– Entrepreneur and digital maverick, Winradit Kasidit Kolasastraseni and experienced strategist and telecom professional Karan Paul join regional management team –

Singapore, 26 May 2016 – Discovery Communications has appointed Winradit Kasidit Kolasastraseni to the new position of Senior Vice President, Innovation – Asia Pacific, and named Karan Paul as Vice President, Strategy – Asia Pacific, taking over the portfolio of Helen Whittle who has relocated to New Zealand. Both Kolasastraseni and Paul will be based in Singapore and report to Arthur Bastings, President and Managing Director of Discovery Networks Asia Pacific. Whittle continues as Vice President, Strategy, with a focus on Discovery’s Pacific businesses and Special Projects, reporting to Bastings.

Commenting on the appointments, Bastings said, “As we evolve our business from a traditional linear pay-tv to a true convergent media and entertainment business, adding diversity to our leadership and enhancing our skillset is critical. Winradit and Karan bring with them strong non-linear and ICT experience, and I am very excited to have them on board as we continue to evolve our product and business portfolio.”

Kolasastraseni will focus on the evolution of Discovery to a progressive digitally native product and services company. Key initiatives will include the incubation of new digital businesses; extensions of existing brands into online communities; and a strong push into big data and analytics. Kolasastraseni is no stranger to the industry, having founded Thailand’s premium OTT service PrimeTime Entertainment. During his stewardship as CEO, PrimeTime amassed over 2 million registered users within a year of its launch. Kolasastraseni was also the CEO and founder of technology and media companies Ploenjit Media and Fly Digital Media in Thailand. Prior to this, he was with Microsoft Thailand, SAS Software, Total Access Communication, Huasheng Industry, Cisco Systems, Samart Internet, and Point Asia Dot Com. Kolasastraseni holds a BS in Information Technology from Assumption University, Bangkok.

Paul will partner with Bastings and the General Managers of Discovery’s five newly-formed APAC market clusters on all strategy matters as the company seeks to adopt a unique and differentiated approach for each of its businesses. Paul comes to Discovery from Singtel, where he was Director, Group Projects & Consulting. He led the group’s in-house consulting team and advised senior management and the various business units on areas including partnership models and content bundling. He was previously with Value Partners Management Consulting in Singapore, PwC in India, and Absolutdata Analytics in India and San Francisco. Paul holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

DOWNLOADABLE PROFILE PHOTOS

Winradit Kasidit Kolasastraseni

Karan Paul

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About Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific

Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, a division of the number-one pay-TV programmer Discovery Communications, is dedicated to satisfying curiosity, engaging and entertaining viewers with high-quality content through its portfolio of 15 brands. From survival to natural history, wonders of science to extreme jobs, motoring to travel and lifestyle, and the latest engineering marvels to live sporting events, each channel offers distinct must-watch programming to engage viewers across the region. The network’s 15 brands reach 695 million cumulative subscribers in 38 countries and territories with programming customised in 14 languages and dialects. For more information, please visit www.asia.discovery.com.

Contact:

Magdalene Ng
magdalene_ng@discovery.com
DID: (65) 6510 7563

– OR –

Charmaine Huet
charmaine_huet@discovery.com
DID: (65) 6510 7545

Star India launches Star Utsav Movies, India’s first ‘Truly Rural’ Hindi Movies Channel on 28th May

Mumbai, 25 May 2016: India’s biggest broadcaster, Star India, has announced the launch date of its much awaited free to air (FTA) Hindi Movies channel, Star Utsav Movies, which will be an exclusive offering for the Rural Market.

Hemal Jhaveri, General Manager – Star Gold, Movies OK, Star GOLD HD and Star Utsav Movies said, “We are excited to announce the launch of Star Utsav Movies on 28th May, India’s first ‘Truly Rural’ Hindi movie channel. With the advent of BARC, rural markets took the center stage with more than half of the TV viewership coming from the heartland. Our analysis indicated that there was a clear need gap in this category since 25% of the total viewership came from movies, but the Hindi movie genre share is a miniscule 5 %. This is because of the non-availability of good content from the existing hindi movie channels in the FTA space. An extensive research study undertaken to unravel the rural psyche shed light on the key usage and behavior patterns which has been the cornerstone for all acquisition, programming and marketing inputs on this new channel offering. What made this research unique and accurate was the fact that it was tailor made to each respondent surveyed basis their viewing behavior which was captured on close circuit cameras positioned in their homes.

Star Utsav Movies stands apart as a truly rural offering from the network because it has been designed with the rural viewer in mind. The insights from research gave us a rich perspective on triggers that dictate his approach towards life and his entertainment needs. ‘Har Din Utsav’ as a promise is an indication of our endeavor to give our viewers a reason to celebrate every day with the biggest and best stars on the channel” Jhaveri said.

To drive reach and awareness for the new channel, a multi-media launch campaign has already kick-started. We will leverage the might of Star India Network to rapidly build awareness. Besides a comprehensive high impact TV plan, the promotion also includes a high octane radio plan besides unique brand experiences for viewers on ground across villages in key markets.

“The rural markets are the last important frontier and we believe Star Utsav Movies will empower both the consumers and advertisers alike,” Jhaveri said.
* BARC Data

Singapore, 25th May 2016. Ideal Systems Group today announced that for the first time at Broadcast Asia it will be showcasing IP video stream analysis products from Canadian company Providius Designs. Ideal will showcase the Voyager family of products which includes the first handheld analyzer with a 10GE optical interface which supports visualizing and analyzing of SMPTE 2022-6.

The Canadian-based company designs and builds innovative, monitoring and analysis solutions to facilitate the deployment of video services including SDI-to-IP. By leveraging its core competencies in video broadcast, Providius provides a new portable stream analyzer which has been engineered to provide real time analysis of streaming IP and ASI based services (HEVC, H.264, MPEG-2…) ensuring service compliance.

The Providius 1102XW series product line of portable stream analyzers have been engineered to provide real time analysis of streaming IP and ASI based services encoded as HEVC, H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10), MPEG-2 and many other compression formats. This platform presents and intuitive graphical user touch interface allowing for dynamic configuration with user definable presets developed on a portable and convenient tablet architecture. This “one-box” approach integrates the essential interfaces to analyze and troubleshoot the end to end service without the needs of clunky dongles and cables. The 1102XW Voyager is also VESA mountable to a fixed bracket or swing-arm for deskmount or in-rack applications.

The processing engine of the 1102XW supports a wide range of streaming protocols, such as HLS, RTMP, HDS, MSS, MPEG-DASH in addition to the adaptive bitrate monitoring tools necessary to ensure service compliance.

Ideal will also showcase the 2101Broadcast Monitoring Gateway: IPTV/OTT Multiviewer & Network Analyzer, a high density analysis platform for 24/7 eyes and ears of both video and service and delivery network. The BMG incorporates the essential analysis and decoding tools necessary to alert the operation tiers of MPEG-2/H.264 and packet transport related impairments for linear and adaptive bitrate (ABR) defined services. At the heart of the BMG, packets are processed for TR101290 P1 & P2 service compliance with also the unique ability to analyze the conditions of the delivery network. This dual focused analysis approach provides a clear demarcation between video delivery and video processing thereby drastically reducing the mean time to repair (MTTR) and eliminating finger pointing between transport and processing departments.

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Link to Voyager Product photo
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cm1x4vt0rddie65/1102XW_Nov_2015.png?dl=0

Link to Providius Logo
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3frxji3jx26i7bd/20140219%20-%20PROVIDIUS%20Logo%20BLK%20on%20WHT%20FULL.png?dl=0

About Ideal Group
Ideal is Asia’s largest broadcast systems integrator and is a multinational organization providing innovative media and design solutions to sectors including broadcasting, telecoms, and media. Ideal Systems provides services that range from systems consultancy and design conceptualization, to systems deployment and support of broadcast systems, facilities, and studios, to billing and subscriber-management solutions.

Ideal Group operates from 11 regional offices in nine countries across Asia. The company employs 150 staff members in its offices in Hong Kong (main headquarters), China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Singapore (S.E.A. headquarters), Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. www.idealsys.com
===========

PR Contact
Fintan Mc Kiernan
Ideal Systems
#06-06 One Commonwealth
1 Commonwealth Lane
Singapore 149544
+65 6684-8770 (W)
+65 6684-8774 (F)
fmckiernan@idealsys.com

May 24, 2016 03:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time LUXEMBOURG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SES (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) announced today a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement with Sky Cable, the largest cable television provider in the Philippines. Sky Cable will be broadcasting direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV channels via SES satellites at 108.2 degrees East – the SES-9 and NSS-11 satellites.

The contracted capacity will enable Sky Cable to effectively roll out a nation-wide DTH satellite TV service across 251 cities and municipalities in the Philippine archipelago, complementing its existing cable offerings. The recently launched SES-9 is scheduled to enter service mid-year to provide incremental and replacement capacity at SES’s prime neighbourhood of 108.2 degrees East which reaches 22 million homes.

Sky Cable will be drawing on SES’s capabilities and global expertise of serving more than 40 DTH platforms worldwide hosted on SES’s comprehensive satellite network, to deliver high-quality content to homes across the Philippines. This includes broadcasting linear TV content to remote locations and islands that are underserved by terrestrial networks. Sky Cable currently offers cable TV services for 55 High Definition (HD) channels to 800,000 subscribers in 19 cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

“The geography of the Philippines presents a unique set of challenges for fibre or terrestrial connectivity. Our satellites are able to overcome these limitations and provide comprehensive and high-powered coverage over the entire archipelago including under-connected areas in the Philippines. We are glad to support Sky Cable as they use both ground and space infrastructure to expand their TV audience reach,” says Deepak Mathur, Senior Vice President Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES. “This latest contract on SES-9 shows the continued momentum of serving our prime DTH neighbourhoods on our largest satellite dedicated for Asia-Pacific.”

Antonio S Ventosa, COO of SkyCable, said, “We are pleased to tap SES’s global expertise and extensive satellite footprint as we venture into providing satellite TV services for our growing subscriber base. We are confident that with our partnership with SES, we will be able to deliver content seamlessly to potential new customers all across the country.”

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May 9, 2016 – Hong Kong – FOX Networks Group Asia (FNG) announced today that it has partnered with China-based film and television company Linmon Pictures in delivering the new Chinese romantic drama series To Be A Better Man to international audiences. FNG has acquired the rights to exclusively broadcast and distribute the series to all markets outside of mainland China, along with the rights to distribute it to channels outside of FNG. To Be A Better Man will be carried by STAR Chinese Channel (SCC), Asia’s leading Chinese general entertainment channel, which will be broadcasting episodes on the same day as in China. The series premieres on May 31, 2016 on SCC internationally, with a simulcast in China by exclusive partners Zhejiang TV, Jiangsu TV and LeEco.

FNG’s collaboration on this new China-produced television series follows the success of Tiger Mom, a family comedy-drama series broadcasted on SCC in 2015, as well as confirms the network’s commitment to promoting quality Chinese content in territories beyond mainland China. FNG is set to deliver To Be A Better Man to a wider audience with its global presence and extensive experience in international broadcasting, packaging and marketing solutions, allowing the series to reach markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Australasia, Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Africa.

With its cosmopolitan themes, To Be A Better Man is a 42-episode romance drama that will appeal especially to international audiences. The top-tier production costs RMB3.5 million (~US$600k) per episode to make, boasting a total budget of RMB150 million (~US$25m), with scenes shot in the US and Italy. The series follows the story of a tough Chinese chef working at a Michelin 3-star restaurant in the US. After a nightmarish car accident takes away his friend, he returns to mainland China with his remains. There, he runs into the person he most doesn’t want to see, and becomes entangled with both his unresolved and new relationships.

Written by award-winning scriptwriter Xiao LI (May December Love, Honey Bee Man, The Bachelor) and directed by Xiao Bo ZHANG (The Nanny Man, The Bachelor), To Be A Better Man has a powerhouse cast led by Hong Lei SUN, one of the most popular actors in mainland China, and Yixing ZHANG (Lay), a well-loved entertainer from the famed South Korean-Chinese boy group EXO and its sub-unit EXO-M. The two actors had previously worked together on the highly-rated variety show Go! Fighting, but To Be A Better Man is Lay’s first opportunity to star in a drama. Hong Lei SUN, who plays the lead character Lu Yuan, also travelled to France to train under Michelin chefs in order to authentically portray one in the series. International locations, a combination of young and seasoned talent, and a compelling story make To Be A Better Man a modern Chinese drama about loss, love and redemption that has universal appeal.

Cora Yim, SVP and Head of Chinese Entertainment at FOX Networks Group Asia, said, “We’re proud to partner with another Chinese production with top caliber talent in front and behind the camera for our audiences all over the world. With the increasing demand for high-quality Chinese content internationally, FNG is confident that To Be A Better Man will set the bar even higher for what can be expected from Chinese productions. The show is exactly the kind of top tier original content we are committed to deliver to audiences – backed by award-winning talent and superb performances, from the writer and director behind the scenes to the actors in front of the camera.”

Xiao SU, CEO of Linmon Pictures, also commented on this highly anticipated drama, “There have never been a time when premium content is more welcomed in the market. We strongly believe in the idea that premium content is the key to uniting the new generation, which people consume content not only on TV but also on mobile devices. Working with powerful a global player like FOX Networks Group, we are very excited to be able to bring our premium content on a global scale and thus uniting the generation that we have been waiting for.”

-END-

About STAR Chinese Channel (SCC)

STAR CHINESE CHANNEL is the leading Chinese language channel produced elaborately by FNG. It is an integrated family entertainment channel especially designed for the Chinese audience. For a long time, STAR CHINESE CHANNEL continues to be the popular channel among the Chinese audiences worldwide. Various types of programs are presented on STAR CHINESE CHANNEL, including games, interviews, exteriors, delicacies and exciting dramatic programs.

About FOX Networks Group

FOX Networks Group (FNG) 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. FNG’s core channel brands include FOX, FOX Sports, FOX Life, FOX+ and National Geographic Channel. FNG’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 1.825 billion cumulative households worldwide. In addition, FNG owns and operates two production studios and produces thousands of local programming hours for its wholly owned channels and third parties.

About Linmon Pictures

Linmon Pictures is a boutique creator, producer and distributor of premium entertainment contents. With extraordinary content making capabilities, strong sales force and a sophisticated multi-studio network, Linmon is dedicated to make inspirational and innovative contents available to all audiences. In early 2016, our first drama, Love You, Leave You, was rated the highest viewed TV drama during Chinese New year.  In addition, A Love for Separation and To Be a Better Man are also highly anticipated contents that will be broadcasted in 2016. Fighter of the Destiny, the number one IP on Tencent Literature, is also going to production this year with top-tier talents and production teams. We are pleased to work with Tencent and Penguin Studio as well as Mango TV in order to bring such a phenomenon IP on screen to our fans and audiences. With the strong support and strategic alliances of our investors Tencent, Mango TV and Hony Capital, Linmon is constantly striving for top-tier contents in all kinds of formats.

Media Inquiries:

Kelly Jang

Vice President, Marketing & Communications | FOX Networks Group Asia

kelly.jang@fox.com | Tel: +852.2621.8875

HONG KONG, May 23, 2016 – PCCW Media Group’s regional freemium OTT video platform, Viu, has garnered the prestigious Telecom Asia Award for Best OTT Video Service.

Now in its 19th year, Telecom Asia Awards is the region’s longest-running and most prestigious telecom industry awards. It rewards innovative and outstanding performance by Asian service providers and industry executives. The Awards selection is made by an independent panel of industry experts who cast votes on the basis of innovation, financial performance, technology, market leadership and corporate governance.

Viu won the Best OTT Video Service award, which was newly introduced by Telecom Asia this year, amidst intense competition against other regional contenders.

Since its launch in Hong Kong late last October, Viu has now been launched in Singapore, Malaysia and India providing Asian viewers with thousands of hours of premium quality latest Korean, Japanese, Bollywood and Hollywood content.  Its competitive edge includes, among others, as fast as 4-hour turnaround after telecast with local language subtitling on the latest Korean drama, easy search functions, cross-device synchronization of viewing history, etc.

In addition, Viu offers consumers enhanced viewing experience. Even in emerging markets with bandwidth limitations, its patented adaptive bit rate technology ensures seamless quality streaming without buffering.

Since Viu’s launch seven months ago, the app is consistently well-supported by consumers across the region, topping the list of free app downloads in App Store and Google Play.  Winning this much coveted Telecom Asia Award bears testament to recognition of achievement among its industry peers.

Ms. Janice Lee, Managing Director of PCCW Media Group, said, “PCCW Media is dedicated to developing its Viu OTT video platform into the preeminent multi-screen video entertainment hub for Asian content in the region and ultimately globally. We focus on delivering the most relevant and localized content to our customers currently in 12 markets. The service can be delivered across variable network conditions and devices using patented Dynamic Adaptive TranscodingTM technology.”

About PCCW Media

The media group of PCCW is a leading, fully integrated multimedia and entertainment group in Hong Kong.

The media group operates the leading pay-TV service in Hong Kong under the now TV brand delivering both self-produced and licensed content to its customers using advanced IPTV technology. now TV offers more than 190 linear channels of local, Asian and international programming. Its premium content can also be accessed on-demand and on the go via now Player app. It is also a leading producer of Chinese language news, financial news and sports programming in addition to Asian infotainment content which complements its wide portfolio of licensed movie and international television content.

The media group is also engaged in the provision of over-the-top (OTT) video service under the Viu brand in Hong Kong and other places in the region. In addition, MOOV is a hugely popular lossless music digital streaming service in Hong Kong.

Moreover, the media group operates one of Asia’s leading directories businesses under the Yellow Pages brand.

About PCCW Limited

PCCW Limited (SEHK: 0008) is a global company headquartered in Hong Kong which holds interests in telecommunications, media, IT solutions, property development and investment, and other businesses.

The Company holds a majority interest in the HKT Trust and HKT Limited, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider and leading operator in fixed-line, broadband and mobile communication services. HKT meets the needs of the Hong Kong public and local and international businesses with a wide range of services including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as customer premises equipment sale, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.

PCCW also owns a fully integrated multimedia and entertainment group in Hong Kong, PCCW Media. PCCW Media operates the largest local pay-TV operation, now TV, and is engaged in the provision of over-the-top (OTT) video service under the Viu brand in Hong Kong and other places in the region.

Also wholly-owned by the Group, PCCW Solutions is a leading information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing provider in Hong Kong and mainland China.

In addition, PCCW holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited, and overseas investments including the wholly-owned UK Broadband Limited. To learn more about PCCW, please visit www.pccw.com.

For further information, please contact:

 

Ivan Ho PCCW Tel:      +852 2883-8747 Email: ivan.wy.ho@pccw.com

Marina Leung Magnus Muses Limited Tel:      +852 2159 7429 / +852 9203 6203 Email: Marina.leung@magnusmuses.com