TV Asia Pacific MIPCOM & CASBAA 2011

asia pacific MIPCOM &

CASBAAEDITION

Pan-Asian ChannelsTurner’s Steve MarcopotoUniversal Networks’Christine Fellowes

THE MAGAZINE OF ASIA-PACIFIC MEDIA OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011www.tvasia.ws

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Turning 15 this year, the Malaysian pay-TV platform hasevolved from a 22-channel service to one delivering 146channels to 3 million Malaysian homes, reflecting a 50-percent penetration rate. Key to the company’s growth isits localization strategy. Almost MYR400 million ($135million) has been invested in the development of localcontent for its 37 Astro-branded channels. The portfolioincludes Arena (sports),Awani (news) and Ria (entertain-ment), with signature shows like Imam Muda, AkademiFantasia and Maharaja Lawak.The platform has also enhanced its capabilities with the

rollout of its Astro B.yond tier, delivering HD and PVRservices to digital customers. So far, 500,000 have signedup for the new Astro B.yond box. Astro has also steppedup its on-demand slate, with AstroFirst delivering pay-per-view movies as early as two weeks after their theatri-cal release. Astro has also delivered sporting events in 3Dand will soon begin allowing customers to control theirPVRs remotely.

Astro www.astro.com.my

• DW-TV Asia• DW TV Asia+

DW-TV Asia

Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is eagerto pursue new-media opportunities for the continuedexpansion of its channels in Asia. “In the last 12 months,Deutsche Welle has seen an increase in online-video plat-forms asking to stream our TV channels in full or in part,”says Petra Schneider, the director of distribution. “In China,for example, right now we have deals with five of thebiggest platforms, showing our most popular programs ason-demand videos. Another positive development has beenthe fast improvement of digital infrastructure in certaincountries, which paves the way for new IPTV companies,MSOs and online portals, opening new opportunities forDW-TV.” Discussing the channel’s plans for its Asian busi-ness this year, Schneider says that “regionalization and local-ization of content and services” is key. “We support havingsubtitles in Asian languages on our TV feeds. We will pur-sue more co-productions and content repackaging withlocal partners, and we want to increase the percentage oftruly Asian content in our Asian channels.”

www.dw-world.de“Bringing Europe to Life with DW”campaign

“We are running a campaign in Indonesiacalled ‘Bringing Europe to Life with DW’, whichworks so great when combined with our localbroadcasting partners’ marketing activities.”

—Petra Schneider

Ricardo Seguin GuisePublisher

Mansha DaswaniEditor

Kristin BrzoznowskiManaging EditorMarissa GraziadioEditorial Assistant

Simon WeaverOnline Director

Craig BrownMichelle Villas

Production & DesignDirectors

Phyllis Q. BusellArt DirectorCesar Suero

Sales & MarketingDirector

Terry AcunzoBusiness Affairs Manager

Vanessa BrandSales & Marketing

Assistant

Ricardo Seguin GuisePresident

Anna CarugatiExecutive VP &

Group Editorial DirectorMansha DaswaniVP of StrategicDevelopment

TV Asia Pacific© 2011 WSN INC.

1123 Broadway, #1207New York, NY 10010

Phone: (212) 924-7620

Fax: (212) 924-6940

Website: www.tvasia.ws

IN THIS ISSUEStriking GoldDevelopments at Asia’s biggest pay-TVchannel brands 14

InterviewsTurner’s Steve Marcopoto 22Universal Networks’ Christine Fellowes 24GMA’s Wilma Galvante 26

Imam Muda

Maharaja Lawak

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6 TV ASIA PACIFIC

454 World Screen 10/11

Food Network Asia celebrated its successful first year inthe Asian market this summer. The service has carriagedeals with StarHub in Singapore, Cignal Digital TV inthe Philippines, Astro in Malaysia and DishHD in Taiwan,“and of course we’ve got more to come in the nearfuture,” says Hud Woodle, acting general manager. Contentfrom the U.S. channel has fared well on Food NetworkAsia. “The strength of the personalities seems to be trans-ferring from the U.S. to Asia,” says Woodle, mentioningsuch figures as Ina Garten and Guy Fieri. Owning its owncontent has also been useful when working with affili-ates, Woodle notes. “One of the things that the platformsreally like about us is that we are really able to offer the fullspectrum of possibilities and rights,” allowing content tobe used in digital media. For example, Food Network Asiacontributed to StarHub’s FooD.I.Y. app. “We’re definitely proud of the four territories we’re in, but

we do want to increase Food Network Asia’s presencethroughout the region,”Woodle says of his short-term goals.

• Barefoot Contessa• Chopped• The Next Food Network Star

Food Network Asiawww.foodnetworkasia.com

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) is introducing its firstU.S. scripted drama to Asia-Pacific buyers: The Wedding Band,a comedy for U.S. cable network TBS. Another highlight isthe company’s new kids’ and tween catalogue, whichincludes My Babysitter’s a Vampire, “a teen and tween dramawhich has already proved a huge hit in the U.S.,” accordingto Paul Ridley, executive VP of international distribution andhome entertainment for the Asia Pacific. Another highlight,Ridley says, is “SLiDE, a truly multiplatform series thatallows viewers to follow the characters across the TV series aswell as via social media, webisodes, games and graphic nov-els online.”On the entertainment front, there’s the newseason of American Idol and Simon Cowell’s The X Fac-tor USA. Ridley also lists FME’s “catalogue of return-ing franchises, including Jamie Oliver and AnthonyBourdain programming,” among others, “as well as thehugely successful drama Merlin, and a full slate oflifestyle and factual programming.”

• The Wedding Band • The X Factor USA • My Babysitter’s a Vampire • American Idol• SLiDE

FremantleMedia Enterprises

“We are beyond thrilled with the level ofsuccess Food Network Asia has achieved injust its first year.”

—Hud Woodle

www.fmescreenings.com

Chopped

SLiDE

“FME has continuously worked towards providinga variety of content in line with what globalaudiences desire.”

—Paul Ridley

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8 TV ASIA PACIFIC

Amid rapid new-media developments and continued audi-ence fragmentation, public broadcasters from around theworld will convene in Singapore this month for the 20thanniversary of the Public Broadcasters International(PBI) conference. Slated for October 26 to 29 at ResortsWorld Sentosa, the event’s host broadcaster this year isMediaCorp. The key topics on the agenda will include“the digital age and the role of public broadcasters inextreme situations such as earthquakes and other naturaldisasters,” says Chang Long Jong, deputy CEO at Media-Corp. “Delegates can look forward to engaging discussionson the impact of new media and how broadcasters areresponding. Broadcasters will also be sharing their experi-ence in switching from analogue to digital and thestrategies that they are implementing as they navigate thedigital age.” Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of PBS,will deliver the keynote speech. Other speakers includeCBC’s Christine Wilson and representatives from the BBC,France Télévisions and NHK. Kim In-Kyu, the presidentand CEO of the Korean Broadcasting System, will also beattending the conference.

• October 26 to 29, Singapore

Public BroadcastersInternational 2011

While its capabilities as an animation powerhouse are wellknown, Singapore has been keen to showcase its prowess inother genres. Under the Media Development Authority(MDA) pavilion, “we have 16 Singapore companies offering43 TV titles covering some 400 hours of animation, factualand drama content,” says Yeo Chun Cheng, the director ofbroadcast, animation, film and music. “Our goal is to showcasethe capabilities of Singapore companies and quality Singaporecontent, thereby facilitating more business opportunities forSingapore’s media industry in terms of IP creation, pro-duction and international distribution. We want to raise theprofile of Singapore as a world-class media partner to theinternational market, and work towards greater cooperationand partnership with leading international players.” Recenthighlights in Singaporean content development include TheKitchen Musical, a series with a pan-Asian cast that rolls out in18 countries in the region this month; the 3D doc Jewels of theWorld, the action drama Point of Entry and the lifestyle showThe Maverick Chef.

• Point of Entry• Jewels of the World• The Maverick Chef• The Kitchen Musical

Media DevelopmentAuthority of Singapore

“The Singapore Pavilion serves as a platformwhere our companies can enhance their visibilitythrough a unified Singapore branding that’sknown for quality and creativity.”

—Yeo Chun Cheng

“Events like PBI can assist us to developand maintain good relationships with ourcounterparts from other countries and helpus to source opportunities for collaborationswith other broadcasters.”

—Chang Long Jong

www.mda.gov.sg

The Maverick Chef

www.publicbroadcastersinternational.org

Singapore


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At CASBAA this year, TV5MONDE will celebrate 15years of being available in the Asia Pacific. The French-language broadcaster, which operates two feeds in theAsia Pacific, has seen its regional distribution grow by15 percent in the past year.Alexandre Muller, the man-aging director for the Asia Pacific, says that Vietnam,Korea and India have driven those gains.For 2012, Australia and New Zealand are the focus

for the Pacifique feed, after two years of drivingexpansion in Japan and Korea, according to Muller.“And as far as TV5MONDE Asie is concerned,”Muller says, “the goal is to keep growing both oursubscriber base in untapped markets and our revenuesin our existing markets.”A strategy for growth has been subtitling. This has

already been done in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese,and “we are looking to add a few more languages in thenext 12 to 18 months, as well as to further localize ourchannels to reach an even larger local audience with ourquality programming,” Muller says.

• TV5MONDE Asie• TV5MONDE Pacifique

TV5MONDE Asia Pacificwww.tv5monde.org/asia

From a base in Beijing, Televisa Internacional has beensteadily building a strong business in China, sellingnovelas into the market and working with broadcast-ers on local co-productions. These have included Chi-nese versions of Ugly Betty and Dumb Girls Don’t Go toHeaven. Last year,Televisa announced a pact withCCTV to develop a Chinese edition of Distilling Love.Currently in the works are adaptations of Till MoneyDrives Us Apart, originally from RCN in Colombia,and the Televisa original Woman’s Word. At MIPCOM,Arturo Casares, director of sales for China, is eager to“follow up on projects that are already in the pipelineand use the market as a platform to meet new peopleand start new business opportunities.”Casares’ top properties for Chinese buyers at MIPCOM

are the tele novelas Marriage Diaries, Triumph of Love, AWoman of Steel and A New Beginning. All feature ele-ments that are “understood and shared by the Chineseaudience,” he says.

• Marriage Diaries• Triumph of Love• A Woman of Steel• A New Beginning

Televisa Internacional

“Our overall distribution in the region has grownby 15 percent year-on-year.”

—Alexandre Muller

www.televisainternacional.com

Joueuse on TV5MONDE Asie

Triumph of Love

“All of these stories have a structure andvalues that can be understood and shared bythe Chinese audience.”

—Arturo Casares


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News Corp., like most major Western media companies,has pulled away from China and shifted its focus to friend-lier markets like India. But the country of some 395 millionTV homes remains on everyone’s wish list, with the rapidadvent of broadband technology finally offering up some newentry points in the form of online video portals.Earlier this year, for example, Tudou, a leading video-

sharing site in China, scored a deal with Disney Media Dis-tribution to bring a number of U.S. series to the Chineseonline video audience. And this summer, the ChineseInternet content platform Youku signed a deal to addbetween 400 and 450 Warner Bros. titles to its online pre-mium VOD service. The three-year deal allows Youku Pre-mium to deliver access to a host of Warner Bros. titles,including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 andthe Lord of the Rings trilogy, building upon a relationshipthat started when Youku worked with Warner Bros. to offeronline on-demand access to Inception. The market potential is, clearly, huge, with China home to

more than 364 million broadband users, according to theChina Internet Network Information Center. But in a coun-try that is notorious for piracy, asking people to pay forcontent is still a tough sell. Youku Premium, for example,which has been operating in beta since October 2010, hasnotched up just 200,000 paid transactions. While the num-bers are still small, Youku’s management has indicated opti-mism about the changing consumer habits in China.Announcing the Warner Bros. deal, Dele Liu, Youku’sCFO, stated, “Over the past year we’ve seen Chinese Inter-net users become more sophisticated in terms of whatthey’ll spend money on. People are increasingly willing topay for high-quality content, and we take the growth ofYouku Premium as a sign that the market is improving forpaid services.”International content providers will certainly be looking to

Youku, Tudou and other sites as a new entry point in a highlygated market. As Steve Marcopoto, the president and manag-ing director of Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, noteslater in this issue, “Folks like us who can’t get our content inon our channels because of regulations have the opportunityto work with licensed video-player operators. It’s not a large-scale opportunity but it at least is an opportunity in a marketwhere networks have been highly restricted from entering,other than the hotel distribution.”

In the rest of the region, meanwhile, Turner’s channelexpansion continues on pace, driven in part by the company’sinvestments in local content.Indeed, the channel operators I spoke to for my annual pre-

CASBAA pay-TV survey, included later in this issue, all stressedthe importance of generating original content to boost ratingsand generate new options for advertisers. AXN, for example, hasacquired several international formats—most recently CashCab—in its original-programming strategy; Discovery,National Geographic and HISTORY are all telling localstories as they battle it out in the competitive factual land-scape; and Cartoon Network has led the charge in terms ofcommissioning series from Asian animators. Those titles areincreasingly making their way into other markets—Singa-pore’s Tiny Island, for example, is producing the Ben 10:Destroy All Aliens CGI movie that will have its Cartoon Net-work premiere globally in 2012.Channels are also emphasizing the need to keep up with

technological advancements. Universal Networks International,for example, has made HD rollouts a priority for 2012, Chris-tine Fellowes, managing director of the Asia-Pacific portfolio,reveals in this issue. FOX International Channels, meanwhile, isexploring making some of its channels, including Star World,available online through an authenticated service.Authentication, apps, on-demand and more take center stage at

CASBAA this year under the TV365 theme. The conferenceagenda, says Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of the Cable &Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, “reflects the evolution ofthe multichannel TV industry and is a fitting topic for this year’sconvention, which has been designed to celebrate CASBAA’s20th anniversary. Now, more than ever, the concept of televisionhas evolved to encompass technologies not even dreamed of in1991. With video content now truly transportable, consumer-driven demand and the prospect of more localization is providinga compelling story line for multichannel TV today.”Embracing digital media is also on the agenda for Public

Broadcasters International 2011, a market being held in SoutheastAsia—in Singapore—for the first time in 15 years, with Media-Corp as the host broadcaster. Chang Long Jong, MediaCorp’sdeputy CEO, provides a preview of what to expect from theevent. In the commercial-broadcasting space, meanwhile, TV AsiaPacific speaks to GMA Network’s senior VP of entertainment,Wilma Galvante, about how local entertainent has driven thechannel to the top of the ratings charts.

When News Corporation quietly sold off controlling interest in its Chinese television

business last year, it marked the end of an era. Since the 1990s, Rupert Murdoch had

spent a reported $2 billion trying to make headway in a market that so many saw as a

potential pot of gold. Estimates are that he lost at least half that.

New Frontiers

P A N O R A M ABy Mansha Daswani

TV ASIA PACIFIC12

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The Asia-Pacific pay-TV market has reached a milestone, with 50percent of the region’s TV homes now paying to receive servicesfrom cable, satellite and IPTV operators. The result is that thetransition to digital is finally in full swing in most of the region.“Consumers are demanding video content on multiple

devices, and service providers are stepping up to address thatdemand,” says Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of the Cable &Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). “The tech-nology for delivering and monetizing TV everywhere continuesto grow. While the concept of TV Everywhere is starting to pickup in Asia Pacific, it is not anywhere near as developed as in theUnited States, as its adoption is largely determined by the regula-tory environments concerning digital rights and further compli-cated by viable business models and commercial considerations.”Indeed, digital pay-TV penetration stood at just 20 percent

on a regional basis last year, according to Media Partners Asia,meaning that critical mass for these advanced services is still faroff. While multiscreen services are few and far between inAsia’s pay-TV space, HD rollouts have progressed rapidly,and all the major incumbent channel brands, as well as theregion’s new entrants, have rushed into this space.

“We definitely see a growing appetite for HD in marketsin Southeast Asia—including Hong Kong, Singapore andMalaysia,” says Sunny Saha, the senior VP and generalmanager for entertainment networks at Turner Broad-casting System Asia Pacific. “We are working on some

HD rollouts over the next 12 to 18 months.”Discovery Networks Asia Pacific (DNAP) was the first

channel operator to go HD in Asia, launching a feed in Japan in2005. Since then, it has rolled Discovery HD World out toHong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia andthe Philippines, among other markets. “It’s taken off every-where,” says Tom Keaveny, DNAP’s president and managingdirector, on the HD rollouts that have picked up speed thisyear. “A lot of other channels have come into the fray.”

Asia’s biggest channel brands are luring viewers and advertiserswith new original programming and digital initiatives. By Mansha Daswani

TV ASIA PACIFIC14


TLC India’s Oh My Gold!

Striking

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15TV ASIA PACIFIC

HD is, in fact, no longer just the domain of the factual chan-nels. Sony Pictures Entertainment Networks Asia (SPENA) hastaken an HD feed of AXN into Korea, Singapore, Malaysia,Vietnam and Thailand. “We are certainly looking to make ourHD channels available in more markets as well as offering HDfeeds for our other brands as the opportunity arises,” says RickyOw, the senior VP and general manager for SPENA. “HD rollout is a priority for Universal Networks Interna-

tional (UNI) as part of its growth plan,” notes Christine Fel-lowes, the managing director for the Asia Pacific. “Further HDlaunches in Asia are expected in 2011 and 2012, including forE!, Style and Golf.” This will add to a bouquet that includesUniversal Channel in HD in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore andMalaysia and Syfy HD in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.“The potential for HDTV is sizable given the growth of

LCD sets in emerging and developed markets, and we rec-ognize that the key to going forward is more HD channelsand HD DVR services at competitive costs to the con-sumers,” says Mark Whitehead, the senior VP and generalmanager for BBC Worldwide Channels in Asia. “We are cur-rently in talks with partners about HD propositions.”Making channels available in HD is important to strengthening

relationships with platform operators, says Zubin Gandevia, theCOO of FOX International Channels (FIC) Asia. “We’re allow-ing the affiliates to grow their ARPU and supporting them todrive HD, which is an important strategic and financial consid-eration. Ultimately HD is good for our brands, too.” Nonlinear services are next on the horizon. A number of

channel operators have made on-demand deals in more tech-nologically advanced markets like Singapore and Hong Kong.UNI, meanwhile, has begun experimenting with airing showson its channels’ websites. “Wherever possible we prioritize secur-ing 360-degree content rights,” says Fellowes. “For example, inAsia Pacific, we launched the drama Fairly Legal first online aweek before its on-air premiere in May 2011. We will continueto evolve our offering moving forward.”

ONLINE PLAYSFIC is also positioning itself as an early mover in this space.Gandevia says that the company has begun conversations withits affiliates about offering an authenticated service that allowssubscribers to access channels such as Star World and StarMovies online. “Obviously we have to be careful aboutthe piracy angle,” says Gandevia. “But it is an authenticatedplayer. I have demonstrated it to operators in Hong Kong, Sin-gapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.It’s what they have been looking for to make the consumerexperience better and at the same time help stem piracy. If youhave access to this you have much less of a motivation to go toa pirated website. If you can give consumers a legal way toconsume our product [on other platforms], that would appearto be a great value proposition. We have to support our affili-ate partners who have helped us build the business that wehave today, which is a linear business. We recognize that peo-ple have changed their consuming habits to some degree interms of wanting to watch beyond TV.”FIC is not just focusing on digital extensions of existing

brands; it’s rolling out new ones as well. Over the last two years,its collection of channels delivering U.S. series has grown dra-matically, with Star World and FOX now accompanied by moreniche services such as FX and Fox Crime. “It’s not enough to

have just one channel, because one channel doesn’t allow you toget enough good quality content—you don’t have the scale tobuy aggressively,” Gandevia says. Prior to having this portfolio,he explains, “we were getting the rights [to shows after theyhad already been seen on] free to air. Now we’ve been able togo out to content suppliers and do big volume deals where wecan offer a lot more money because we’re now buying acrossfour channels. And then we also get significantly better rights.These new products first come to our channels and then go toterrestrial. It’s a complete turnaround.”Gandevia says that a similar strategy is being employed in

the movie category. Building upon the well-distributed StarMovies, FIC has launched Fox Family Movies, and there aremore services to come. “We will probably have three to fourmovie channels, [each] with a very clear brand proposition.”

STRENGTH IN NUMBERSUNI, too, touts the benefits of having a portfolio, particularly nowthat the division has assumed responsibility for the former Com-cast brands E!, Style and Golf. “We leverage the strengths of ourchannels to create a more dynamic environment for our viewers,”Fellowes explains. “For example, by leveraging E! News Asia, westarted cross-channel promotions on E! and DIVA for DIVA’s keyprograms, Fairly Legal and The Good Wife. E!’s tentpole series,Keeping Up With The Kardashians, was also heavily promoted onDIVA for its launch phase. Cross-channel promotions are aneffective marketing tool for us and provide advertisers with apowerful solution to reach the female audience.”SPENA has also amassed a portfolio over the last few years,

with AXN Beyond, SET and ONE joining the already well-distributed AXN and Animax. Turner, meanwhile, has spentthe last 18 months taking truTV to a number of markets, join-ing its Cartoon Network, CNN and TCM pan-regional brands.At A+E Networks, which has rolled HISTORY out across the

region, there are early discussions about importing other brands,including Lifetime, to Asian audiences. “We’re a young busi-ness—it’s critical that we build out our fleet of brands and ownthat full spectrum of audiences,” says A+E Networks’ managingdirector for the Asia Pacific, Alan Hodges. Taking on the well-established tenants of Asia’s pay-TV real

estate are several other more recent entrants to the market.Scripps Networks International, for example, launched its first

463

Paying tribute: A+ENetworks’ HISTORY

channel has renewedits Southeast Asian

original series Hidden Cities for a

second season.


service in the region, Food Network Asia, just a year ago. “It’sbeen a good first year,” says Hud Woodle, the channel’s actinggeneral manager. “We’re really happy with the launch in four ter-ritories: Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. We’vegot more to come in the near future.”Woodle says that Food Network Asia is using a variety of

methods to build the brand, including working with StarHub inSingapore on its FooD.I.Y. app and its Hubalicious live event.This year, Food Network Asia also rolled out its first regionalcommission, A Culinary Coup: The Launch of Ku De Ta, goingbehind the scenes of the opening of the restaurant atop Singa-pore’s Marina Bay Sands hotel.

BRAND AWARENESSIt has been two years since AMC/Sundance Channel Globalbegan its conversations with operators about taking its portfolioto Asia. For Ed Palluth, the senior VP of global distribution, Sun-dance Channel and WE tv were ripe for global expansion.“When you mentioned Sundance Channel, everyone knewwhat it was or was very close to knowing what it was without along sales pitch. The brand is trusted and there’s nothing elsequite like it in the industry. On the WE tv side, we realized thatwomen’s programming is a very underserved market. We do aterrific job of programming the channel [in the U.S.] and it wasvery easy to take that programming and bring it out globally.”

BBC Worldwide Channels also used itsbrand recognition as a selling point when itlanded in Asia in 2007. The past year, in par-ticular, has been a positive one for the BBCportfolio, notes Whitehead, who cites “robustgrowth” in a number of segments. BBCLifestyle and BBC Knowledge now havecompanion catch-up VOD services in Sin-gapore. CBeebies added the Philippines toits distribution base of Singapore, HongKong, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia andIndia. And a BBC Entertainment feed haslaunched specifically for the Indian market.

PASSAGE TO INDIAChannel operators across the board agree thatIndia is one of the markets in Asia that doesrequire a particularly focused approach. A+ENetworks, for example, has a joint-venturepartnership with Network18 Group to launchHISTORY and other brands into the territory.“We expect to launch HISTORY to north of40 million subscribers,” says Sean Cohan, A+E’ssenior VP of international. “That story is not justabout numbers, it’s about a level of ambitionthat we have for that channel. We aim to be theleading factual channel and help our peers growfactual viewing in India. We’ve been hard atwork over the last six months on the distribu-tion front, the sales front and the programmingand marketing front to develop a propositionthat we feel very good about.” HISTORY is certainly keen on a high-

profile launch in India; it has lined up theBolly wood icon Salman Khan to host a showon the channel.

HISTORY’s factual-programming rival Discovery, mean-while, has its own big plans for India. In addition to operatinga fleet that includes Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC,Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD World,DNAP has applied for five additional broadcast licenses in thecountry. The key to Discovery’s success in India has been itslocal-language strategy, delivering its flagship service in Eng-lish, Hindi, Tamil, Telegu and Bangla. “It’s an enormous marketthat is growing at a tremendous rate,” says Keaveny.Turner has also been stepping up its efforts in India, last year

acquiring the general-entertainment channel Imagine. Thatjoined the kids’ services Cartoon Network, Pogo andBoomerang, and the movie channels WB, Lumiére and TCM.And it’s not just in India that Turner has single-marketbrands—the company owns the female lifestyle network QTVin Korea and the Japanese channels MondoTV and Tabi. Many executives see country-specific feeds and dedicated chan-

nels as “the next big development in our business,” as A+E Net-works’ Hodges puts it. And that’s not surprising, given the hugepotential to tap into the strong local ad-sales growth rates in severalmarkets. “Everybody is having a really strong year on the regionalad market,” says Hodges. “It’s very robust. But the big story stillremains the growth in individual markets in local ad sales.”Keaveny says that Discovery has had a “fantastic” year in

terms of ad sales, thanks in large part to its strategy of rolling


TV ASIA PACIFIC16

New home: FOX inAsia has been scoringthe first-run rights to buzz-worthy U.S. dramas likeTerra Nova.


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out local feeds. “For seven or eight years, our advertising was80 or 90 percent pan-regional and 10 to 20 percent local.That’s completely inverse now. The pan-regional is still grow-ing. And we’ve seen strong growth in the key markets: India,Australia, Taiwan, Japan. It’s an exponential factor of morefeeds, more networks, more languages, larger audience; it cre-ates this circle of growth for us.”

FEEDING THE AUDIENCEAt FIC, too, Gandevia has seen gains in both pan-regional andlocal ad sales thanks to a local-feed approach. “We launched 11feeds in the last year. Those are now paying off for us becauseas a result we can customize offerings to the consumer by get-ting better rights for programs, localizing the channel, and ulti-mately that drives better brand resonance and better ratings.”Regardless of local feeds, though, channel operators stress that

access to top-quality, brand-defining content has to be at theheart of any strategy to boost ratings, revenues and reach. Whitehead at BBC Worldwide Channels points to BBC

Knowledge’s coverage of the royal wedding as a particular high-light this year. “In Singapore, BBC Knowledge climbed tobecome the number one English-language pay-TV channel inSingapore during the coverage. The channel registered an eightfold increase in average viewing figures for the time slot.William and Kate: A Royal Love Story, which premiered first andexclusively on the channel immediately following the livecoverage, was the channel’s highest-rated program this year.”Sundance Channel is bringing the acclaimed AMC U.S. hit

Mad Men to the region this year and is delivering exclusive cov-erage of the 68th Venice Film Festival. WE tv, meanwhile, is faring

well with its U.S. originals like Bridezillas and Joan & Melissa: JoanKnows Best?Woodle at Food Network Asia notes that American per-

sonalities like Ina Garten, host of The Barefoot Contessa, andGuy Fieri of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, have been connectingwith local viewers. “I think the personalities just click—it’sengaging television.” On the horizon are more originals fol-lowing the success of A Culinary Coup: The Launch of Ku DeTa. “We are making plans for 2012,” Woodle says.

ORIGINAL FOCUSWell advanced on the original-programming front is SPENA,which was one of the first pan-regionals to get into the formatgame when it rolled out an Asian version of The Amazing Race.Noting that AXN has kept its position atop the general-entertainment heap with imported tent poles like the CSI fran-chise, Hawaii Five-0 and the recently acquired The Voice, Ow says,“The next steps for AXN are ensuring that we continue to securegreat content and localizing already popular content to growviewership. Increased viewership will translate to greater rev-enue, and that will in turn enable us to invest further in AXN.”A new development at AXN has been signing on as a co-

producer on international projects, notably the EntertainmentOne and Paramount Pictures co-venture The Firm. AXN has alsoannounced a pan-regional version of Cash Cab, which will pre-miere in the fourth quarter. For India, meanwhile, AXN adaptedthe international format Minute to Win It, with season two in theworks, and it is launching a lifestyle magazine series called Men 2.0.The other side of SPENA’s localization strategy is seen in

ONE, a 24-hour channel delivering Korean content. “Theresponse to ONE has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Ow.“Korean pop and entertainment are very popular in Asia atthe moment, and the ‘K-wave’ is showing no signs of abating.In fact, the phenomenon is not only delivering strong ratingson local terrestrial channels but also seems to be makinginroads in Europe and even the U.S., with Korean superstarRain having broken into Hollywood. We saw this as an oppor-tunity to offer a 24-hour Korean entertainment channel thatis localized for individual markets and designed to appeal tolocal viewers.”FIC also has a Korean entertainment channel that it is rolling

out, called tvN. At its primary networks, meanwhile, while U.S.series acquisitions remain the core proposition, there are sev-eral original programming initiatives in the works. Togetherwith its sister operations in Europe and Latin America, FICis a partner on the The Walking Dead, which is heading into itssecond season. “We’re also looking at productions locally,because we do believe that even on a channel like Star World,which is predominantly Hollywood product, it is good tohave some local content because it helps to bring the chan-nel closer [to viewers],” says Gandevia. FIC is working with Astro in Malaysia on its local version

of the Shine format MasterChef. The adaptation will air firston Astro Ria, while Star World regionally will broadcast arecap of the week’s episodes. Star World will also get the firstwindow on MasterClass, a sister show in which the MasterChefcontestants receive tips from celebrity chefs. “That’s a greatexample of us getting into local production but also work-ing closely with a key partner and helping drive each other’sbusiness and ultimately bringing value to the consumer,”Gandevia says.

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Style diva: Kimora:Life in the Fab Laneairs on The Style Network, part of thenewly enlarged Universal NetworksInternational portfolio.


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FIC has also worked on a magazine series in the Philippinescalled Behind the Bylines and has invested heavily in local con-tent for its National Geographic brands.Indeed, the factual channels were the first pan-regionals to

make a real commitment to working with Asian productioncompanies. Both Nat Geo and Discovery have developed variousinitiatives across Asia to support emerging documentary film-makers. HISTORY, meanwhile, has rolled out several locally pro-duced titles for its Asian channels, including Hidden Cities, whichhas been renewed for a second season. The success of the show,says Hodges, “speaks to the value of creating programming thatpeople in each of our key cities can identify with.”In the kids’ content space, Cartoon Network has made a sig-

nificant commitment to the regional animation sector. Turner’sSNAPTOONS initiative has supported budding Asian animatorssince 2006. Held in Australia, India, Malaysia and Singapore,SNAPTOONS has generated several ideas that were eventuallydeveloped into full series for Cartoon Network. The broad-caster also works with established animation houses across theregion to generate animated series with Asian story lines.

TOONING IN“We have much more kids’ content in production than anyof the other regional broadcasters,” says Saha. “We are trulycommitted to supporting the local animation industry inthis region. We are now seeing the traditional model ofimporting content to Asia being flipped. Increasingly orig-inal content conceived in Asia is being exported. Arjun andthe Adventures of the Ice Lotus was developed and premieredin India but it was also broadcast across markets like Taiwan.The biggest project we have, the Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens3D CG animated TV movie, is going to be a global pre-miere. We are working on it with Tiny Island in Singapore.It will premiere in March globally.”While the growth prospects are tremendous, channel opera-

tors caution that there are hurdles to overcome. For new andestablished brands, one challenge, and opportunity, remains get-ting a bigger slice of the ad pie in markets where terrestrial stilldominates. “Multichannel television is growing at a tremendousrate,” says DNAP’s Keaveny. The industry as a whole, he says,“needs to be better at telling our stories to media agencies and

advertisers about the value of our audiences andthe unique content we have.” SPENA’s Ow identifies three key concerns:

signal theft, a slower-than-expected growth indigital pay TV, and the emergence of new-mediadistribution platforms. “Rights owners [need]to work closer with networks like ourselves toensure that [new distribution models] do notcreate an adverse impact on the existing ecosys-tem and still deliver a win-win scenario, forviewers, networks and the program distributors.”Those issues, and more, will be on the agenda

at this year’s CASBAA Convention, which isalso celebrating the 20th anniversary of theindustry body. “When a half dozen young exec-utives from Asia’s nascent pay-TV business gath-ered in a Hong Kong bar in the spring of 1991,there was only a vague idea of what a regionalindustry association dedicated to pay-TV mightachieve,” says Twiston Davies. “Nobody guessed

that two decades later Asia’s pay-TV industry wouldencompass some 10,000 TV channels, 25,000 cable andDTH operators, $45 billion in annual revenues and 365 millionpay-TV homes reaching over a billion consumers.”So where will we be a decade from now? According to

Media Partners Asia, by 2020 the industry will generate $78 billion in revenues derived from services reaching awhopping 570 million customers.


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Hitching a ride: AXNhas expanded its original-content slatewith an Asian versionof the hit format Cash Cab.

Cooking up a storm: In its first year in Asia, Food Network hasfound success with U.S. originals like Barefoot Contessa.


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Since bringing CNN and Cartoon Network to the Asia Pacific inthe ’90s, Turner Broadcasting System has dramatically expandedand diversified its regional business. Once a company focused onimporting international content to Asia, Turner has spent the lastfew years acquiring locally originated channel brands, includingMondoTV in Japan, QTV in Korea and Imagine TV in India, androlling out localized feeds for flagship services like Cartoon Network. Steve Marcopoto, the president and managing director ofTurner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, discusses the importanceof investing in local content and weighs in on the challenges ofworking across the region’s widely divergent markets.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: TV Everywhere is a priority for your par-ent company in the U.S. What kinds of opportunities are youexploring for Turner’s content on new-media platforms in Asia?MARCOPOTO: TV Everywhere is top of mind in the States andit’s been a big development that our parent company’s beeninvolved with. It’s a much different story out here, and it’s largelybecause of the different dynamics in this marketplace. Asia hasnever been a single market. As it’s grown and developed, and payTV and digital platforms have grown over the last ten years inparticular, it’s less of a single market than it ever was. That impactsso many elements of our businesses, and one of them is this whole

over-the-top phenomenon. In the States, it’s very much an indus-try content-led initiative in partnership with the platforms. Outhere, it’s a piecemeal application and almost early-stage experi-mentation with just a couple of platforms. That goes back to themarket not being a contiguous one, with a couple of mega plat-form operators. The other thing has to do with the piracy issuesthat have prevented everybody from Apple to Netflix from put-ting their content up online [in Asia].

As a broad concept we are happy to transfer our know-how,our technology, and have early-stage conversations with peo-ple. There’s a possibility in a market like China, where you don’thave linear television services from international [companies]at this point, that this presents an opportunity. Folks like us whocan’t get our content in on our channels because of regulationshave the opportunity to work with licensed video-player oper-ators. Tudou is now starting to do deals with studios. You knowabout the highly publicized Youku deal with Warner Bros. It’snot a large-scale opportunity but it at least is an opportunity ina market where networks have been highly restricted fromentering, other than the hotel distribution.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: Do you think that some platforms willleapfrog the cable VOD model directly to offer contentonline and on portable devices?MARCOPOTO: Our experience so far has been that the classiclinear bundle pay-TV offering still seems to be the bedrock ofthe proposition. I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive in terms ofthe development of apps and content that’s rolling out for them.We do know that from a penetration and usage perspective, Asiais far ahead of the West in specific markets in terms of mobileusage and mobile applications, so there’s probably going to bea fair bit of opportunity there. But again, generally we’re seeingthat develop at uneven paces. You can look at India, a highlyunder-declared [subscriber] market that is not even fully digi-tized yet on the cable side. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, if youlook at now TV with their IPTV offering, it’s rolled out fast, toa degree it almost did leapfrog the incumbent [cable operator]in the sense of technological applications that they brought tothe market, and they have a pretty robust VOD suite. We did aCartoon Network VOD product with them. We have to beopportunistic and work with customers on a market-by-market

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basis. On the one hand you’re dealing in a marketwhich has a very leading-edge sensibility to it, onthe other hand, you’re in a place that’s 20 yearsbehind in the shape and the form of the business.And others are in between.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: Given increased competition,how do you maintain and increase your slice ofthe ad pie, both pan-regionally and on the locallevel?MARCOPOTO: You have to do a lot of things simul-taneously. Our core proposition on the news side wasalways pan-regional CNN. The pan-regional businesshas remained very robust, and that has been for anumber of reasons. We’ve had the foundation of ourcore advertisers that have been partners with CNNfor many years—luxury goods, airlines, touristboards, banks, technology companies. On top of thatyou see new emerging brands coming out of India,you’re getting cities in China that are promoting eco-nomic development and investment, much in the ways thatplaces like Malaysia and Singapore used to do in the ’80s. Koreahas really hit its stride as a first-world market of leading brands.Japan has snapped back remarkably from where they were off theback of the tsunami and earthquake. All in all, we’ve had a reallygood run on the pan-regional business. The other side of our business is the entertainment channels,

which tend to be much more locally focused. These range fromour suite of Cartoon Networks to our movie channels and ourlocal channels in Japan and in Korea. The models for these all vary,but generally they’re all basing off of high growth rates in theseindividual markets, with the exception of Japan, which has a verymodest growth rate and a pay-TV market that is really under -developed in terms of advertising. Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, basically the

ASEAN or Southeast Asian markets, each one of those isabout the size of an American city—you’re not going to seea great scale there. But if you roll them up together, you havea good story to tell advertisers.Off the back of that we’ve developed a new department

called Turner Media Solutions for our entertainment portfo-lio. We’ve got 12 channel brands across the market, in ninelanguages approaching about 300 million households. [Thenew] in-house agency group can cater to advertisers’ needsacross the region with a 360-degree approach. India is a stand-alone market, scalable like Japan but the absolute

opposite in terms of the Japanese model in that it’s all advertisingdriven—there’s very little distribution [revenue]. In India, you havea full-on, almost U.S.-network type of ad-sales proposition tomake, complete with upfronts and meaningful ratings.The overall driver dynamic is that Asia Pacific is a market

with very robust growth rates across the board. It’s just that dif-ferent models need to be used in various markets.Digital is an increasingly important part of Turner’s over-

all advertising growth strategy as clients become more com-fortable with investing in the digital space. Currently 75 percentof CNN’s advertising spend by clients includes a digitalcomponent; with 60 percent for our entertainment channels.The 30-second ad is now just a component of more holisticcampaign solutions to engage audiences—on whichever screenthey’re viewing.

TV ASIA PACIFIC:What led to Turner evolving from a busi-ness that was importing international brands to one that isbuilding and rolling out Asian-originated brands?MARCOPOTO: We’ve been executing that for quite some timenow. It was quite obvious, going back to the nature of this mar-ketplace and the growth of individual markets, that we neededto move quickly to start to cater to different tastes, cultures,languages. That’s very much been the driving principle forus for some years now and the main strategy for growth ofthe business. We know that we’ve got great brands to buildlocal businesses on. We know that the basis of a local busi-ness goes beyond local language. It’s not just a translation,it does come down to the nature of the program that you’regoing to put on a particular channel, the manner in whichyou schedule it and also marketing and promotion and thelike. Essentially we know that deeper penetration in the mar-kets is going to rest on localized product, and a large piece ofthat is original production. The business that we do in Japanon [our channels] Tabi and MondoTV and to a lesserdegree on CNN, if you roll up all those hours that we pro-duce, we’re the largest foreign producers of local content.What we produce in India is going to grow, for Pogo, forCartoon, where we do original animation, and for Imagine,where we do, right now, three to four hours a night of dra-mas; it’s more original content than we’d do in NorthAmerica on a TNT or a TBS. So we’re going long and deepon original content, which is what’s going to drive this strategyof taking the global brands and applying them locally. That’sgoing to go across the board for everything from establishedbrands like Cartoon Network to new emerging brands of ourslike truTV.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: A lot of companies have rushed to rollout in the Asia Pacific over the last few years. Do you thinksome have unrealistic expectations about the potential returns?MARCOPOTO: There’s often a difference between headlinesand bottom lines in Asia Pacific. The regional numbers trum-peted often include markets that are inaccessible for variousreasons. It can be a different story when you net those out.And costs are escalating dramatically. It’s not the slam-dunkthe numbers might seem to indicate.

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Asian base: From itsAsian headquarters in

Hong Kong, CNN International produces

the daily newscastWorld Report with

Anna Coren.

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When NBCUniversal and Comcast International Media Group con-solidated their Asian operations earlier this year, the job of runningthe merged channels division went to Christine Fellowes. The long-time head of Comcast’s Asian business, Fellowes, as managing direc-tor of Universal Networks International (UNI) for the Asia Pacific,is now in charge of a portfolio that includes Universal Channel, DIVAUniversal, Syfy Universal, E! Entertainment Television, The StyleNetwork and Golf Channel. She shares her strategy for furtherexpansion of UNI’s regional business with TV Asia Pacific.

TV ASIA PACIFIC:How has Universal Networks Internationalbenefited from the addition of the Comcast channels?FELLOWES: Universal Networks International has cementedits position as an entertainment powerhouse with the additionof E!, Style and Golf to its bouquet of brands. With the addi-tion of two more female-focused channels, E! and Style, we

are able to deliver quality content for the highly coveted demoof [upscale] female viewers, and, in turn, offer advertisers oneunified platform to connect with this target audience.There is a great advantage in working with a diverse bou-

quet of channels, as we are able to reach a wide spectrum ofaudiences on multiple touch points.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are UNI’s plans for making con-tent available on additional platforms?FELLOWES: We know that pay-TV viewers want to watchgreat content where and when they choose, and it’s a pri-ority for UNI to offer that to consumers. Wherever possi-ble we prioritize securing 360-degree content rights tomake our channel brands available on multiple platforms.For example, in Asia Pacific, we launched the drama FairlyLegal first online on DivaUniversal.asia a week before its on-air premiere, in May 2011. We will continue to evolve ouroffering moving forward.

TV ASIA PACIFIC:What are you doing in terms of origi-nal programming across the portfolio?FELLOWES: We have strong original and first-run pro-gramming to complement our channel proposition. Origi-nal programming will continue to be a focus for UniversalNetworks’ investment. We have invested in top quality co-productions and originals: Haven, Fact or Faked: ParanormalFiles, Rookie Blue and Fairly Legal. E! Entertainment Televi-sion and Style also have signature original content that res-onates with their demos. E! brings first-run and exclusiveoriginals such as E! News, E! News Asia, Live from the RedCarpet, Fashion Police and Keeping Up with the Kardashians.Style [offers] to its female audience original content focusedon fashion and relationships, such as Giuliana & Bill, CleanHouse, Jerseylicious, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, How Do ILook? and Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are your broad priorities for thenext 12 to 18 months?FELLOWES: One of the goals for the international division ofNBCUniversal is to build a cohesive TV business that operatesefficiently across all of our channel brands. Our priority is to effec-tively utilize the scale created by combining the NBCUniversalassets with Comcast’s assets to grow our Asia-Pacific business.Distributors today require high-quality cost-efficient chan-

nels with brands that are clearly identifiable and unique to payTV, but available across multiple platforms. With our com-bined assets we believe NBCUniversal is uniquely positionedto deliver these requirements. We benefit from understand-ing the business equally from a distributor’s perspective anda content provider’s perspective. We’ll focus on turning theseadvantages into stronger relationships with operators acrossthe Asia-Pac region and the rest of the world.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: You’ve launched Universal Channel HDand Syfy HD in several markets. Do you envision additionalfeeds or channels this year? FELLOWES: HD rollout is a priority for UNI as part of itsgrowth plan. Further HD launches in Asia are expected,including for E!, Style and Golf. We’ve just completed thelaunch of E! in the Philippines and HD channels in Singaporeon StarHub.

By Mansha Daswani

Universal Networks’Christine Fellowes

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The first half of this year has been a positive one for the Filipinofree-to-air giant GMA Network, with double-digit ratings gainsat its flagship entertainment channel GMA-7. The broadcasterhas been able to drive ad revenues upward after rising to the topof the National Urban Television Audience Measurement rat-ings, ahead of arch rival ABS-CBN. As the senior VP of enter-tainment, Wilma Galvante is responsible for the locally developedseries that are driving GMA-7’s ratings improvements. A long-time GMA executive, Galvante, a former producer, pioneeredthe so-called “telefantasys” that have been huge hits for the net-work. She tells TV Asia Pacific about her approach to develop-ing new Filipino soaps as well as adapting novelas and enter-tainment formats from the international market.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What is your overall entertainment pro-gramming mandate at GMA Network? GALVANTE: One of our core values is that we believe that theviewer is the boss. To ensure the delivery of superior enter-tainment to our TV viewers, we have to know what they wantto watch, who they want to see and how they want to beentertained. We endeavor to find out the public’s pulse and tryto find out the heartbeat of our viewers, hence, our Kapusobrand of being “one in heart” with our audience.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: You are credited withintroducing many changes to GMA’sentertainment lineup. What was your

approach to improving the network’s ratings?GALVANTE: I have always adhered to

the value of teamwork. I handle ateam of highly creative people fora variety of mainstream andalternative genres, so I leadthem to the right direction,encouraging them to searchfor breakthroughs, those never-before-done programs.My group also interacts withother arms of the network thatprovide input for our differentprograms.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: Howimportant has it been to haveproduction experience in

your programming position?GALVANTE: With every newproduction, it is experience thatgives you the pulse of what willclick. My production work hasallowed me to understandwhat the viewers appreciate,

which guides my input in the programming decisions madefor GMA. Actually, even in my current position, I still makesure to have a hand in the production work of our major pro-grams and provide the broad strokes for different shows.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: GMA’s fantasy series have sold well interritories in Asia and the Middle East. Why did you firstchoose to introduce these series to the GMA schedule?GALVANTE: Fantasy is actually only a device—to add tothe visual color. The substance is still in the drama, which Ibelieve has a universal appeal. The basic formula of dramaappeals to the core of the viewers across Asia and the MiddleEast. The fantasy element adds texture and dimension to thestorytelling.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: GMA has adapted several Korean andMexican soaps. How do you go about remaking these showsfor Filipino audiences? GALVANTE:We do not just copy the stories from the orig-inating series, we infuse the adaptation with Pinoy [Filipino]taste and even humor. Since the adaptations we have made arethose of series that were huge hits in their dubbed form, it isthis additional effort that is required to make sure that theoriginal hit series would remain fresh to the local viewerseven as we adapt it to the Filipino audience.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: How important are talent shows andother forms of variety entertainment to GMA?GALVANTE: We feed a constant hunger from the audience forfresh talent—new faces that viewers can idolize. Talent-showformats allow us to discover and hone potential stars. Many ofour big stars now are products of singing contests that we haveproduced through the years. Talent shows are two-pronged inthat you create content and enrich your roster of homegrowntalent as well. Variety shows, on the other hand, are employed toshowcase the diverse talents we have in our stable.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What do you look for in internationalformats when determining if something will work well forGMA viewers? GALVANTE: Primarily, we come in with open eyes for whatis new and available in the market. We make sure to put onlenses with the Filipino taste in mind, with our target mar-ket always at the back of our head. And of course, we also readhow it performed in other countries and ask our interna-tional contacts about these foreign formats.

TV ASIA PACIFIC: Your shows have launched the careers ofmany Filipino stars; what do you look for when casting? GALVANTE: With my years of being in the business ofentertainment television production, I am someone who cantell if a talent has potential. Of course the initial take will haveto be based on looks and how the person’s face registers withthe cameras. With auditions and casting, I make sure to lookfor talent and charm. Sometime you just feel it, that X fac-tor. But for casting into specific roles, we consider star valueof the artist, how appropriately the talent matches the role. Wealso look for chemistry between two people when, for exam-ple, we need to cast for a [couple in love], to make sure thatthey will hit it off right.

By Mansha Daswani

GMA’sWilma

Galvante

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Documents

TV Asia Pacific MIPCOM & CASBAA 2011