Mok Choy Lin, Wee Soon Hui, Anita Kapoor, Lim Chen Sian
At a press conference held at Singapore’s The Arts House, MediaCorp’s Channel NewsAsia announced that it has received S$13 million from the Media Development Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Communications and Information for the commissioning, production and outsourcing of over 30 hours of blue-chip documentaries to be aired over three years, in celebration of Singapore’s 50th anniversary.
The channel is inviting Singapore production companies to submit their ideas for formats that take a 360 degree approach – appealing to the younger generation and accessible on multiple platforms, with social media features. The documentaries will be aired on the channel’s local and regional feeds. Only Singapore-registered companies can submit their proposals. Channel NewsAsia has not confirmed which party will own the rights to the documentaries.
The channel will also be looking into crowd sourcing for shows such as Treasure Hunt, which explores Singapore’s history via artefacts. In an exclusive interview with TV ASIA Plus, Mok Choy Lin, Vice President, Network Programming and Promotions, said: “We want to involve the public in our shows as much as possible. And they’re a great resource. There are whole programmes made through crowd-sourcing. For Treasure Hunt, the treasures have to come from the public.”
“These are very high-end, blue-chip documentaries, so we’d like to work with established Singapore companies with a proven track record. We have left it open because we want production companies to come up with the best ideas. But we’re trying to make these shows appeal to the younger generation as well. We’re not just looking for traditional documentary, but perhaps reality series, or for you to come up with your own innovative new format. And I think what’s essential for us is also a 360 approach, because a lot of the younger generation don’t consume on traditional TV anymore,” she added.
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Update – August 22, 2013:
MediaCorp announced that the documentaries are to be produced in High Definition and with multi-platform/transmedia engagement.
