1 April 2015: Two new hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool documentary channels launch in Asia this year. One is World Heritage Channel, part of Turner Broadcasting's expanded bouquet for Asia. The other is Spark Asia, a venture between Malaysia's Astro, Singapore production house The Moving Visuals and European joint venture Spark. Both newbies say there's a gap in the market for 100% factual content relevant to Asian audiences. Existing players, none of which have come out swinging publicly just yet, might argue that they've been delivering high-end knowledge and relevance for years, and that the shift to factual entertainment, including reality shows, character-driven series and drama based on real events, is exactly the stuff of which larger audiences are made. Neither of the new channels had disclosed their schedules at press time, so there's no knowing right now what the existing pan-regional factual channels will be up against. What we do know is that competition is already fierce, shows like Vikings and Undercover Boss top ratings, extraordinary characters doing amazing things are the holy grail, viewers are getting their info everywhere and anywhere, and that, where they do have eyes and minds for natural history, it's all about mega budgets, high drama and even higher tech, and breathtaking images no one has ever been able to capture before. As part of ContentAsia's annual factual focus, Malena Amzah compares schedules and asks programmers from six pan-regional factual services about top shows, programming challenges and what they think the greatest influences on factual content will be this year. Here's what they said... ContentAsia Factual 2015