6 October 2014: Sony Pictures Television’s flagship entertainment channel, AXN, became Asia’s big-budget trailblazer in September with a balsy play that shattered the regional network’s low-key 2014 and put its new leadership in the spotlight for the first time.The first pan-Asian version of FremantleMedia/ Syco Entertainment format Asia’s Got Talent, announced during the ContentAsia Summit in Singapore in early September, will air across Asia in early 2015. The series is being called the biggest and most expensive format production ever in the region.While neither FremantleMedia Asia nor Sony/AXN is talking money, speculation is that the budget for the show is way higher – maybe 50% higher when every column has been added – than the US$5 million the industry used to talk about as record-breaking.Financial and other details have not been disclosed and it’s not yet clear who the sponsors are, although the deal is almost certain to have had sponsors locked it before being green-lit. Judges have also not yet been announced.What we do know is that the model involves licensing free-TV channels in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India to broadcast the show soon after its telecast on AXN. In addition, an agreement has been inked with Chinese online platform Youku to offer the series.Open auditions started in September across Singapore Jakarta (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Manila (Philippines) and Bangkok (Thailand), with the hunt extending across Japan, Korea and China to India and everywhere in between. Online auditions have also opened. “No stone is being left unturned to find talent,” FremantleMedia’s Asia managing director, Paul O’Hanlon, says. The series will use the new facilities at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studio, according to Astro chief executive, Rohana Rozhan, who confirmed the deal at the facility’s formal opening in August.The final green-light on Asia’s Got Talent after months and months of talk was welcomed by an industry hoping – against hope in many cases – for more money and higher quality all round. Rare for rivals, there’s now massive support for the production in the hope that success will spread a new kind of love for all region-kind.ContentAsia Issue Four