Turner’s 24-hour pan-regional factual service, World Heritage Channel, launched in Thailand this month, with carriage on telco AIS Thailand’s Playbox OTT and Play mobile app. The carriage deal is part of a larger agreement that also includes sister channels HLN, Warner TV, Boomerang and Toonami, all of which are streamed live with catch-up/on-demand.
A year after the channel was added to Turner’s portfolio (ContentAsia, 23 March 2015), it has some presence in the Philippines and that’s about it. Despite the oft-repeated declaration that Asian audiences love/demand information/knowledge/learning, life as an information/knowledge/learning channel is clearly a long way from bright.
Witness the fate of would-be rival Spark, which went quiet soon after the launch announcement headlines at Mipcom/October 2014 and... still no word (We asked again in March 2016. No reply. Yet). The channel, a joint venture between Malaysia’s Astro, Singapore’s The Moving Visuals Co and Europe’s Spark GmbH, was supposed to have launched last year. At the time, the partners said the new channel would “promote knowledge, celebrate Asian values and traditions and bring Asia to the world in an exciting way”.
World Heritage Channel, which did actually follow up the headlines with a launch, is a mix of both international and regional programming from distributors such as The Netherlands’ Off the Fence, U.K.’s Atlantic Productions and Japan’s NHK Enterprises and Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS).
The channel’s first original production, A World Icon: Singapore Botanic Gardens, debuted in January this year. The 60-min 4K series by Singapore-based production company Beach House Pictures, was part of the celebrations marking Singapore Botanic Gardens’ successful bid in July 2015 for inclusion on the list of Unesco world heritage sites.
Other Unesco’s listed heritage sites featured on the World Heritage Channel included the rice terraces of the Philippines Cordilleras (The World Heritage series, Thursday 24 March at 10pm), the sacred birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini, southern Nepal (The World Heritage, Thursday 24 March at 10.30pm) and the world’s largest temple monument of Angkor Wat in Cambodia (Angkor Land of the Gods,...
Turner’s 24-hour pan-regional factual service, World Heritage Channel, launched in Thailand this month, with carriage on telco AIS Thailand’s Playbox OTT and Play mobile app. The carriage deal is part of a larger agreement that also includes sister channels HLN, Warner TV, Boomerang and Toonami, all of which are streamed live with catch-up/on-demand.
A year after the channel was added to Turner’s portfolio (ContentAsia, 23 March 2015), it has some presence in the Philippines and that’s about it. Despite the oft-repeated declaration that Asian audiences love/demand information/knowledge/learning, life as an information/knowledge/learning channel is clearly a long way from bright.
Witness the fate of would-be rival Spark, which went quiet soon after the launch announcement headlines at Mipcom/October 2014 and... still no word (We asked again in March 2016. No reply. Yet). The channel, a joint venture between Malaysia’s Astro, Singapore’s The Moving Visuals Co and Europe’s Spark GmbH, was supposed to have launched last year. At the time, the partners said the new channel would “promote knowledge, celebrate Asian values and traditions and bring Asia to the world in an exciting way”.
World Heritage Channel, which did actually follow up the headlines with a launch, is a mix of both international and regional programming from distributors such as The Netherlands’ Off the Fence, U.K.’s Atlantic Productions and Japan’s NHK Enterprises and Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS).
The channel’s first original production, A World Icon: Singapore Botanic Gardens, debuted in January this year. The 60-min 4K series by Singapore-based production company Beach House Pictures, was part of the celebrations marking Singapore Botanic Gardens’ successful bid in July 2015 for inclusion on the list of Unesco world heritage sites.
Other Unesco’s listed heritage sites featured on the World Heritage Channel included the rice terraces of the Philippines Cordilleras (The World Heritage series, Thursday 24 March at 10pm), the sacred birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini, southern Nepal (The World Heritage, Thursday 24 March at 10.30pm) and the world’s largest temple monument of Angkor Wat in Cambodia (Angkor Land of the Gods, Monday 18 April at 9.05pm and 10pm).
Titles on the April schedule include two David Attenborough’s series: Flying Monsters with David Attenborough, which premieres on 20 April at 9.05pm (episode one) and 10.20pm for ‘the making of’ episode; and David Attenborough’s Conquest of the Skies, which premieres on 21 April at 9.05pm (episode one), followed by episode two at 10pm the same day.
The channel’s evening/night weekly slot (6pm-midnight) is a mix of travel, culture, nature/wildlife and history content (weekly schedules, March/April 2016).
The week of 21-27 March was made up of about 43.3% (18.2 hours) travel; 27.6% (11.6 hours) culture; 9.5% (4 hours) nature/wildlife; 5.6% (2.34 hours) people; 4.8% (2 hours) politics; 4.8% (2 hours) music; 3% (1.25 hours) history; and 2.2% (0.92 hour) food.
For the week of 18-24 April, the schedule is made up of about 30% (12.8 hours) travel; 27% (11.3 hours) nature/wildlife; 26.8% (11 hours) culture; 6.4% (2.7 hours) history; 2.6% (1.09 hours) food; 2.4% (1 hour) music; and 2.4% (1 hour) action/adventure).
Turner’s programming head, MarianneLee, has picked Asia-related titles fromacross two decades. Content in the weekly March-April schedules goes back to 1996 with TBS’ The World Heritage series season one, which documents heritage sites worldwide; and 2005 with I Do & Let’s Eat, about weddings/receptions from Beyond Entertainment. The newest titles are from last year, including Secret China (TVF International) about the culture and people of China; travel series Barinia (Off the Fence); and political series Inside the Commons, a four-parter about the U.K.’s House of Commons.
Published on ContentAsia's eNewsletter, 18 April 2016