A flurry of recent activity amongst European-born channels has seen both TV5Monde and Deutsche Welle announce second feeds for Asia. France 24 has joined the AsiaSat 2 neighbourhood, and euronews continues to build its distribution in the region having opted for AsiaSat 2 back in 2008. Distributed in Asia since 1996, TV5Monde has until now covered the region with only one channel, TV5Monde Asie, reaching 16 million households on a 24/7 basis via cable, satellite and IPTV, and accounting for the channel’s third-largest pool of distribution after Europe (113 million HH 24/7) and Maghreb/Middle East (29 million). TV5Monde Asie covers diverse cultures such as India, China, Japan, Australia and Korea, and spanning over 6 to 7 time zones (GMT+5h30 to GMT+12). With a second channel in 2009, TV5Monde will be able to better cater to local lifestyles, media consumption habits and cultural sensitivities through better suited subtitle languages and broadcasting rights. This new signal will cover time zones from GMT+8 to GMT+12 (mainly Korea, Japan and Australasia), with countries “where economic development and advanced technological environments require a specific channel with a dedicated programming and a targeted marketing approach to our operators and subscribers, all the more for a general-entertainment channel like us” says Alexandre Muller, MD for Asia. Muller says the new channel will, for the most part, lessen the problems of time differences, ensuring reach to more countries during prime-time viewing periods, rather than being too thinly spread across so many zones. He is also keen to escape the perception of TV5Monde being a French channel for French expatriates. “In essence TV5Monde is a general entertainment channel for anyone with an interest in France or French culture. We’re trying to shake off our image as an ‘embassy channel’ – broadening our appeal and our reach.” Content on the channel includes a wide variety of subtitled primetime films, in-depth coverage of international news six times a day, world-class sports events, high-quality documentaries and discovery magazine shows, kids’ programmes, and exciting cooking, design and game shows. A change of satellite, from AsiaSat 2 to AsiaSat 3S, is another key move in changing perception of the channel, “We wanted to move away from being clustered with all the other foreign-language channels.” Muller adds that TV5Monde is slowly moving from being a free-to-air to a pay-TV channel – following a similar route as it has the US. “Since initiating the move from FTA to pay-TV in 2001, the US operation is now self-financing. We are employing the same strategy in Asia Pacific.” Muller admits it’s a slow process, but part of their medium- to long-term strategy. Like the existing channel, TV5Monde’s new signal is being carried via optical fibre from Paris to Hong Kong, but in MPEG4 which is a standard better suited to new means of distribution (especially mobile) than the current MPEG2. Hence 4 February 2009 saw TV5Monde launch a brand new free bilingual (French and English) mobile portal offering a full range of complementary tools and services to Asian audiences, and serving as a test phase for further digital media developments for TV5Monde around the world. “Launching a mobile website is a decisive first step for us into the social media environment and sends a clear message to our audience that we intend to keep innovating as the channel turns 25 years-old,” says Muller. “In the current situation of global economic downturn, it is also a very cost-efficient marketing tool to rejuvenate our brand image and to reach out to younger demographics who own a mobile phone but don’t necessarily have the opportunity to watch the linear channel at home.” Future developments in the next three months include a Facebook application (synchronized with the mobile portal) and TV5Monde areas on YouTube and Dailymotion. Concludes Muller, “Social media is a big opportunity for us to capitalize on the primary common factor between all our subscribers – they speak French, albeit only a little – to develop a strong sense of community among our audience, and enrich our message to the public: ‘when you subscribe to TV5Monde, you don’t just purchase a pay-TV channel, you join the French-speaking community of Asia. ‘ We aim to bring together such diverse profiles as an Indian high-school student, a Japanese business traveller and a Western tourist in Thailand, and very few channels can do that.” Deutsche Welle, meanwhile, launched DW-TV ASIA+ starting 2 March 2009. Offering a mix of European lifestyle, culture and the arts as well as in-depth reports from business and politics, the new channel features 18 hours of English programming dedicated to serving a wider viewer base. The new grid will boast 71 percent lifestyle/ infotainment/ health and wellness and 29 percent news, with content being drawn from Deutsche Welle’s library. “Viewers in Asia have a high demand for more intimate knowledge and insights into Europe and European culture, making it an important media market for Deutsche Welle,” says Petra Schneider, director of sales and service at Deutsche Welle. “I am confident that positioning DW-TV ASIA+ as the ‘living channel’, delivering the most compelling content on European lifestyle, culture, health and wellness, and the arts will further cement the dialogue with millions of viewers from our target audience and enriching their lives in the process.” The existing DW-TV ASIA channel is available on more than 1,200 cable and direct-to-home platforms across Asia and received by more than 210 million TV households worldwide. Both channels are broadcast via AsiaSat 3S. Continues Schneider, “Deutsche Welle has always set the global market as its goal and Asia given the vibrancy and high growth in TV penetration levels has never left our sight. Our strategy in rolling out the new feed is a natural response to the demand from the marketplace for a higher percentage of lifestyle programming in a language easily understood by most urban Asians – English. Asked whether Deutsche Welle is and should be perceived as a channel for German-speaking expatriates, Schneider says the programming is aimed at anyone interested in Germany and Europe, in particular …. opinion leaders. “People who speak German and that naturally includes German-speaking expatriates as well as those learning German are also our target audience because Deutsche Welle is an indispensable instrument for intercultural dialogue and especially obligated to promote the German language. I think we have come a long way since our early years in Asia. Our audience has grown to include not only those interested in Germany, but also those interested in all types of European perspectives and viewpoints. Our programming has also expanded to include shows about fashion, the arts, design, health and science, as well as our cornerstone of news and journalism.” Schneider says being a public broadcaster has a number of benefits, “As a public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle and therewith DW-TV is financed primarily with public funds. We do offer advertising on our channels that is available for partners and other advertisers. However, because we don’t focus on generating revenue through advertising, our viewers benefit from a line-up that is not saturated with commercials. This makes the overall viewing experience better.” “Because Deutsche Welle is a public broadcaster, our budgets and plans are set out in advance and don’t necessarily feel the push and pull of economic markets. Of course we also have to look at saving in this economic crunch, but it hasn’t stopped us from pursuing our expansion plans in Asia. We will continue with this roll-out and look forward to the year to come.” February 2009 saw France 24 announce its choice of AsiaSat 2 for the distribution of its 24-hour international news channel across the Asia-Pacific region” Currently broadcast in three languages – English, French and Arabic, in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and parts of the United States. With the launch of its free-to-air English-language service on AsiaSat 2, France 24 is looking to access all leading cable and satellite television networks, terrestrial television stations and hotel networks throughout Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. The channel covers all world events with a focus on five major sectors: news, economics, culture and arts, sports and world weather forecast. The channel is 100 percent subsidised by an annual grant from the French government to the tune of approx EURO 90 million (US$113 million) “We are very excited to launch in Asia on AsiaSat 2,” says Philippe Rouxel, vice-president worldwide distribution of France 24. “We see a high demand for up-to-date news, as well as in-depth reporting and analysis from Asian audience and in particular decision makers and opinion leaders who travel extensively to and within Asia. With AsiaSat 2’s unparalleled coverage and audience access, we are able to reach our target audience and offer them a French perspective on global events.” Continues Rouxel, “Our primary aim at this stage for France 24 throughout Asia-Pacific is to introduce and firmly establish the France 24 brand in the region, and therefore to gain maximum visibility everywhere, on every possible platform (cable, satellite, adsl, mobile, etc) as well as in hotels and out of home more generally, wherever we can reach our key target demo – the international opinion leaders (at home and on the move).” “It is the obvious choice to start with the English-speaking version of our 24/7 international news channel. By doing so, we can reach and be understood by the highest number of opinion leaders in the region. We will look into rolling out the other language-versions of France 24 at a later stage, as the economics of doing so are tricky (and heavy) as they imply – at minimum – the cost of leasing two additional satellite capacities.” Rouxel says France 24 is targeting basic tier positioning, wherever it’s possible. “If international news channels are ‘regrouped’ together by the operator, and if basic carriage is not possible, then France 24 will always tend to position itself next to the other channels of that very category as France 24’s vision is exactly to offer an alternative perspective to world news. For an operator, or a bouquet, there can thus be some logic in offering all international news broadcasters together. However, there is no strong rationale for France 24 to be offered as part of a ‘European bouquet’.” So far, Rouxel says feedback in Asia has been very positive. “These are very very early days for France 24 in Asia. What I can say – personally – is that the meetings we have had already in Hong-Kong and Singapore, the first exchanges we have had also with Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese TV industry executives have been all very open and positive. We need to transform this initial feedback into concrete distribution reality. This is only the beginning of something!” Having already benefitted significantly from the C band footprint of AsiaSat 2, Philippe Cayla, chairman & CEO euronews describes the channel’s eventful year in 2008. “The channel recently underwent an enormous exercise to reposition and affirm the brand. Everything at euronews changed – a new logo, signature, website and a new marketing campaign. ‘Pure’ is the word that sums up all the values of our channel. In addition, last year we launched an eighth language version – Arabic to an already successful bouquet of seven languages. But the most important event in this region for euronews was the arrival of the channel in Asia. Euronews has taken capacity on Asiasat 2 which means for the first time, the channel has a C band footprint over Asia. This will allow the channel to develop its distribution in the region and Asia will benefit from the ability to see Europe’s most watched international news channel.” Most recent news from euronews is the signing of an agreement with TRT (Turkish Radio-Television) for the launch of the ninth language version of euronews and for the entry of TRT in the shareholding of the international news channel. The international multilingual news channels euronews and the Turkish public radio-television company, TRT, will launch euronews’ ninth language. The euronews’ Turkish language version will go on air in January 2010. From the launch date, it will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on euronews’ satellite network all over the world to more than 253 millions households in 142 countries. euronews will commercialize the new version to Turkish-speaking people around the world, particularly in neighbouring countries of Turkey: North of Cyprus, Caucasus and Central Asia, and also to Turkish communities in Europe especially in Germany. As part of the agreement between TRT and euronews, it has been decided to create local ad windows for the Turkish market. Therefore, euronews in Turkish will be a new opportunity for all Turkish advertisers to reach influent Turkish viewers and to develop their brand strategy. “We are very pleased to have concluded this agreement with TRT and we now start preparing the launch of the 9th language version of euronews in the coming months. The launch of the Turkish version will increase euronews’ audience in Turkey and to all Turkish-speaking communities in the world. This new deal also illustrates the success of euronews’ format: an international and multilingual news channel with a local market adaptation,” said Cayla. TVAplus