21 January- C NTENT 3 February 2019 www.contentasia.tv l www.contentasiasummit.com MPA’s APOS Suria counts down to Malay dance debut turns 10 First dance reality show follows 2018’s kids song format Value creation takes centre stage in Bali in April APOS turns 10 in April, and Media Part- ners Asia (MPA), organisers of the annual media/telecoms/entertainment event in Bali, are marking the milestone with conversations themed around The Path to Value Creation. The full story is on page 3 Yanxi Palace beats off rivals Mainland period show flies flag for Asian drama Mainland Chinese epic period drama, The Story of Yanxi Palace, won stream- Dansa Mania ing giant iQiyi a place on Singapore’s top three digital originals list for the week Singapore free-TV Malay channel Suria Singapore broadcaster Mediacorp. of 10-16 January, according to the latest premieres its first reality dance competi- The production budget, which comes data from Parrot Analytics. tion, Dansa Mania, on Monday, 4 Febru- out of Mediacorp’s government-funded ary, in a prime-time 8.30pm slot. public service broadcasting obligation, The full story is on page 13 The two-hour double bill finale will air has not been disclosed. Mediacorp re- on 25 March 2019 on both Suria and on ceives about S$250 million/US$183 mil- Singapore streaming platform Toggle. lion a year from the government’s Public Open to Singaporeans and perma- Service Broadcasting fund. nent residents between the ages of 13 Suria programmers said Dansa Mania China’s CGTN and 40 years old, Dansa Mania kicks off taps the popularity of dance within the with 11 groups chosen from the 100 se- youth demo. backs plastic doc lected during auditions in October last This is the second time in a year Suria April 2019 global premiere year. Groups are between three and 10 has experimented with reality compe- dancers. Every week one group is elimi- titions. Last year this time, the channel for Raw environment show nated. The winner receives S$10,000/ premiered its first kids reality singing com- US$7,358 cash. petition, Juara Mic Junior!, in the same China’s China Global Television Network The reality series is hosted by local ra- Monday prime time slot. (CGTN) has bought worldwide (ex U.K.) dio DJ and TV host, Dalina Jaapar, with Suria’s linear schedule is a mix of in- premiere rights for Raw documentary, resident judges entertainer Najip Ali, free- house production and acquisition of Ba- Drowning in Plastic. The 90-minute pro- style dancer Alif Aircho and performer/ hasa Malay and Bahasa Indonesia origi- gramme will air in April as part of CGTN’s choreographer Gani Karim. nals from Southeast Asian neighbours Big Story strand. Dansa Mania is produced by local shop Malaysia and Indonesia. Mediamorphosis for Suria, which is one of Dansa Mania replaces Reka, a DIY The full story is on page 5 seven television channels operated by decorating competition show. C NTENTASIA 21 January-3 February 2019 Page 2. Solar buys Grammy rights Singapore ushers in new copyright rules Sterner measures against illicit streaming box vendors Singapore authorities are amending the Singapore, with its ultra-fast broadband country’s copyright rules to, among other networks and digital infrastructure, has things, cut off money earned through been a happy home to pirate ventures, selling streaming boxes that enable ac- including a robust trade in illicit streaming cess to pirate TV channels and video-on- devices. demand programmes. Neil Gane, GM of regional industry “The measures, which are absent to- body Avia’s Coalition Against Piracy day, will make clear that acts such as the (CAP), said illicit streaming devices and import and sale of such devices are pro- their associated applications “are by far hibited,” the Ministry of Law says. the most important copyright infringe- The proposed amendments, intro- ment issue in Singapore”. Bruno Mars at last year’s Grammy Awards duced after a three-year reveiw and two “Liability for ISD retailers under the pres- Solar Entertainment in the Philippines rounds of public consultations, also en- ent version of the copyright act exists, but has added rights for this year’s Gram- hance IP rights of creators “to help them establishing it is not straightforward. We my Awards to its slate, joining Asian build their reputation and grow their busi- are pleased that the government has platforms including China’s Tencent ness”. This includes default ownership of recognised that this lack of legal clar- and Japan’s Wowow. The 61st annual commissioned works, including films, un- ity had allowed ISD retailers to mislead awards, hosted this year by Alicia Keys, less they agree otherwise. consumers that the content accessible airs live from the U.S. on Sunday 10 The proposals have, as expected, been through such TV boxes was legal and February. The rights deals were closed welcomed by an industry hobbled by pi- that requisite subscription charges went by Alfred Haber Inc. racy. to rights-holders – which they did not”. CHEAT Two Women. One Truth. Two Brothers Pictures for ITV, UK in association with all3media international @all3media_int all3mediainternational.com C NTENTASIA 21 January-3 February 2019 Page 3. Sky Castle on track MPA’s APOS turns 10 for record close Value creation takes centre stage in Bali in April JTBC drama hits 22% on pen-ultimate weekend Sky Castle The latest episodes of Korean drama Sky Castle hit 22.316% ratings nationwide on Saturday, 19 January, topping a consist- ent rise since the premiere on 23 Novem- ber at 1.727% (source: AGB Nielsen) and setting new audience share records for cable drama. With two episodes to go, JTBC’s Friday/ Saturday prime-time drama hit 24.5% rat- ings in Seoul for episode 18 on 19 January, up from the previous Saturday’s 21%. The performance puts Sky Castle ahead of Studio Dragon’s Goblin (2017), which closed at 18.68% average rating nation- MPA executive director, Vivek Couto, with Disney’s Kevin Mayer at APOS 2016 wide for its final episode in January 2017. Sky Castle is also way ahead of this year’s much-anticipated Studio Dragon APOS turns 10 in April, and Media Part- vators are forging new business models weekend drama, Memories of the Alham- ners Asia (MPA), organisers of the annual and strategies,” he adds. bra, which peaked nationwide at 10.025% media/telecoms/entertainment event “As distribution options multiply, the on 13 January. in Bali, are marking the milestone with need for scale, operating leverage and Sky Castle is the story of a group of conversations themed around The Path local relevance has never been greater, housewives living in a high-end Seoul resi- to Value Creation. driving M&A and astute partnerships with dential complex. Sky Castle’s final episode This includes a focus on “The New a heightened focus on content, data airs on Saturday, 26 January. Economics of Storytelling”, which ex- and direct-to-consumer relationships,” Produced by Bomi Moon’s HB Entertain- plores how producers and distributors he says. ment and Joonsuh Park of JTBC’s Drama- can make money on a sustainable basis Other sub-themes include a broader house, the surprise hit makes Sky Castle “amidst bubbles of volatile demand in goal for distribution, which looks at distri- the most successful drama in seven-year- online video and challenging unit eco- bution platforms’ new mantra as opera- old domestic cable/pay broadcaster nomics in TV,” says MPA executive direc- tors and markets transition from simple JTBC’s history. tor, Vivek Couto. bundles of linear video and legacy com- The 20-episode satire tracks the materi- APOS 2019 (23-25 April) will focus “on munications products to packaging alistic desires of upper-class parents in Ko- the foundations and catalysts that will together all kinds of digital services, data rea, and their relentless ambitions for their enable the healthy flow of capital, con- and content. children in Korea’s competitive education tent and distribution across a US$425- This year’s agenda will also look at lo- system. billion consumer broadband and video cal market momentum as global scale The 70-minute episodes are set in a ecosystem in Asia Pacific,” Couto says. accelerates under the banner of “local luxurious residential development called “Digital distribution continues to recali- clout meets global scale” and how the Sky Castle, populated by doctors and law brate revenues, costs and valuations in shift to direct-to-consumer changes the professors. Asia Pacific, where local and global inno- game. 21 January-3 February 2019 page 4. C NTENTASIA 21 January-3 February 2019 Page 5. SK Broadband doubles China’s CGTN backs anti-plastic doc capacity to deal with April 2019 global premieres for Raw doc streaming demand Korea’s SK Broadband wants to double data transfer speeds from 50 Gbps to 100 Gbps to accommodate the coun- try’s rising Netflix consumption, accord- ing to Korean news agency Yonhap. Company officials have not said how long it will take to negotiate adjust- ments to SK’s international network with foreign telcos. The report said Netflix had approx one million active users in Korea. Pakistan threatens action against “malicious and indecent” content Pakistan’s media regulatory author- ity, Pemra, has warned satellite TV channels not to criticise state institu- tions – and particularly the judiciary Drowning in Plastic – on air. Pemra described some of the discussions as “malicious” and “inde- Mainland China’s China Global Television of marine plastic pollution with wildlife cent”, and said ongoing anti-judiciary Network (CGTN) has bought worldwide biologist Liz Bonnin and some of the programmes on various channels were premiere rights (excluding the U.K.) for world’s leading marine biologists and “a matter of serious concern”.