TVB Pearl, Hong Kong
March 16-29, 2009: Hong Kong terrestrial station TVB Pearl continues exploring the possibility of adding more local production as the channel navigates through the digital era.
Maxxx, Philippines
March 2-15, 2009: Philippines’ male-oriented general entertainment channel Maxxx rolls out a theme-blocked schedule from April.
Disney Channel India, India
February 16-March 1, 2009: Kids entertainment channel Disney Channel India carries more than 922.5 minutes of locally produced content a week, putting India among the brand’s top programme investment markets.
RCTI, Indonesia
February 2-15, 2009: Locally created and produced music and reality shows reign on Indonesian terrestrial station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI), which offers just over 1,008 hours of music and 806 hours of reality a week.
BBC Entertainment, Granada TV, STAR World, Universal Channel
January 19-February 1, 2009: A look at what general entertainment pay-TV channels are airing during 7pm-12am prime time slots.
Granada TV
December 8, 2008-January 18, 2009: ITV Global Entertainment’s new general entertainment channel for Asia, Granada TV, premieres new drama episodes at 10pm weekdays from January 2009, with shows like Losing Gemma, about a dream Indian holiday that turns into a nightmare, and Painted Lady, a murder mystery starring Helen Mirren set in the shadowy world of the illegal art trade.
DW-TV Asia
November 10-23, 2008: German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle launches its first Asia-specific DW-TV channel on 5 January 2009. The new, predominantly English-language, service will replace the current DW-TV international channel
across the region.
BBC Entertainment
October 27-November 9, 2008: Sneak previews of BBC Worldwide Global Channels’ BBC Entertainment 2009 schedule show new seasons of BBC dramas Primeval, Torchwood, Robin Hood and Hotel Babylon, along with reality dance show Strictly Come Dancing.
Astro Aruna, Singapore
October 13-26, 2008: Astro Entertainment’s Malay language channel, Astro Aruna, is distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.
Movies, drama rule on Hari Raya schedules
September 29-October 12, 2008: Malay and Bahasa channels in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore celebrate the Hari Raya New Year holidays this week with back-to-back movies, including the first-ever Hari Raya subscription movie channel.
Crime & Investigation Network (CI)
September 15-28, 2008: AETN All Asia Networks’ Crime & Investigation Network (CI) is upping the lighter side of crime from the end of the year, and is working towards localising the network for the Asia market – both creatively and financially, network bosses say.
Discovery Travel & Living
September 1-14, 2008: Discovery Travel & Living, part of Discovery’s lifestyle offering in Asia, is pushing for more reality entertainment content this year.
BBC Lifestyle
July 21-August 31, 2008: BBC Global Channels’ BBC Lifestyle – part of the bouquet BBC Worldwide launched in Asia a year ago – is scheduled to complement the programming grids of sister channels BBC Knowledge and BBC Entertainment.
FoxCrime
July 7-20, 2008: Fox International Channels Asia’s FoxCrime has taken some of its focus off factual and upped the profile of its entertainment content this year, with series like Lions Gate Television’s The Kill Point and Showtime’s Dexter Season 2 (the first season ran in Singapore last year).
AXN Japan, Japan
June 23-July 6, 2008: Pay-TV channel AXN Japan is extending its prime time by three hours from July to compete more effectively with local free-to-air TV stations. The new prime time for the Tokyo-based channel is 8pm to 1am, Mondays to Thursdays.
Sony Entertainment Television, Singapore
May 26-June 8, 2008: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) launched in Singapore in July last year on Singtel’s IPTV
platform, Mio TV.
AXN Beyond, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore
May 12-25, 2008: CBS’s new series Moonlight, about a LA private eye who is also a vampire, Lost Season 4, and Supernatural Season 3 top AXN Beyond’s schedule.
ATV World, Hong Kong
April 28-May 11, 2008: Hong Kong’s English-language free-TV channel, ATV World, has an average prime time share of about 30%.
TV5, Philippines
April 14-27, 2008: ABC5, operated by Associated Broadcasting Company, is headed for a major revamp, courtesy of Malaysia’s media conglomerate, Media Prima, which has identified the terrestrial station as one of the region’s best turnaround prospects.
TV3, Malaysia
Mar 31-Apr 13, 2008: 2008 has been all about drama, news and comedy at Malaysian media conglomerate Media Prima’s flagship television station TV3. The three genres are the channel’s most-watched this year so far.
TrueVisions Inside, Thailand
April 30-May 13, 2007: Thai cable operator TrueVisions (formerly UBC) acquires programmes for eight channels
- TrueVisions Sparks (animation), TrueVisions Film Asia (Asian movie and drama), TrueVisions Explore 1, 2 and 3 (documentary), TrueVisions Series (drama and sitcom), TrueVisions Inside (gossip news, entertainment and reality) and TrueVisions XZyte (light entertainment and mystery).
Public Television Service Foundation (PTS), Taiwan
April 16-29, 2007: Local drama takes up 12.6% of April’s schedule, versus 4.6% foreign. This is followed by 16.4% kids and 15.5% documentary. About 76.4% of overall content are local programmes, acquired from Taiwanese distributors such as HF Media. Drama content is 25% down from last year. PTS’ April 2006 schedule had 23% drama content, compared to documentary (17%) and kids (16%).
ntv7, Malaysia
Mar. 19-Apr. 1, 2007: Malaysia’s free-TV station, Natseven TV Sdn Bhd (ntv7) will spend more than RM30 million/US$9 million on content and programmes this year. Local content – including magazine format lifestyle, reality and game shows – is a priority.
LaLa TV, Japan
Mar. 5-18, 2007: Drama content is high on Japanese women’s channel, LaLa TV, which launches an HD version on April 1 as part of an ongoing digital migration strategy. The new channel will be carried at no extra charge to subscribers on J:Com’s Digital TV basic package, which costs Yen4,980/US$41 a month.
Zee Café, India
Feb. 19-Mar. 4, 2007: English entertainment pay-TV channel, Zee Café, added latenight action band, Café Extreme, stripped daily in an 11pm slot from Feb. 5th. The new block airs action programmes, including Blue Addiction, Daredevils and Live! The World’s Greatest Stunts, and is part of Zee Café’s 2007 focus on popular content and “unique, differentiated programming hours,” according to Neil Chakravarti, senior vice president and business head for Zee Café, Zee Studio and Zee Trendz.
