CBS Paramount International Television The CSI franchise continues to perform well in the region along with our other returning series like NCIS, Medium and Numb3rs. Showtime product, Dexter and Californication are not only on pan regional cable but also licensing to several local free TV markets including Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Our reality product, Survivor and America’s Next Top Model continue to have a strong following and, there is our strong daily line up of The Oprah Winfrey Show / Rachael Ray / Dr Phil / Judge Judy and our new show, The Doctors. In addition, 90210 launched on Star World with much hype and success. The Asia-wide debut of the ninth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on February 18 placed AXN at the top of TV ratings charts in the region. In addition, ‘CSI Supreme Sunday’, a weekly three-hour CSI marathon on Sunday nights dedicated to back-to-back episodes from all three franchises showed AXN ahead of competitors in the repeat timeslot for the Season 9 premiere episode. The 90210 premiere on Star World on November 4 took the general entertainment channel to the top of Singapore’s cable viewership charts among its target 15-24 year old demographic. In Asia, there is increase in the request for light entertainment/sitcoms (including current and evergreen series such as I Love Lucy, Happy Days) and content available in HD. There is also demand for more first run/exclusive product for terrestrials and pan regionals. In addition, demand for additional rights such as Catch Up/Mobile have also gone up. As for LA Screenings content, while it is still too early to tell which series will be picked up for Fall 2009, we have a full slate of series contenders for both CBS and the CW. Disney-ABC Int’l TV Our ongoing series such as Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy continue to carry strong appeal in the region but for 2008, it was our cable series that really resonated with both our broadcast clients and viewers. Kyle XY was a leading US program performer in Malaysia and the Philippines as well as one of the top downloaded series on iTunes Australia. In the US, Army Wives has broken performance records and is carried here in Asia on Hallmark. There has also been strong interest for new syndicated cable series Legend of the Seeker, a fantasy action series based on the novel series The Sword of Truth, which is filmed in New Zealand. It premiered on Prime in NZ on March 29 and we are finalizing pay and FTA deals across Asia to launch in the second half of 2009. ABC Studios (now renamed ABC Entertainment) is one of the leading producers of popular television entertainment. As a result, we have more consistent success with more of our shows making it to Season 2 than any other US studio. In 2008, we had a record number of returning series (18) for the 2008-09 TV season – more than any other international TV distributor and we look on-track to deliver record numbers again. I’m always excited at this time of the year, with the promise of new pilots from ABC Studio for the 2009/2010 season. Naturally, we won’t know which titles have been picked up until it’s announced at the traditional NY Upfront but there are some promising dramas, including: Flash Forward which stars Joseph Fiennes, and a new series Inside The Box, from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey’s Anatomy), about the lives of a broadcast news division. This year we also have a number of single camera comedy pilots; among them is Cougar Town, from Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) and starring Courtney Cox, who plays a newly single mother with a 17 year-old son; Canned, about a group of investment banker friends who leave their jobs on the same day; and No Heroics which is set in a world where B-List superheroes live among the general public. The interesting thing this year is that whilst new pilots are in production, we are only now launching our new 2008/09 season shows Castle, which has started very positively on ABC, Cupid a romantic-comedy procedural from Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), and In The Motherhood a comedy starring Megan Mullaly (Will & Grace), and Cheryl Hines. Three series that have confirmed pick-ups for ABC Family and will be showcased at the LA Screenings include Perfect 10 about the competitive world of gymnastics, 10 Things I Hate About You a series adaption of the hit teen movie and Ruby and the Rockits which sees the return of the Cassidy brothers and stars Alexa Vega (Spy Kids). Sony Pictures Television International In 2008, our biggest sellers in terms of TV series were Damages, Cashmere Mafia and The Spectacular Spider-Man. Damages returned for a second season at the beginning of 2009 with a star-studded cast including Oscar winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden. Cashmere Mafia was also quite popular with broadcasters in Asia even after the show was cancelled. Finally, our new Spider-Man animated series, The Spectacular Spider-Man proved irresistible to children’s program buyers. And of course, our strong slate of movies continue to be ‘must-haves’ for buyers in the region. As always, we continue to license our feature films, both currents and classic titles, across all media here in Asia. That business was, like Spider-Man, ‘spectacular’ in 2008 and looks to continue as such in 2009. Our blockbuster movies consistently top the ratings chart for broadcasters across the region. In Hong Kong, the highest-rated Hollywood movies on TVB for the last two years have been from Sony Pictures. In 2008, that movie was Hellboy. Another example is in the Philippines, where four out of the top five highest-rated overall program on TV5 since its re-launch have been Sony Pictures movies such as Spider-Man and Godzilla. Our TV series have also done quite well. The Tudors was the highest-rated foreign TV series on Ch. CGV in South Korea last year. Female PMEB-targeted dramas featuring strong female leads was the emerging trend last year and this year that trend continues. And joining our acclaimed series Damages is two more female-driven shows. Drop Dead Diva is a hilarious dramedy about a size zero model who, after a fatal car accident, finds herself returned to life in the body of a plain-looking size-12 female attorney. Time Heals stars Jada Pinkett Smith as the charismatic and strong-willed Director of Nursing for a hospital, who must juggle her demanding career with her equally important role as a single parent. From a distribution channel perspective, we continue to license all of our content, long and short-form, across all platforms in the region. We continue to experiment and grow the new media sector of our business. Since we are the Asian Hollywood Studio, we will be debuting new Asian content at our screenings. Warner Brothers International Television Distribution In the Asia Pacific region, Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) has had success, generally, with younger-skewing television shows rating well with audiences, especially those of the horror, action and teen genres. Without a doubt, Supernatural is the most successful show across Asia Pacific for WBITD. However, our library titles such as Friends still do very well, along with our animation, which is extremely popular in Brunei and Pakistan. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – where action and DC Comics movie titles are very strong – Smallville and Supernatural are big hits. Gossip Girl is becoming increasingly popular in both Malaysia and Indonesia. In the Philippines, the talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show is a massive hit, while Gossip Girl is also extremely popular. Other shows that do very well there also include Pushing Daisies, Chuck and The Big Bang Theory. In India, hit WBITD shows are Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory and Pushing Daisies. In Japan, US TV series are programmed in non-primetime blocks in Free TV but still rate comparatively well as compared to local content. The O.C., for example, airs on Nippon TV networks throughout Japan and performs impressively. Also in Japan, Veronica Mars premiered on terrestrial Free TV in Osaka via Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. Even in a market where traditional Japanese dramas are favored by viewers, this challenging US series debuted strongly and has continued to deliver high ratings. In South Korea, investigative/crime dramas Without a Trace and Cold Case and action-drama Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles perform well. Teen drama Gossip Girl is also a hit there. On cable, in particular in Singapore and Hong Kong, the viewing trends are similar, with Chuck, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Supernatural, all garnering huge followings with audiences. Recently, the SVOD service available in Singapore has shown a strong demand for day-and-date series, especially Fringe, the 13th installment of The Bachelor, The Mentalist and Trust Me.