Like many others in Asia’s channels space, Sony Pictures Television enters 2019 in different shape. The November re-org – phase two of the mid-year restructure that combined networks, distribution and home entertainment into one business unit – centralises some functions in the U.S., leverages global scale for English-language programming and acquisitions, and refocuses a streamlined channels team on Asian content and original production as well as revenue-generating activities.

Sony’s official line is that the goal of the new centralised services teams is “to deliver channels around the world that are consistent in their branding and operate efficiently by leveraging our global scale,” Ken Lo, Sony Pictures Television’s executive vice president, distribution and networks for Asia Pacific, said in an internal staff memo on 19 November.

What does this all mean?

On the face of it, an erosion of Asia’s autonomy over channels like AXN, which, with its line up of blockbuster Asian originals like Asia’s Got Talent and Hollywood rights, regularly tops entertainment charts on subscription packages. The extreme leap is a return to the early days of pay-TV in Asia, when decision-making was made remotely by people whose cultural insights were shaped by a visit to the Oriental aisle at their supermarket. For Asian channels like One and Gem, it shouldn’t mean much unless you want to delve into the nuts and bolts of tech ops.

There’s also the dark forecast that this is, for Sony and others, the beginning of the end of international brands’ involvement in pay-TV as it was originally supposed to roll out across – what was that early attitude again? – more than half of the world’s population living in the Far East and gagging for foreign content.

For sure there are the job losses. Sony has not confirmed the number of people in Asia impacted by the most recent changes. Initial speculation is that about 20 roles were involved, with possibly another 27 or 28 to come for a total of almost 50.

Sony Pictures Television operates five regional channels out of Singapore – AXN, Animax, Sony Channel, One and Gem, which is a joint-venture channel with Japan’s Nippon Television.

From now, the Southeast Asia channels team, under Virginia Lim, Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia’s senior vice president and general manager, will take care of Asian content acquisitions, the development of local original productions and sponsored customised productions, as well as sales and marketing functions.

The Asia-based programme planning and scheduling team comes under Anthony Danna, based in L.A., with Pamela Pang continuing to head up the English-language team on the ground in Singapore for Southeast Asia/Hong Kong/Taiwan. L.A. will also take global control of branding/creative service and operations/technical services under TC Schultz, based at Sony’s Culver City HQ.

The meaning we’re going for is that this is a company trying to make sense of the here and the now. Sony, like others, has decided on a structure that will take it forward. The decision, for better or worse (and of course that remains to be seen), has to be better than pretending everything is just fine thanks. As Lo said: “The media industry is experiencing changes in unprecedented scale and speed, and these moves, while difficult, are necessary to compete in the fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace”. And, dare we say it, a much better stocked Oriental aisle.

Published in Issue Seven of ContentAsia's in-print + online 2018 (December 2018)