Rock Entertainment Holdings’ new action movie channel, Rock Action, went live across 12 markets in Asia this morning, opening with "Congo" (1995), "Beta Test", "One Point O" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008).

In nine of the 12 countries, the channel replaced Rock Extreme, which Rock Entertainment inherited from Blue Ant when it bought the channels business in 2017. 

Some platforms, including SkyCable, Cignal TV and all provincial affiliates serviced by Accion in the Philippines, replaced Rock Extreme with the new channel in a move the Singapore-based regional programmer described as an upgrade.

Other markets, including Singtel in Singapore, continue to carry Rock Extreme but have not picked up Rock Action. The country’s biggest pay-TV platform, StarHub, dropped the then Blue Ant Extreme in December 2020. 

In Singapore, national broadcaster Mediacorp’s meWatch online platform has included Rock Action in a new three-channel Rock 24/7 subscription pack for S$25/US$18 a year. The three channels are Rock Action, Rock Entertainment and Global Trekker along with VOD content from the three channels as well as from the Makeful and Smithsonian Channels. 

In addition to Singapore and the Philippines, Rock Action’s 12 markets so far are Cambodia (PPCTV), Hong Kong (i-cable, myTVSuper), Indonesia (Dens TV, First Media, K-Vision, UseeTV), Macau (Macau Cable TV), Malaysia (Unifi TV), Mongolia (Ddish, Univision), Myanmar (Sky Net), Papua New Guinea (Digicel Play, Hitron), Philippines (SkyCable, followed by Cignal TV from 23 Dec), Taiwan (4gtv, Hami), Thailand (from 12 Jan 2023 on AIS Play, TrueVisions, 3BB GIGATV), and in Singapore (meWatch).

The other holdouts to the upgrade are some of the platforms in Taiwan and Vietnam. 

Rock Action’s prime-time launch schedule tonight includes "Monstrous" (2022), starring Christina Ricci as a woman fleeing from her abusive ex-husband with her seven-year-old son, only to run into a more terrifying monster; and the original version of "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984), starring Eddie Murphy.

Network execs said in November that the channel would go live with a catalogue of 200 movies, but that there was no fixed number of new releases a month. 

Rock said when the new channel roll-out was announced in November that it had acquired TVOD and branded SVOD rights to many of the titles, some of which will be first on linear, with short windows after theatrical release for on-demand.