Singapore was yesterday accused by the pay-television industry of breaching World Trade Organisation rules and damaging its future as an international media hub by moving to force broadcasters to share content.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia said new rules proposed by the Media Development Authority, the city state's media regulator, would also threaten the development of high-definition TV and 3D programming .

"Over more than a decade, Singapore has made the most notable progress in the region when attracting international content companies to the country," said Simon Twiston Davies, chief executive of Casbaa.

"The 'cross-carriage remedy', insisting on the sharing of high value programming, damages the interests of every content owner and distributor."

The public criticism of the regulator, highly unusual in corporatist Singapore, follows an announcement by Lui Tuck Yew, the acting information and communications minister, that new pay-TV distribution agreements would not be permitted to include exclusivity clauses.

The announcement followed fierce bidding between the two cable television operators, StarHub and Singapore Telecommunications, for the local rights to the English Premier League.

There was public anxiety, which subsequently proved unfounded, that the football World Cup would not be transmitted because neither operator could reach agreement with FIFA, the sport's governing body.

Eileen Ang, the MDA's head of competition and market access, said the proposed rules were intended to make content more widely available and were supported by consumer groups. She said the regulator would take industry views into account before taking a final decision.

Analysts said the move could have serious consequences for Singapore, which has established itself as the primary window of distribution for new content being produced by regional and international brands, and wants to develop as a centre for Asian programme production.

"Broadcasters outside Singapore might be tempted to innovate and distribute content elsewhere first," said Vivek Couto, executive director of Media Partners Asia, in Hong Kong.

Casbaa represents 130 content producers, pay-TV platform operators and equipment and service suppliers in 16 Asian markets, including global competitors such as BBC Worldwide, Bloomberg Television, Disney Media Distribution and Sony Pictures Television.

The group said there had been "a chorus" of objections to the proposed rules "decrying the circumvention of internationally guaranteed rights to freely negotiate distribution of TV content in Singapore".

Casbaa said the new rules would breach the rights of content owners under an international copyright treaty, the WTO's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement and the US-Singapore bilateral trade agreement.

"Singapore is now in a situation of contravention of all three agreements," it said