Joyce Yeung, SVP & GM, Sales & Distribution Asia, BBC Worldwide “Natural History programming continues to be a key genre that drives sales across the region with blue chip titles such as Human Planet and Great Rift making big impacts. Also we have seen high demand for shows such as Sherlock, which has sold to more than 70 territories around the world including South East Asia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. We have some fantastic new content across drama and natural history genres. One of our key drama titles is Zen starring Rufus Sewell. The series, set in Italy, has thrilling storylines as well as beautiful cinematography. We also have the hotly anticipated Frozen Planet from the BBC’s NHU available later this year, which explores one of the most inhospitable environments on earth. Broadcaster’s budgets have been hit by the economic downturn which means that buyers are looking for high-quality content to invest in. BBC Worldwide’s catalogue has a lot to offer broadcasters looking for this kind of programming.” ———————————————————————————– Arturo Casares Cortina, Advisor for Asian Countries, Televisa Internacional “The biggest success in terms of content for me, was the fourth season of the Chinese version of Ugly Betty through Hunan Satellite, also the transmission of the dubbed version of Distilling Love on CCTV. In 2011 our focus is still on China because of the growth of the market and the dynamic change of the content industry. In terms of finished content Japan and Korea are still very difficult markets but there are signs that they could be opening to new ideas specially on the TV side. China is still an irregular market for international content. Even though programmes like Ugly Betty and China’s Got Talent, based on foreign formats, have had broad acceptance from the public, this is far from an established trend. Having said this, there was a breakthrough deal when Youku.com, a video streaming website, which bought the VOD rights of the Hollywood film Inception. Thai and Philippine TV dramas had a bigger penetration on the Chinese screen and their success is likely to continue this year. China hasn’t felt the recession like in other parts of the world but Japan has and it could mean an opportunity for foreign content. Korea’s market will be affected more by the restructuring of the landscape of the media and advertising industry than by the recession.” ———————————————————————————– Lanny Huang, General Manager, Playboy TV Asia & Japanl “For Playboy TV in Asia, the biggest sales successes are the combination selling with SD titles and HD titles for VOD on-air rights. The package selling both these, enable us to create more opportunities in revenues. We’re pushing for quality, so programmes or movies should be available in “True HD” (shot in HD, not upscaled). We’re also seeing a trend towards 3D content. In 2011, more HD content (movies, series and reality programmes) are needed, and we have high hopes for titles such as Neighborhood Rumours (13 x 30′) and The Playboy Radio Show (14 x 30′).” ———————————————————————————– James Ross, Regional Director, ITV Studios “Some of our many sales successes in 2010 include a 200 hour deal with Korea’s KM Holdings, for a number of titles including all the Sherlock Holmes series. Secondly, primetime television drama The Prisoner has been acquired as part of a package by Sony’s AXN. And another was a deal for Hell’s Kitchen for CCTV2 in China. I think all channels are looking for fresh new shows and there is generally a trend towards formats, which will grow. We don’t see any downturn in any particular area, or more generally in the TV world, in fact advertising has picked up, which of course generates more revenues for production and acquisition. One specifi c new show that we’ll be bringing to MIPTV 2011 is Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors, which unlocks some of the secrets behind this high-profi le tough guy!” ———————————————————————————– Adam Ham, Executive Director of Global Creative & Media Agency (GCMA) “The Global Creative and Media Agency (GCMA) has been established to catalyze and accelerate the growth of Malaysia’s modern entertainment and media industry. This year, GCMA, together with the support of the Malaysian Government bodies such as FINAS, SKMM, MDeC, MATRADE and Tourism Malaysia, will be bringing many new and up-coming titles to Cannes, such as Great Day, The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines and Oh! My Ai Phone. Also animated series, Supertots, Kung Fu Chicken and Saladin: The Animated Series – Season 2. Over the years, the Government of Malaysia offers local animators and visual effects artists, and its growing production community, numerous programmes and substantial resources and incentives. These programmes have been designed to help the local industry create a greater presence in the local and international broadcast market with a special focus on global IP development. Many of these projects have struck a chord with local as well as international audiences.” ———————————————————————————– Grace Chan, Executive Director, Syndication, Turner International Asia Pacifi c, Ltd. “Cartoon Network launched its first regional branded block on TV5 in the Philippines last year, which has paved the way for similar terrestrial TV deals throughout Asia. It is a daily block totaling 20 hours a week and features some of Cartoon Network’s most popular animated series, including Ben 10, Generator Rex, Johnny Bravo, Chowder, and League of Super Evil. Since its launch in October last year it has proven to be very successful for both TV5 and Cartoon Network, with consistently excellent ratings. Buyers continue to seek fun and engaging kids’ series and are also attracted by strong general entertainment programmes – particularly interesting game shows and formats with a twist. Judging from the positive response of broadcasters to our content, particularly the new TNT general entertainment series Falling Skies, which will premiere globally in June, we haven’t seen the downturn having much effect. We anticipate that Falling Skies will be in huge demand this year. There’s also a lot of interest in the new season of Yes Chef from our Korean channel QTV. On the kids’ front, we’ll be announcing new content at MIPCOM which we expect will be popular in the second half of the year, so stay tuned.” ———————————————————————————– Bob Baskerville, General Manager Scripps International “Ace of Cakes is a remarkably successful show now in its 10th season and it truly has developed a global following, with a presence in seven regions and 92 countries. It was the cake show that ignited what has now become the wildly popular theme both domestically and internationally based on its proven success. The new Design Star season 5, with Mark Burnett Productions at the helm was launched in 2010 and has sold really well internationally, with presence in 17 regions and nearly 200 countries. This show is a strong and growing brand and season 6 will be launched at MIPTV. We are also excited about launching a series called Ice Brigade. We look at this series as our new Ace of Cakes, but this time the ingredients are simply ice and a chain saw for this team of ice sculptors! We are also bringing back season 2 of The Great Food Truck Race after great ratings in the US. The series debut generated quite a buzz at MIPCOM in October; the format is definitely forward thinking and now with successful ratings and a second season we believe the format will get into even more territories alongside the debut season.” ———————————————————————————– Berta Orozco, Sales Executive for Western Europe, Asia and Africa, Caracol TV “Our biggest sales success in 2010 was The Cartel 2. We noticed more interest in self content series like Women on the edge, which was released in 2010. With this kind of production, we give the clients the opportunity to choose the scripts that suit their audience. If the target is family oriented, the client has more than 120 episodes to pick from. Sometimes clients don’t want to buy a long telenovela because they’re not sure if it’s going to work for their audience, so the self content episode series are our solution for them. In the first half of 2011 we are going to launch Couple’s Therapy, another self content episode series. Caracol is also keen to show Confi dential, a five-episode series about controversial current affairs. We also have high expectations in our first co-production with Sony, Love and Fear, a telenovela with a captivating story. Buyers’ budgets are decreasing but it is not as dramatic as we thought it would be. We are ready to maintain our customer network and if our future agreements should be more economical, we will have to adjust to our clients’ needs.” ———————————————————————————– Michelle Wasserman, Head of International Business Programming, Formats & Production Services, Telefe International “Despite the worldwide economic downturn, we managed to achieve a great year in terms of distribution and collaboration in Asia. In terms of ready-made we completed the sale of our fifth consecutive title to Vietnam Botineras, and returned to the Philippines with Mr and Ms Pells. In line with this growth, while we are proud for having sold our first game-show (Just in Time) to India and will be back with one of our top fiction series Brothers and Detectives, we also successfully sold our scripted dramas to Indonesia, Malaysia, China and the Middle East. In 2011 we “investing more than know-how and creative talent” , producing our fi rst real co-production (a Chinese teen telenovela) that will be entirely developed in Shanghai, between China through Shanghai Media Group and Latin America, represented by Telefe. We’ve decided to enrich our catalogue with innovative alternatives and a more universal plots so that clients could adapt our stories to their different cultural needs, and under a multiplatform concept. This also improves Telefe’s presence and knowledge in Asia. We’re very confident that for 2011, our new romantic comedy A Year To Remember (a co-production of Telefe, Underground and Endemol) will turn into the most original and attractive Latin American format. The other alternative that I’d bet for is The One, a romantic drama that tells the story of an arrogant and ambitious lawyer.” ———————————————————————————– Ganesh Rajaram, SVP International Distribution & Home Entertainment – Asia, FremantleMedia Enterprises “We changed the structure of the Asian distribution business last year, including appointing Haryaty Rahman as director of sales, which has resulted in a massive increase in sales. In 2010, we sold more than 5,000 hours of content. Key titles included entertainment titles, China’s Got Talent, and Work of Art: The Next Great Artist; the must-see documentary from Oliver Stone The Untold History of the United States and the longest running game show in television history The Price is Right. Lifestyle and entertainment programmes were very popular in 2010 and we expect this trend to continue in 2011. Both lifestyle and entertainment shows tend to be franchises that broadcasters can build themed programming blocks around, which makes them both appealing. X Factor USA is one of the most anticipated programmes of this year. The format is a proven hit worldwide and we’re confi dent the US version will be high up on buyers’ lists. We also have some fantastic new dramas this year including Laconia and Exile from the UK, Winners and Losers from Australia, and series four of the British hit Merlin.” ———————————————————————————– Ling Sze Gan, Regional Sales Director, Asia, AETN International “2010 was a very successful year for AETN International’s programme sales around the world, including Asia. This year we’re seeing a demand for programmes tied to events, such as the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the 150th Anniversary of the start of the US Civil War. AETN International has an extensive library of these specials such as 102 Minutes That Changed America, and some new programmes like 9/12: The Day After. We also have specials tied to the upcoming Royal Wedding in the UK, notably Royal Wedding of a Lifetime. We’ve also seen in increased interest in Asian content. We are representing international programme sales for original productions for AETN All Asia Networks, including Hidden Cities Asia, a number of crime series such as 1975 KL Under Siege and Biography episodes about well-known Asians. We have more than 400 hours of new programmes that have been added to our catalogue since MIPCOM. Headlining our slate is the series Pawn Stars, the #1 non-fiction series on US pay-TV. We also have a new real-life series called IRT Deadliest Roads. We also have movies and a number of new unscripted entertainment series from Lifetime. These programmes are targeted towards female viewers, an important demographic in Asia.”