Vishnu Athreya Director, Programming Acquisitions and Development Asia Pacific for Turner Entertainment Networks Asia
Turner continues to be a leader in the kids’ entertainment space but in recent years we’ve expanded our portfolio beyond this genre to general entertainment and movies. At MIP this year, we will explore finished shows, scripted and unscripted formats, game show formats, movies and other exciting entertainment opportunities currently available around the world. We’ll also be looking at content everywhere for TV everywhere!
At Turner, movies are always a strong proposition for engaging our viewers. We’ve enjoyed a solid relationship with the big movie studios and continue to acquire animated blockbusters for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Acquisitions of key franchises still rule the roost in terms of generating ratings and we have some fantastic, newly acquired series premieres in the pipeline for this year.
In light of the economic downturn, broad content acquisition strategies remain in place. However, the recession has inspired many industry players to be much smarter with their spending.
Prioritisation and rationalisation of budgets is essential. Key franchise acquisitions is a focus for Turner moving forward, while we remain committed to ensuring all of our content – be it animation or live action – is a quality viewing experience for all.
Khairul Mizan Vice President, Content Development Unit, Astro Entertainment SDN BHD
I’ll be representing Astro Entertainment at this year’s MIPTV. In 2009, we mostly acquired animations and game show formats.
Content on our shopping list include game show formats, reality formats, animation, Islamic content and HD canned programming.
Despite the recession, business is as usual for us. In fact viewership has risen as more people are staying home and watching TV with Astro. Essentially we’ve seen a lot more demand for medium sized formats from the channels and viewers. Comedy is also working well. Drama has also been very strong. Co-production with countries in terms of sharing resources is an option that we’re very open too.
We prioritize our programming according to each quarter and month and essentially stick to offering a signature project which is then supported with slightly smaller investment offerings and drama of course. Essentially due to the increasing demand and viewership of our channels and content we’ve not been affected in a negative manner.
Chao Min Digital Content Office Director, Chunghwa Telecom
Yes, I will be going to MIPTV.
Acquired content which fared well for us in 2009 are movies, animations, HD documentaries, drama and sport events.
At MIP, we will be on the lookout for movies, animations, HD documentaries, drama and sport events.
We will still acquire content despite the recession. However, more emphasis will be placed on the program quality.
We will mainly acquire content for genres that are well accepted with our subscribers and be more careful with niche genres.
Marianne Lee Programming Director, SPE Networks – Asia
Drama series continued to be a key programming pillar, with the CSI franchise still performing well for us. Leverage was a good addition to our strong drama line-up in 2009. Reality and entertainment series were also popular; some of those that did well were Breaking the Magician’s Code and So You Think You Can Dance.
Content on our shopping list include movies, dramas and reality series. We acquired NCIS: Los Angeles for 2010 which we expect to do well, so we will also be looking for new, quality drama series like such.
AXN has been growing in popularity in Korea, hence we’ll continue to acquire first-run dramas suited to the Korean viewing preferences.
Content acquisition strategy has been revised as old models may not work so well during recession times, so it is a matter of finding creative ways to do business.
We have different priorities for our various channels in different territories. We certainly felt the impact and had to act and react accordingly. It is a matter of finding the most effective and efficient ways of sharing resources amongst the channels and feeds.
Eileen McCarthy Program Director, KidsCo
Yes, we are planning on attending MIP as it’s one of the best ways to stay on top of what’s happening in the industry. We acquired a range of classic content from FremantleMedia Enterprises last year that fit our criteria of being educational and entertaining for both families and kids. Kids love the strong characters and story lines in DangerMouse, Count Duckula, Wind in the Willows and The BFG movies. We have also licensed Asian animation from Iconix in Korea, which fared particularly well for us last year. These programmes are pre- school appropriate, namely; Nalong, fly to the sky and Spheres which is for boys and girls aged 6-10.
At KidsCo our focus is to provide content for boys and girls, aged 6 to 10, with fantastic shows that are family appropriate and teach kids about cultural differences. We want to continue our vision that if your child watches KidsCo, you know they’re going to have a great time, be entertained, get some educational programming, all in a safe environment. Shows that fit these criteria will be our focus at MIP.
KidsCo fills a gap in the market in terms of content and we have positioned ourselves as being excellent value for platforms. As a result, we’ve done very well and we’ve grown exponentially launching in new territories, while extending our presence in existing ones. A good example would be our licensing of Australian series, The Beach Crew, which will add to our existing Australian portfolio. The Beach Crew is an animated series which follows the problem solving adventures of three very lovable characters, which is due to air this year.
Our buying budget has increased by over 80 percent year-on-year for programming and 2009 saw our budget nearly double compared to 2008. 2010 will see the budget increase again by about 50 percent. The view is to expand our presence across Western Europe, of course having our much awaited UK launch at the heart of this. We will be needing new programming to serve our Western European audience so this will be a key focus for us at MIP this year.
Michele Schofield Vice President – Programming & Production, AETN All Asia Networks
I will be attending MIPTV, along with Angie Yong our manager, program acquisitions.
In 2009 on HISTORY our Military genre continued its popularity and the acquired program (from Fremantle), Battleplan, was among one of those well-performing programs. The one-hour special, Tsunami, to which we contributed to the co-production (produced by Darlow Smithson), also performed well in its premiere last December.
On Crime & Investigation Network, 48 Hours Hard Evidence and 48 Hours Mystery were two popular programs, acquired from CBS and Family Restaurant, the ob-doc from Picture Box that took viewers behind the scenes of a family-run Chinese restaurant in Canada, was a perfect addition to the BIO schedule.
This MIPTV, our focus will be on series and specials for HISTORY – modern history, technology, science, epic historical stories or anything which catches our eye that we feel fits our brand ‘History, Made Everyday’, which is a tagline that has the breadth to encompass yesterday, today and tomorrow. For BIO we’d like to find some fun observational-doc real life series, and moving one-off specials (or series) showcasing Asian stories. We’ll be on the lookout for Crime & Investigation Network also but our main focus this market is HISTORY and BIO.
We have been cognoscente of the recession but our strategy and commitment to acquiring (and producing) the best in international and local content has remained the same, and in 2009 we saw the results of that commitment. With increased volume of locally-produced and acquired content in 2010, our three factual brands are set to build on their strengths of offering some of the best factual entertainment in Asia.
Palakorn Somsuwan Program Manager, Bangkok Broadcasting & T.V. Co Ltd
Yes, I will be going to this year’s MIPTV.
The acquired content which fared well for us in 2009 are UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup 2010, feature films and Asian series.
Content on our shopping list this MIPTV include Hollywood movies, Asian series and some trendy contents for 2010-2011.
Despite the recession, content acquisition strategy is the same. If good quality programs are out there, we would go get them.
There is no big change in the budget since the proportion of acquired programs in 2010 is the same as last year.
