23 March- C NTENTASIA 5 April 2015 www.contentasia.tv l https://www.facebook.com/contentasia?fref=ts facebook.com/contentasia l @contentasia l www.asiacontentwatch.com Turner launches new factual channel Q2 Asia debut for World Heritage Channel Turner Broadcasting is adding a docu- mentary channel to its Asia bouquet, picking up the pace on a regional ex- pansion strategy that kicked in with the appointment of Ricky Ow in January 2014. The pan-regional World Heritage Chan- More on page 13 $$$$ format bet kicks off in Asia 4 regional mega formats herald new content era Star World’s Asia’s Next Top Model and AXN’s Asia’s Got Talent kick off a year of regional mega-formats in Asia, adding an estimated US$16 million into the region’s original production purse and boosting optimism that what works now will be re- peated later... and be even bigger. Asia’s Next Top Model premieres on Star World on Wednesday, 25 March, two More on page 9 Singapore clears schedules for LKY A nation’s father remembered on screen Singapore broadcasters cleared their schedules from Monday morning to make way for programmes commemo- rating the life of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who died in the early hours of 23 March. Mr Lee was 91. Regional networks also shuffled sched- More on page 6 C NTENTASIA 23 March-5 April 2015 Page 2. HBO Asia preps for AMC, Sundance add big-brand duo to line-up April Durst fest Honourable Woman, Walking Dead spinoff head for Asia HBO Asia will run the Robert Durst documen- AMC Networks has picked up series (working title). tary series, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Asia rights for award-winning The series is scheduled to Robert Durst, on three consecutive nights political thriller, The Hon- air globally – including from 1-3 April on HBO Signature and HBO ourable Woman (2014), Asia – from late summer, Go, followed on 6 April on HBO On De- for the Sundance chan- followed by season two nel across Asia. in 2016. The eight-part show, Plans are to air the se- starring Maggie Gyl- ries within 24 hour of the lenhaal, will premiere U.S. across the region on 7 The Walking Dead com- May at 11pm (Singapore). panion show, produced by The first-window rights exclude AMC, is set in Los Angeles and Thailand, where the series has stars Cliff Curtis (Missing, Gang Robert Durst Maggie Gyllenhaal already aired. Related), Kim Dickens (Gone mand. Durst made headlines around the The acquisition coincides with Girl, Sons of Anarchy), Frank Dil- world in March after being arrested days the announcement that AMC Networks lane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood before the series finale in the U.S. He has International has bought international Prince) and Alycia Debnam Carey (Into been charged with murder. rights to The Walking Dead companion the Storm). LIVELY. ENGAGING. CANDID CONVERSATIONS. Moshe Safdie with award-winning CNBC Anchor Christine Tan at Managing Asia: Asia Builders, 3rd October 2014. Be in the know. Sign up today. cnbcasia.com/subscribe C NTENTASIA 23 March-5 April 2015 Page 3. FremantleMedia ups Rahman for Asia FremantleMedia International’s (FMI) Haryaty Rahman has been promoted to senior vice president for Asia sales and distribution, based in Singapore. The promotion is part of the reworked global structure being put in place by new FMI chief executive Jens Richter. Rahman reports to Ganesh Rajaram, Coronation Street ITV Choice executive vice president, sales and distri- bution for Asia, who now reports directly ITV Studios Global Entertainment is fast- Coro- fast tracks soaps in to Richter. tracking two iconic soaps in Asia to air on nation new express play Richter said the changes “reflect our regional channel ITV Choice within a day Street Short windows increased commitment to the emerging or two of their U.K. telecasts. The new win- special coincide with Africa markets, and the potential opportunities dows kick in on 18 May. airs on expansion they offer”. FMI said the new structure ITV Choice is also shortening windows on 15 May, strengthened central operations and a wider slate of drama and entertainment with en- from Asia finance functions and increased sales programming, including tentpole enter- cores on 16 focus in emerging markets. tainment title The Jonathan Ross Show. and 17 May. The majority of dramas going forward, The Emmerdale including Home Fires (5 May, prime time fast-forward will be online and via social across the region), will air first and exclu- media. Discovery airs Air Asia sive within two days of the U.K. Both series will be stripped Monday to The new windowing strategy across Asia Friday. ITV in the U.K. airs double episodes crash special in April and the Middle East follow the channel’s of Coronation Street on Mondays and expansion into Africa in a carriage deal Fridays, with a single episode on Wednes- Discovery has added 60-minute Air Asia with MultiChoice’s DStv platform across days. Monday’s U.K. episodes will air in crash special, Flight 8501: Storm Disas- the African continent. Asia on Wednesday and Thursday. Fri- ter, to its April grid as part of a global The Africa service, which launches on day’s episodes will air in Asia on Monday telecast in 220 countries/territories. 5 May, will be driven out of the channel’s and Tuesday. The programme, produced by ITN regional HQ in Hong Kong. ITV Choice channel director, Nic van Productions for Discovery Networks Inter- From May, Coronation Street and Em- Zwanenberg says the new windowing is national, will air first on Discovery feeds in merdale storylines will run at the same part of an ongoing initiative to keep the Japan, Australia and New Zealand on 5 time in Asia as in the U.K. Currently, Coro- channel current and relevant, “not just for April, followed by Taiwan, India, Malay- nation Street is about a year behind and soaps but across the network”. sia, Southeast Asia and China through Emmerdale lags behind even longer. The revamped ITV Choice was an- April. A catch-up special has been commis- nounced less than two weeks after ITV said The flight crashed on 28 December 2014 sioned from U.K. production company it would acquire Talpa Media for an initial on its way from Indonesia to Singapore, Shiver to fast-track viewers through a year’s €500 million. The total value of the deal killing all 262 people on board. worth of Coronation Street storylines. The could rise to €1.1 billion over eight years. contentasiasummit.com facebook.com/ContentAsia @contentasia C NTENTASIA Singapore 2-4 September 2015 creating whole new conversations about content in Asia Programme info from Janine Stein at [email protected]. Sponsorship info from Masliana Masron at [email protected] or +65 6846-5988 C NTENTASIA 23 March-5 April 2015 Page 4. Huy wins MPA Vietnam movie pitch Workshop ups skills as film scene booms Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Dung Thanh Huy a social realist tale about a boy who takes has won a feature film pitching competition risks with a mafia gang to save his mother held as part of the one-day Hanoi Spring and her neighbours from having to give up 2015 Film Workshop on 17 March. their home in a decaying building. The event, designed to boost global best The MPA Film Workshop featured inter- practice production skills, was hosted by national producer Jon Kuyper, production the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and supervisor for Warner Bros. Pictures on Baz the Embassy of Denmark and comes amid Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Peter Jack- major growth in theatrical screens and film son’s The Hobbit trilogy and most recently production across Vietnam. as independent executive producer of The one-day workshop was part of a big- Sean Penn’s The Last Face. ger 10-day film production training course Judges and mentors involved in the aimed at building knowledge and skill levels pitch included Vietnamese filmmakers for Vietnam’s leading film producers. Dang Nhat Minh (The Guava House) Huy’s prize is a trip to Los Angeles for a five- and Pham Nhue Giang (Lost), Bui Thac day film programme in November ahead of Chuyen (Adrift). the American Film Market (AFM). The Vietnam workshop is MPA’s seventh in His project, Thong Rom (Lanky Lilbrat), is the past 12 months. Philippines ups post-9pm audiences Bridges of Love tops Two Wives in late prime-time Philippines’ new drama Bridges of Love rated even higher, with 34.4%, although is reinvigorating ABS-CBN’s later evening share was lower at 57%. prime-time slot, with national rat- Bridges of Love, produced by ings hitting 24.4% in the week Star Creatives (Forevermore, of 16 March (source: Kan- Princess and I, The Legal tar Media), national Wife) tells the story of free-TV network ABS- two brothers sepa- CBN says. rated by tragedy The series airs at and later united 9.10pm-9.55pm by their fascina- stripped across tion with the same weeknights. nightclub dancer. At the same The show re- time, Bridges of placed Two Wives, Love is still nowhere a remake of the Ko- near the ratings of rean drama, which the earlier 8.45pm slot premiered in October filled by Forevermore, last year. which reached a rating of So far, Bridges of Love rat- Maja Salvador in 33.8% and share of 57% nation- Bridges of Love ings tops the final months of Two wide on Friday, 6 March. Wives, which scored 21.4% aver- Light family drama Dream Dad (the age through February, up from 18.9% in Philippines’ top show in February/Kantar) January.