with competitors.

The revision to the Media Market Conduct Code is intended to make premium content more accessible and cheaper for consumers.  Under the new regulation, pay-TV providers must also charge all viewers the same fee for exclusive content which they hold the rights to.