April 2015: When Turner Broadcasting adds documentary service World Heritage Channel to its Asia bouquet in the next few months, the Hong Kong-based regional network takes another step into an expanded future mapped out 15 months ago with the appointment of Ricky Ow in January 2014.

The addition of factual follows the expansion into Korean programming with the Oh!K channel, which launched in October last year. The new services run alongside the revamp of general entertainment channel Warner TV, which shifted from HBO Asia to Turner in April last year. Turner's portfolio now spans news (CNN, CNN Headline News); kids (Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami, Pogo in India); international (Warner TV, truTV) and local (Oh!K) general entertainment; old films (Turner Classic Movies); and factual (World Heritage Channel).

Turner Asia Pacific president, Ricky Ow, says the 24-hour pan-regional World Heritage Channel targets audiences seeking a "premium, authentic and serious documentary destination".

Turner also uses adjectives such as "meaningful", "premium", "100% pure documentary" and "undiluted" to describe the channel.It's a line that echoes the one taken by Astro Holdings Malaysia's chief executive, Rohana Rozhan, last year in speaking about Astro's joint venture channel with Singapore-based production house Moving Visuals International and European factual entertainment joint venture Spark.

Among other things, Rozhan spoke about "promoting knowledge" and the huge opportunity in Asian factual content.

The pan-regional Spark Asia is scheduled to launch this year.

Turner's World Heritage Channel will air nature, travel, history and culture programming. Signature content features Unesco's World Heritage Sites.

Turner Broadcasting System International president, Gerhard Zeiler, says the channel "will also feature more Asian heritage content and this is something that viewers in this region are seeking more and more".

"We believe there is still a strong demand for premium documentary content... with many established brands in the documentary space adopting an increasingly factual entertainment approach to programming, we see an opportunity for a 100% pure and authentic documentary service," Zeiler says.

Turner hasn't disclosed how many hours of content the channel will launch with but says the schedule will include "hundreds of hours" of first-run, exclusive shows from, among others, Off The Fence, Atlantic Productions, Tokyo Broadcasting System, NHK and Beyond Television Productions.

Flagship titles include The World Heritage, Journey to Natural World Heritage Sites and Beautiful Planet, along with Asian titles Asia's Monarchies and Asia Rising. Another Asian title is Spirits of Orchid Island (2008) by Taiwan's PTS.

The new channel has also acquired Sir David Attenborough's blue-chip docs - three-part Conquest of the Skies (2015), which aired on Sky 1/Sky 3D in the U.K. in January this year and will air on World Heritage Channel in year one, and Flying Monsters (2011), along with travel shows Travel Bug and Paradise Asia.Titles programmed in year one include documentary festival award winners, the Smithsonian Institution/KajimaVision's Dream Window: Reflections on a Japanese Garden (1992); Ocean-Pix's 60-minute Salmon Forest (2011); Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25 (2007); and MLK: The Assassination Tapes (2011).

Zeiler says the aim is to "share mankind's greatest treasures so that they may be cherished and safeguarded for our children, grandchildren and future generations".

"Heritage tells us not only who we have been but also who we are today. Our shared heritage, as well as our historic and natural environment, are all critical to the future of the world's economic, ecological and cultural wellbeing," Zeiler adds.

World Heritage Channel rolls out with Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia and Thai subtitles. Over-the-top (OTT) and catch-up rights have been secured for select content. Carriage deals for the new service, delivered in full HD - had not been disclosed at press time.

This article first appeared in ContentAsia Issue 1, 2015, published in April 2015