Discovery Asia Pacific Takes GRB Entertainment Factual Titles

12 Jan, 2016 – SHERMANK OAKS: GRB Entertainment has inked several factual deals in Asia, with Discovery Asia Pacific taking a bulk of the titles.

How Stuff Works, Nasty By Nature and When Fish Attack went to Discovery Asia Pacific’s Indian-territory feed, while FBI Takedowns was acquired for its China and Pacific Rim feeds. Meanwhile, the extreme-nature program Prehistoric Assassins will be broadcast in China on CCTV, with TBS Japan airing Without Warning.

FOX International Channels is Home to 15 Golden Globe Awards

Hong Kong, January 11, 2016 – FOX International Channels (FIC) opened the new year on a successful note: 12 shows and movies on the network across Hong Kong & Southeast Asia boasted 15 awards at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. The accolades include awards for two series each for Star World (Empire, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and FX (Mad Men, American Horror Story: Hotel), while 11 awards went to movies to which FIC has acquired the pay-TV rights for broadcast on its leading Hollywood movies channel, FOX Movies Premium.

Among the nominated films carried by FOX Movies Premium, The Revenant was the biggest winner of the night, bagging the top-tier awards of Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama for Leonardo DiCaprio; and Best Director, Motion Picture for Alejandro G. Iñárritu. This was followed by The Martian’s two awards for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for Matt Damon. FOX Movies Premium is dedicated to featuring Hollywood movies that showcase amazing performances and storytelling, including other Golden Globe winners such as Creed (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Sylvester Stallone), Inside Out (Best Animated Feature), The Hateful Eight (Best Original Score, Motion Picture), Spectre (Best Original Song, Motion Picture), Joy (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy – Jennifer Lawrence) and Room (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama – Brie Larson). All these acclaimed films will be seen on the channel and available for viewers across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, StarWorld’s leading women won big at Golden Globes, including Taraji P. Henson of Empire for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama and Rachel Bloom of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy. These wins support the channel’s position as the leader in entertainment programming that that attracts trendy, young female viewers who aspire to lead smart and sophisticated lifestyles. FX shows also triumphed at the Golden Globes, with Jon Hamm winning the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama for Mad Men and Lady Gaga awarded as Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for American Horror Story: Hotel. These two award-winning shows exemplify FX’s commitment to fearless and unconventional programming sought by viewers looking for innovative content.

Keertan Adyanthaya, Executive Vice President of Content & Communications for FIC Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, said, “We are thrilled that our network is home to so many shows that have been recognized by such a prestigious award. It is a testament to our programming strategy and our commitment to delivering top quality content to our viewers across Asia.”

Golden Globe Awards for television programmes shown on FIC’s channels (4):

Star World
Empire (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama – Taraji P. Henson

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy – Rachel Bloom

FX
Mad Men (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama – Jon Hamm
American Horror Story: Hotel (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television – Lady Gaga

Golden Globe Awards for films to which FIC has acquired the pay-TV rights (11):

FOX Movies Premium (HK/SEA)

The Revenant (3 awards)
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama – Leonardo DiCaprio
Best Director, Motion Picture – Alejandro G. Iñárritu

The Martian (2 awards)
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy – Matt Damon

Creed (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Sylvester Stallone

Inside Out (1 award)
Best Animated Film

The Hateful Eight (1 award)
Best Original Score, Motion Picture – Ennio Morricone

Spectre (1 award)
Best Original Song, Motion Picture – “Writing’s On The Wall”, Sam Smith and James Napier

Joy (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy – Jennifer Lawrence

Room (1 award)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama – Brie Larson

-END-

About FOX International Channels

FOX International Channels (FIC) is 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 300+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, sports, factual and movie channels in 45 languages across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. FIC’s core channel brands include FOX, FOX Sports, FOX Life, FOX+ and National Geographic Channel. FIC’s movie channels include FOX Movies, FOX Movies Premium and SCM (formerly Star Chinese Movies). Our non-linear brands include FOX Play, FOX Play+ and Nat Geo Play. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high- definition extensions, reach over 1.8 billion cumulative households worldwide. In addition, FIC owns and operates two production studios and produces thousands of local programming hours for its wholly owned channels and third parties. In operation since: August 14, 1993.

For media inquiries, please contact:

FOX International Channels – Asia
Kelly Jang | Director, Marketing & Communications
Tel: +852 2621 8875 | Email: Kelly.Jang@fox.com

CNBC to launch channel in Indonesia

12 Jan, 2016 – Financial news channel CNBC has struck a deal with PT Trans Media Corpora to launch a CNBC-branded channel in Indonesia.

CNBC Indonesia is to enter Southeast Asia’s largest economy later this year, and will be a Bahasa-language service.

Mark Hoffman, chairman of CNBC, said that the deal with Trans Media underpins the broadcaster’s emerging markets strategy.

Celestial Tiger Entertainment and PT MNC Sky Vision Launch Pan-regional Mandarin Kids Channel Miao Mi in Indonesia

HONG KONG (Jan 11, 2016) – Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), operator of the largest bouquet of pan-Asian channels dedicated to Asian entertainment, and PT MNC Sky Vision (MSKY), the largest pay-TV company in Indonesia, announced today the launch of CTE’s Asian kids channel Miao Mi. Miao Mi is the first pan-regional Mandarin kids channel created specifically to entertain and educate preschool children regardless of their language backgrounds. MSKY carries the channel exclusively on Indovision’s Galaxy, Super Galaxy, and Venus packs, as well as Okevision’s basic pack. Indonesia is the first market for Miao Mi, which will roll out progressively to other Asian markets this year.

“We are very excited to launch Miao Mi in Indonesia with PT MNC Sky Vision,” said Ofanny Choi, Executive Vice President, TV Networks, Celestial Tiger Entertainment. “PT MNC Sky Vision has always made it a priority to entertain, educate and empower their subscribers, and we have created this channel with those ideals in mind. There are many Western kids channels in the market and we passionately believe Miao Mi offers a high-quality alternative to subscribers with its carefully curated programs that entertain children with a unique Asian perspective. The channel also encourages kids to learn Mandarin through its dual Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesia audio tracks and its dedicated Miao Mi Classroom time belts,”

“We are very happy to have Miao Mi on board our platform, where kids can enjoy the best Mandarin educational and entertainment content. We hope, through this channel, Indonesian children can learn to speak Mandarin in a fun and entertaining way,” said Yudha Wibawa, Deputy CEO & Managing Director, PT. MNC Skyvision, Tbk.

Designed for children between the ages of three to six, Miao Mi features “edu-tainment” programs from leading producers of children’s content in China as well as the rest of Asia. The channel is fully dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia, but parents have the option to switch to the original Mandarin audio track to enhance their kids’ Mandarin learning experience. The only exception is the Miao Mi Classroom time belts, which only feature songs and simple storytelling in Mandarin for language-learning.

Besides the previously announced first and exclusive shows Star Babies, Secret Y, and Happy Friends, Miao Mi is the home of other top-rated kids series such as Little Rabbit’s Kung Fu Academy, a series created for preschoolers starring the characters from China’s award-winning 3D animated film Legend of a Rabbit; Rubi, an adorable series produced by the award-winning Chinese animation studio Zoland Animation; Eori, a high-quality Korean animated series, with Mandarin dub, centered around Asian and international folk tales; Fox Inventor, an adventure series based around the themes of exploration and discovery; and Bellbug Popo, an eco-friendly 3D animated series featuring catchy songs to teach children about the environment. Miao Mi will also feature one of the most well-known Chinese animated characters in the world, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, in a new series called Dear Little Wish.

Miao Mi launches as a linear channel on Indovision (Ch. 38), Okevision (Ch. 66) and Play Media (Ch. 38). The on-demand and over-the-top (OTT) versions of the channel will be available at a later date.

– END –

Media Contact:

Pauline Poon

Celestial Tiger Entertainment

T: 852 2239 6131

E: pauline.poon@celestialtiger.com

About Celestial Tiger Entertainment

CELESTIAL TIGER ENTERTAINMENT (CTE) is a leading independent media company dedicated to entertaining audiences in Asia and beyond. The company creates and distributes branded pay television channels and services targeted at Asian consumers.
CTE operates a powerful bouquet of distinct pay television services including: CELESTIAL MOVIES, the premier 24-hour first-run Chinese movie channel in Asia and beyond; CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES, the world’s most-widely distributed Chinese movie channel with an unparalleled array of Chinese movie masterpieces; cHK, a general entertainment channel offering cool, chic, and contemporary celebrity-powered Hong Kong entertainment; KIX, the ultimate destination for action entertainment; MIAO MI, the first Mandarin “edu-tainment” channel created specifically for kids across Asia; and THRILL, Asia’s only regional horror, thriller and suspense movie channel. All of CTE’s channel brands are availableas linear, on-demand and over-the-top services. CTE also produces original production for its bouquet of channels.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, CTE’s majority shareholders are Saban Capital Group, a leading private investment firm specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries; Celestial Pictures, a diversified Asian entertainment company owned by Astro Overseas Limited; and Lionsgate, the world’s largest independent filmed entertainmentstudio.

For more information, please visit www.celestialtiger.com.

PCCW Media signs deal with Korean Broadcasters

11 Jan, 2016 – PCCW Media Group, announces the launch of Viu, its OTT multi-screen video service in Singapore, as a further step in its regional expansion.

Meanwhile, Viu has clinched a pan-regional deal with the top four Korean broadcasters – SBS, KBS, MBC and CJ E&M, giving Viu an exclusive window and rights to 95 per cent of their latest telecast dramas, as well as variety shows from South Korea. This landmark agreement is the very first time the top four Korean broadcasters ever signed a pan-regional agreement with an OTT service provider, offering their latest content with an exclusive head-start window.

Sony content for Hulu

11 Jan, 2016 – US streaming service Hulu has signed a multi-year agreement content with Sony.

The deal gives Hulu streaming rights to series including The Shield, Party of Five, Dawson’s Creek and Damages as well Sony’s movie archives. The agreement also includes series Happy Endings, all episodes of which were recently made available on the service.

All Sony properties will be available through Hulu’s No Commercial and Limited Commercials subscription packages.

Time Warner Pushes for Binge-Watching Rights to Combat Netflix

8 Jan, 2016 – Time Warner Inc.’s strategy against Netflix is taking shape.

Hoping to keep viewers who are dropping cable subscriptions for online streaming services, Time Warner is negotiating to make full seasons of more shows available to pay-TV customers on demand, according to Time Warner Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill.

Time Warner’s cable networks, which include TNT and TBS, have “made it clear” to Hollywood studios that they want so-called “stacking rights,” or the ability to air full seasons of shows they buy, Averill said. Meanwhile, Time Warner’s Warner Bros. studio recently sold a new show, “Lucifer,” to 21st Century Fox Inc., that allows cable subscribers to view the entire first season on demand — the first time that Warner Bros. has granted full-season rights to a broadcast network, he said.

Tata Sky makes Everywhere TV free for viewers

9 Jan, 2016 – The advent of the on-demand Internet streaming Netflix in India has no doubt created waves across the country. While Netflix is available free for a one-month trial it will then charge between Rs 500 – 800 for its three packages. In what can be termed as a direct reaction to this, direct to home (DTH) provider Tata Sky has declared its Everywhere TV service free for users.

Tata Sky earlier charged users Rs 60 per month for the same service. Users can stream TV channels on the go through Everywhere TV on the official Tata Sky app. The service will feature channels subscribed by the viewers on the Tata Sky connection.

8 January 2016

Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending Jan 8th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!

Brought to you by:

Christopher Slaughter

CEO

Security was turning people away from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ keynote at CES almost an hour before it even started, the room was that full. And of course, the enthusiasm was justified by Hastings’ announcement of their simultaneous global launch in 130 countries worldwide (map here). (Top tip: scroll down for the post-keynote press conference, which in some ways was actually better than the keynote.) So not only has the 800-pound gorilla finally shown up, it’s shown up in almost ALL of our markets at once. (China is the obvious missing piece in the puzzle.) Still, there are no foregone conclusions in these troubled times, and while it might be cold comfort, it’s also true that even near-ubiquity is not a guarantee of success.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

The western world went on holiday last week, but there was no break in India, and the media had a field day obsessing about net neutrality along with earning some advertising revenue too from FB. Facebook, whose “Free Basics” plan is being savaged by the technorati and the print media , tried to fight back, but some of its methods (deceptive click-inducing ads which sent emails to the TRAI) were looked at askance. They finally pulled out the big gun: Mark Zuckerberg himself waded into the debate, writing Op-Ed pieces and calling tech entrepreneurs to get them on board. But in one sense, Facebook’s big guns backfired, producing a nativist backlash against foreign companies and their “colonialist” approaches. “India’s digital independence is threatened!!” Nix differential pricing. Man those barricades, tekkies.

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

There was a time when the established business model of paying for entertainment and having free water seemed a pretty safe bet. Nowadays many consumers pay for bottled water and expect most of their entertainment to be free. In a bid to address this ever –shifting trend, Apple has announced it intends to charge more for iphones and ipads in Germany with the surplus going towards paying for royalties as part of a copyright levy deal between the tech industry and content producers. The attached article highlights that people buying Apple products in Germany will also be paying royalties to porn sites and actors but that’s really only part of the picture … and who are we to judge.

… And in another piracy- related story, the Bollywood actress Kriti Sanon found herself sitting next to a fellow traveler on a plane recently who was quite shamelessly watching a pirated version of the film Dilwale that Sanon herself was starring in. Despite remonstrations the passenger continued to watch the movie. At the time the film had only been released in cinemas for 10 days so there was no chance this could have been anything but a pirated version.

Anjan Mitra

Executive Director, India

As usual digitisation too has run into a match of claims (by the government) and counterclaims (by the industry stakeholders, especially the LCOs and independent MSOs) for the third phase of digitisation the deadline for which ended on December 31, 2015. Meanwhile the courts too have got into play and, on petitions filed by LCO association, at least four high courts in different States have stayed final implementation for few more months. The drama continues; wait for the next episode.

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

Oculus just announced details of the Rift rollout in March with a price-tag of US$599. But one will also need a beefy computer to drive it. It’s not just gamers that are excited about VR. Fox is all over it with The Martian VR Experience and have been described as, "most aggressive in terms of figuring out what a VR experience can be.” This can be seen with their recent investment into virtual reality smart glasses designer and manufacturer Osterhout Design Group looking to "take its 3D, high-definition glasses — billed as a 65-inch screen that goes anywhere — to the entertainment market."

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

Yahoo Screen, which launched in 2011 and offered up original series, short clips and licensed content, has been shut down. All of Yahoo’s video content will instead be routed to the company’s various sites. The move effectively marks the end of Yahoo’s original streaming online video plans. Yahoo’s comedy originals, are now available in Yahoo’s TV section. As well as a major cost –saving exercise, the closure comes on the heels of previous criticism from consumers when Community (re)launched that the viewing experience just wasn’t very good.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

The European Commission’s assault on country-based copyright commercial licensing seems to have abated a bit. The “Digital Single Market” proposal, in its latest iteration, calls for consumers to have the right to access their own content wherever they travel in the EU, but doesn’t repeat calls to dismantle geoblocking entirely. In the words of one commentary, “Sports and media rights owners will be pleased that (the) proposal is relatively limited and should not interfere with the traditional structure of licensing content on a territorial basis.”

Mark Lay

Vice President, Singapore

2015 was a tough year for most media stocks with $50 billion evaporating from the major players. Netflix ended up being the best performing stock on the S&P 500 with some expecting some serious profits in 2016. Though, Netflix could potentially feel the squeeze as numerous players are starting to play Netflix’s game. Closer to home, media companies in Korea were busy emulating the boom years of the 1980s showing outstanding returns. The Korean export model is now working in media, with China being a big market.

John Medeiros

Chief Policy Officer

One phase of the Kim Dotcom saga finally ended, as a NZ court ruled he could be extradited to the USA to face criminal copyright conspiracy charges. I’ve found myself reading the NZ Herald a lot in recent months, as their coverage of the court proceedings has been pretty thorough. Now the appeals begin, and the Herald has have an interview with Dotcom himself, in which the former Mega CEO says he plans to continue to “fight long and hard,” despite evidence including his emails in which he labeled himself a pirate, and testimony by one of his former co-conspirators, who has done a plea bargain. Meanwhile, in news that will mean majorly higher incomes for some Hong Kong legal practitioners, Dotcom also says he’s got a bunch of money now and he’s going to sue the US government “indirectly”, by suing the HK Department of Justice (as HK was where his companies were based).

Anjan Mitra

Executive Director, India

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries launched late December its multi-billion dollar and ambitous 4G services, presently for its over two thousands employees, and promises to flood markets with Lyf-branded handsets soon. Along with Netflix’s arrival, the debate has started whether 4G could change India’s media landscape. — provided restrictive and intrusive policies are not put in place.

Kevin Jennings

Vice President, Programme

With the Christmas and New Year festivities now firmly behind us we turn our attention to the build up to Chinese New Year. Pepsi have launched a campaign in China to welcome the Year of the Monkey with what else than the story of the Monkey King family.

Some additional links you might be interested in:

Member News

Mark Eyers Upped To SVP at Turner International Asia Pacific

HONG KONG (January 7, 2016) – Turner International Asia Pacific Limited today announced the promotion of Mark Eyers to Senior Vice President. As Chief Content Officer, Eyers oversees every aspect of Turner’s Kids content business and portfolio of leading Kids brands across Asia Pacific including Cartoon Network – the No.1* international Kids Pay TV channel in the region – Boomerang, Toonami and POGO.

Based in Hong Kong, Eyers will focus on strengthening the planning process for these brands, identifying and developing fresh animation talent on local, regional and international level as well as opportunities to further develop and distribute hit properties and content franchises across the company’s multiple platforms – TV, web and mobile. He is also accountable for spearheading new channel development across the region.

Ricky Ow, President of Turner International Asia Pacific said, “Under Mark’s leadership, Turner’s Kids brands has not only dominated the genre but also expanded tremendously across the region. He has spearheaded the growth of our Kids brands across multi-platform while also leading numerous international original animation productions, including the award-winning Monster Beach and recent series Exchange Student Zero. His promotion is a timely acknowledgement of his contribution to the importance of the Kids brands to Turner’s business in this region and the confidence we have in him to further build upon it.”

Eyers first joined Turner International Asia Pacific’s creative services team in 2004 and was previously Vice President of Kids Content. In this capacity, he was responsible for the implementation of a unified programming vision across all Turner brands by integrating the original production and development unit within the programming division.

-ENDS-

*In measured markets including Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Pakistan, S. Korea, Japan. Period: November 2015 (except Japan). All Time. Monthly Reach among kids in CS homes. Target: kids 5-12 (AU), kids 4-14 (MY, TW, TH, KR, SG, IN, PK), kids 2-12 (PH), kids 4-12 (JP). Reach refers to viewing for at least 1 minute. Data source: Nielsen (MY, TW, TH, KR), OzTAM National STV (AU), Kantar Media (PH national, SG), BARC urban & rural (IN), MediaLogic (PK), Video Research October 2015 (JP).

About Turner International Asia Pacific
Turner creates and distributes award-winning brands throughout Asia Pacific. In the region, Turner runs 59 channels in 13 languages in 38 countries, including CNN International, CNNj, CNN, HLN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, POGO, Toonami, World Heritage Channel, Warner TV, Oh!K, TCM Turner Classic Movies, truTV, WB, MondoTV, TABI Channel and HBO in South Asia. Turner also manages distribution for HBO Defined and HBO Hits in India. Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company.

For more information, please contact:

Gregory Ho
Vice President – Corporate Communications and Marketing
Gregory.Ho@turner.com
Tel: + 852 3128-3536

James Moore
Director of Communications
James.Moore@turner.com
Tel: +852 3128-3720

Username
Password

	Remember Me Lost your password?