Singapore – StarHub will soon commence production of its pioneer batch of 10 Public Service Broadcast (PSB) proposals, set to hit local viewing screens as early as January 2015. This content will air on StarHub’s self-packaged channels E City (StarHub TV Channel 111/825) and SuperSports Arena (StarHub TV Channel 112/201 and 76.25MHz), and viewers can look forward to a wide array of quality, original content that pushes the envelope of creativity. As part of StarHub’s commitment to offer a comprehensive range of content for everyone in the family, the line-up will range from entertainment and infotainment to kids and variety programmes.
StarHub announced in November last year that it was awarded funding from the Media Development Authority (MDA), under the Public Service Broadcast Contestable Funds Scheme (PCFS). This is part of MDA’s efforts to extend the reach of PSB content to multiple broadcast platforms beyond Free-To-Air TV. StarHub’s call for entries, which ended in December 2013, saw a total of 182 proposals from various production houses. To ensure a rigorous and fair evaluation process, a four-member panel was specially set up to review and select the proposals. The panel included representatives from the media industry, academia, MDA and StarHub. A total of 10 proposals were eventually selected after the face-to-face pitching sessions.
Apart from creative storylines, the selected proposals also weaved in PSB values that promote social values and the Singaporean identity, celebrate Singapore’s culture and heritage, and enhance racial and religious harmony. To deepen engagement with viewers, the 10 selected proposals also have the ability to be presented across multiple platforms such as multi-screens and second screens.
Some interesting storylines from the selected proposals include: Mission S-Change, a travelogue featuring local personalities going on a barter-trade journey to China, where they will negotiate and exchange for items or services required in the foreign land using Singapore products; Palm Size Universe, an imaginative drama series that explores the wonders of technology from the distant future brought into the present, thus igniting comical consequences; Saturday Night Lights, a documentary that shows how soccer brings meaning, hope and inspiration to a group of boys from broken homes and troubled families; as well asThe Pursuit of Champions, an edutainment documenting the journeys, trials and tribulations of bold Singaporeans who left home to pursue their sporting dreams through training in foreign grounds/environments.
“We are very encouraged by the enthusiasm and response from our local production houses”, said Lee Soo Hui, Head of Media Business Unit, StarHub. “Through this commissioning exercise, we have seen many proposals celebrating national pride and leveraging on the Singaporean way of life to weave t he local culture into the concepts. This helps to make the content more relatable to the local audience. The multi platforms offered by StarHub also ensure that the content is easily accessible on the go, making these productions available on StarHub TV Anywhere and engaging audience through our StarHub TV Buddy app. We are confident that StarHub’s pioneer batch of PSB programming will win the hearts of our local audience,” added Lee.
“The partnership with StarHub allows us to offer to Singaporeans an additional platform to enjoy PSB programmes,” said Dorothy Lai, Director (Public Service Broadcast) of Media Development Authority. “The selected proposals show a lot of promise and it is heartening to see more fresh and innovative programme concepts coming from Singapore’s production houses. MDA will continue to work with more platform partners to bring high quality and engaging content to local audiences.”
Starting June 2014, all StarHub local productions including the 10 PSB programmes will come under StarHub’s GO LOCAL campaign with a distinguished logo. The GO LOCAL Campaign is in line with StarHub’s ongoing push to promote and nurture the local media scene. Seah Hui Xian, the winner of Academy Fantasia, a reality singing programme, and StarHub’s first major foray into content production in 2012, will be singing the theme song of GO LOCAL.
In addition to the telecasts on E City and SuperSports Arena, the content will also be made available on StarHub’s multi-screen solution, StarHub TV Anywhere, to allow on-the-go consumption. After six months, the public will be able to access the content on StarHub TV Anywhere free of charge.
