Buying Trends Astro’s Rohana Rozhan Colors’ Rajesh Kamat www.tvasia.ws
asia pacific THE MAGAZINE OF ASIA-PACIFIC TELEVISION
OCTOBER 2009
MIPCOM & CASBAA EDITION
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FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) IN THIS ISSUE
www.fremantlemedia.com
Time to Buy
Highlights
The acquisitions strategies of several Asian broadcasters
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Interviews Astro’s Rohana Rozhan Colors’ Rajesh Kamat
• Jesse James Is a Dead Man • House of Jazmin • Is She Really Going Out with Him? • The Adventures of Merlin • Jamie’s American Road Trip
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Ricardo Seguin Guise
Publisher Anna Carugati
Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani
Editor Kristin Brzoznowski
Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda
Production and Design Director Simon Weaver
Online Director
Reality dominates FME’s portfolio for its Asian clients at MIPCOM.There’s Jesse James Is a Dead Man, with the former Monster Garage star turning himself into a modern daredevil, and Jamie’s American Road Trip. FME is also showcasing the second season of The Adventures of Merlin. “These are proven successful brands that the audience has embraced and that give broadcasters confidence in acquiring them,” says Ganesh Rajaram, the VP of sales for Asia. “Reality is still a very big draw, as the genre transcends cultural barriers. Big event dramas like The Adventures of Merlin continue to be successful, and lifestyle travels very well. Fashion is another big draw: shows like Project Runway go from strength to strength. We’re launching its companion program Models of the Runway, and we’re introducing House of Jazmin as well.”
“These are proven successful brands that the audience has embraced and that give broadcasters confidence in acquiring them.
”
—Ganesh Rajaram
House of Jazmin
Phyllis Q. Busell
Art Director Tatiana Rozza
Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz
Sales and Marketing Manager Rae Matthew
Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero
Sales and Marketing Assistant
Ricardo Seguin Guise
President Anna Carugati
Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani
VP of Content Strategy TV Asia Pacific © 2009 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:
www.tvasia.ws
Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) www.smf.sg
Highlights • • • • •
Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled Sun Tzu:War on Business Silly Bitty Bunny Dinosaur Train Rob the Robot
The MDA will be hosting a contingent of Singaporean companies at its MIPCOM pavilion.The lineup includes a number of local animation companies that have partnered with ventures in Europe and North America for new kids’ projects, such as Scrawl Studios (Silly Bitty Bunny) and Sparky Entertainment’s Dinosaur Train. Other successful co-productions involving Singaporean companies include Beach House Pictures’ Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled and Right Angle Media’s Sun Tzu:War on Business.“Our co-production strategy has reaped dividends for Singapore companies whose collaborations with international partners and distributors have enabled Singapore-made content to land in some 70 countries,” says Christopher Chia, the MDA’s CEO.“For MIPCOM, we will be looking for more collaboration opportunities with international partners.”
Silly Bitty Bunny
“ Collaborations with international partners... have enabled Singaporemade content to land in some 70 countries.
”
—Christopher Chia
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P A N O R A M A By Mansha Daswani
Reality Check There were protests in the streets of Mumbai last month—and Bollywood was front and center. Fans of the country’s biggest movie star, Shahrukh Khan, were up in arms over his alleged mistreatment while visiting the U.S. The actor was entering the country to promote his new film, My Name Is Khan, about a Muslim living in the U.S., struggling with racism after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Newark, New Jersey, immigration authorities, unaware that India’s own Tom Cruise was in their midst, detained Khan for more than an hour. In India, protesters cried racism, and Bollywood’s biggest names were quick to chime in. Director Karan Johar wrote in his blog that the incident was “as absurd as Brad Pitt coming to India, being stripsearched, investigated and interrogated.” Immigration officials maintained that the questioning of Khan was routine. And he was soon accused of drumming up the controversy as a publicity stunt for his new film. He countered with: “I don’t want to sound pompous, but Shahrukh Khan doesn’t need any publicity.” For the actor, named by Newsweek last year as the world’s biggest movie star, Newark airport was a reality check—you can’t be King Khan everywhere. It seems everyone is getting a bit of a reality check these days, as tough times have forced media executives worldwide to reassess their priorities. News Corporation did that with the shakeup of its Asian arm, STAR. The huge Hong Kong-based pan-regional has been stripped down, with the priority markets of India and Greater China carved out into independent entities, reporting directly up to James Murdoch, News Corp.’s chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia. And in a move that had many wondering, What took you so long?, the English-language networks Star World, Star Movies and Channel [V] International are being grouped with the Fox International Channels bouquet. “When you have a restructuring as STAR has undergone, you see some of the resources moving to the core markets and some consolidation of the players,” observes Simon Twiston Davies, the CEO of the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). The reorganization is expected to see a leaner, more focused Asian operation for News Corp., one that can best take advantage of the opportunities ahead—and the pundits say there are plenty, particularly in pay TV. Profits at Asia’s leading media companies are expected to return to double-digit growth after next year, led by online
services and pay-TV platforms and channels, according to the research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA). Malaysia’s Astro is looking to ride that wave of multichannel growth. In this issue, CEO Rohana Rozhan discusses the DTH platform’s expansion plans, including targeting semiurban and rural areas of the country and delivering interactive services like DVRs and on-demand content. The race to offer more advanced services in India is heating up with a slate of platforms fighting it out in the satellite-TV space. Equally competitive in India is the generalentertainment market, where the biggest story in the last year has been Colors. Within 12 months the Viacom18 joint venture ascended to the top of the table, taking on stalwarts Star Plus, Zee and SET. It is now embarking on international expansion, targeting Indian audiences across the globe. CEO Rajesh Kamat discusses these plans later in this edition. Talking to me about his programming strategy, Kamat noted the important role of reality TV on the schedule, with Colors airing several shows based on international formats. In fact, in surveying the acquisitions strategies of a number of leading Asian channels, requests for formats came up often. But so did the demand for novelas, dramas—American, British, Korean, Chinese and others—top-flight sports, event TV movies and reality TV. As Asia’s established terrestrials take on the encroaching pay-TV broadcasters, delivering highend content, be it local or imported, will be paramount to maintaining their market shares. But the competition will get stiffer. The platforms and channels attending CASBAA next month will all be talking about “Extending Your Reach,” the theme of the Hong Kong-based convention this year. It’s not that the region has been unfazed by the downturn—it’s just that many Asian TV executives have been here before. The 1997 Asian economic crisis crippled companies across the region, and forced many international players to retreat. “Asia is much more robust than it was in ’97,” notes Twiston Davies. “We are much more prepared than we were. That was a very important lesson learned.”And the rewards, if the projections are right, could be huge.
Profits at Asia’s leading media companies are expected to return to
double-digit growth after next year, led by online services and pay-TV
platforms and channels.
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By Mansha Daswani
Against a backdrop of contracting ad spend in a host of markets across North America and Europe, the outlook for a number of territories in Asia has been surprisingly upbeat. While the region’s overall ad pie is expected to shrink 4.7 percent this year—a small reduction in comparison with other parts of the world—several countries, including China, Indonesia,Vietnam, India and the Philippines, are on track to post gains, according to the research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA). Asia-Pacific advertising revenues are also due to rebound by almost 5 percent in 2010, MPA reports. Nonetheless, the global economic slump has everyone feeling the jitters, resulting in a much more cautious buying approach on the part of broadcasters. The good news for content owners is that the market for acquisitions in Asia remains healthy. Indeed, the schedules in this region are perhaps the most diverse in the world: Japanese and Korean imports sit alongside top-
notch American and British drama as well as local productions, many based on international formats. For anyone doing business in Asia, the biggest story this year was the overhaul of News Corporation-owned STAR, which, with its huge portfolio of channels, is a major buyer of foreign fare and a local production powerhouse. In the recently announced restructure, STAR has been carved up, with the English-language pan-regional networks Star World, Star Movies and Channel [V] International now grouped with the Fox International Channels bouquet in Asia. For Star World, the programming mandate remains the same: the best comedies and dramas, with a smattering of reality shows, primarily from the U.S. Key acquisitions have included 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Heroes and Bones, as well as the American version of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Shows coming to the schedule include the USA Network hit series Psych and Royal Pains, and Syfy’s smash hit this summer, Warehouse 13. American Idol is also due back
Buy
Time to From entertainment formats to high-end drama, Asian buyers are cautiously looking to fill their schedules from the international market.
Disney-ABC’s FlashForward.
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Star-makers: Singapore Idol returned to MediaCorp this fall for a third season, alongside several other format-based titles.
on the grid for its new season, and Star World is in the midst of lining up a smattering of other shows for the winter. In the terrestrial space, Leng Raymundo, the VP and head of program acquisitions for Filipino media giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, uses a word bandied about by a number of buyers these days:“selective.” FREE SPACE
For its general-entertainment networks, ABS-CBN acquires a broad variety; recent buys include the Korean series Boys over Flowers (which Raymundo describes as the “runaway ‘Asianovela’ hit this year”), the Taiwanese series Hot Shot and the Mexican novela Cuidado con el angel (Don’t Mess with the Angel ) from Televisa Internacional. “We are more selective on the programs that we acquire,” Raymundo notes.“Our greatest challenge is the one-TV household phenomenon in the Philippines—we try to find the right mix of different genres that will complement our local programs. Looking for content that can attract the full range of viewers from children to teens to adults is very critical in our buying strategy.” At MIPCOM, Raymundo is seeking out imports that “offer something different but still have the fundamental elements that will connect with the local audience in terms of acceptability and affinity.We are prioritizing dramas that are compelling and have good narrative and casting. Game and reality shows that have interesting concepts have consistently engaged our viewers. Children’s and teen programs are also important in our overall mix.” A particular focus, Raymundo continues, will be filling weekday early-prime-time slots with “idol dramas”—Asian series built around young, attractive personalities—“with international appeal.Wellexecuted format franchises that appeal and engage the whole family are also good to have.” 10/09
Indeed, formats play a “significant” role in ABS-CBN’s mandate, Raymundo says. She also notes that she is looking at co-production opportunities, after teaming with the Malaysian producer Double Vision for the drama Kahit Isang Saglit (Even for Just One Moment). “We are open to the possibility of co-production given the right material, story line and casting,” Raymundo says. “It’s one way for us to learn from our Asian neighbors and share best practices. Format franchises also allow us to work with the producers and consultants, who are the experts of the program, and this has become a very good opportunity to work well with our foreign counterparts.” ABS-CBN’s main rival, GMA Network, has also made format adaptations a centerpiece of the schedule on its flagship channel, GMA-7. Recent hits have included its versions of Hole in the Wall, Power of 10, Family Feud and Celebrity Duets, according to Roxanne Barcelona, the VP of GMA Worldwide, the company’s acquisition and distribution arm. Discussing her acquisitions strategy for this year, Barcelona says, “We only buy what we can use.This year, even if the Philippines is not really that affected by the global economic downturn, the amount of acquisitions has dropped since we are producing more and more local content.” While the GMA schedule is well stocked through the end of the year, Barcelona is keeping her eye out for new dramas from Korea, as well as formats out of Europe or the U.S., particularly for late-afternoon and prime-time slots. “We acquire content throughout the year,” Barcelona says, “as long as the price is right and there is an available slot for a particular title.” Beyond local fare, Korean and Japanese dramas lead GMA’s top ten shows, Barcelona says, including Money War, 1 Litre of Tears and Cruel Love.
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Blue skies ahead: NBC Universal’s Royal Pains has been picked up by Star World.
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prime time,” says Joy Olby-Tan, the VP of network acquisitions at the channel, citing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Deal or No Deal, Don’t Forget the Lyrics! and Singapore Idol. “We are constantly looking for new formats that have massive appeal across all demographics”. Marking the evolution of MediaCorp’s format strategy, earlier this year the company entered into a deal with Canada’s Just for Laughs for a new series, Just for Laughs Gags: Asia. MediaCorp will co-produce the show and distribute it across Asia. HEADING FOR HOLLYWOOD
Taking off: The Filipino group ABS-CBN has fared well with imported novelas, such as Televisa’s Don’t Mess with the Angel.
MediaCorp’s Channel U, which targets a Chinese audience, is also faring well with Korean series, scoring a 38.5percent share of the 15-to-24 set with Boys over Flowers. According to Ho Soo Fung, the VP of programming and operations for Channel U (and Channel 8), other hit shows on the network have included the Korean drama Likable or Not and the Taiwanese variety shows Million Singer and Diamond Club. ASIAN STORIES
Drama, variety and infotainment from East Asia lead Channel U’s acquisitions remit, she says, adding, “Due to cost constraints, we have to be very selective, to ensure the programs we acquired will be able to achieve our target ratings.” For Channel U’s English-language sister network, Channel 5, the biggest news this year is the return of Singapore Idol after a three-year absence. But Idol is not the only major international format on the Channel 5 grid. “Most of our tent-pole shows have been popular entertainment formats that help to anchor our schedule during 380
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American dramas play an equally important role on Channel 5’s schedule. The network scooped up the first-window rights for the highly anticipated new Disney-ABC drama FlashForward. “We plan to air FlashForward within a week of the U.S. telecast to tap into the currency and associated buzz,” Olby-Tan explains. “In providing this compelling and legitimate viewing option on our free-to-air platform, we hope to dissuade the minority who might be considering viewing illegal online content. FlashForward will also be provided on a free online catch-up basis on MediaCorp’s MobTV platform, Singapore’s first SVOD service.” Stressing Channel 5’s broad generalentertainment remit, Olby-Tan notes that other key acquisitions have included music-entertainment specials like F1 Rocks and the recent friendly football match between the Singapore national team and the U.K.’s Liverpool FC. The Malaysian terrestrial channel ntv7 has a similarly diverse schedule, with a mix of Chinese and Malay dramas and Hollywood series. According to Airin Zainul, the channel’s general manager, the most successful acquisitions recently have included Chineselanguage dramas from the Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, the CBS series The Mentalist from Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox’s Lie to Me. Like many of the buyers surveyed here, Zainul says that she has become more selective in her buying cycle, and that budget limitations have resulted in a reduced volume of acquisitions. Nonetheless, she is still seeking out dramas, variety series and other light entertainment, and is particularly keen to score shows for mid-afternoon and early prime-time slots. Formats are also part of the mix, but Zainul notes, “We like to add a range of variety, game shows, light entertainment to our schedule, but we can only afford to do one format every two years, due to time lines, planning, logistics.” Cambodia Television Network (CTN), meanwhile, has moved formats up on its priority list, according to Glen Felgate, the broadcaster’s general manager. The channel has 10/09
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recently drawn big numbers for Korean dramas as well as football action with the Barclays Premier League, Felgate adds. CTN is still buying drama series, he notes, and is searching for “interactive content and formats that we can produce locally.” Slots that the channel is looking to fill include “prime-time fringe: weekdays 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.” Felgate says that the downturn hasn’t affected the channel’s acquisition of content, but “has curtailed the number of TV specials and concerts that we have done.We have only done one premier international kickboxing event this year where normally we would have done two. Likewise we have only staged one music concert— with Sean Kingston.” FORMAT FRENZY
India’s broadcasters seem to have developed a voracious appetite for international entertainment formats this year.“India is still predominantly a fiction market,” says Rajesh Kamat, the CEO of Colors. “They are the staple of the programming diet. But you can spruce [your schedule up] with some spicy elements, which are the nonfiction or reality shows.” Colors came out of the gate last year with a version of Fear Factor, which was followed up by Big Brother [adapted as Bigg Boss] and then this summer the first-ever Asian adaptation of FremantleMedia’s Got Talent format. India was also home to another Asian format first: ITV Global’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, which ran on SET, a Sonyowned channel that has also done very well with its take on
See no evil: The wave of international formats adapted in India this year included Got Talent, for Colors. 10/09
BBC Worldwide’s Strictly Come Dancing. SET’s rival Star Plus broadcast its own version of The Moment of Truth this year, while NDTV Imagine commissioned BBC Worldwide Productions India to produce the lifestyle format The Baby Borrowers. Also in India, the new entertainment channel REAL launched in March with the FremantleMedia game show Poker Face as one of its highlights.“We are currently in the process of reviewing new concepts and formats for our next phase of programming,” says Sunil Lulla, the director of Real Global Broadcasting, a fifty-fifty joint venture of Turner International India and Alva Brothers Entertainment.“The receptiveness of viewers towards new fares and formats is at an all-time high. REAL is clued in to this trend and is fully geared up to provide varied and distinct content for its viewers. We are reviewing different international formats, which comprise adventure, makeover and out-of-home reality and entertainment shows.” The blossoming format market in territories that have historically been closed to foreign fare will be of tremendous comfort for those distributors anxious about how the challenging economy is having an impact on broadcasters’ programming schedules. Indeed, the market is considerably healthier today than it was more than a decade ago, when the Asian financial crisis slashed the budgets of channels across the region. Nonetheless “caution” is the word of choice for many acquisitions executives as they look for prudent choices that will deliver viewers and advertisers. “The downturn has provided us with an opportunity to stop and take stock of our acquisitions,” says MediaCorp’s Olby-Tan. “We now buy very selectively to fulfill only our prime-time needs; we buy more frequently throughout the year to ensure quick turnaround of our stock and we work with partners who have realistic license-fee expectations and who are flexible on value-added deal terms such as longer license periods and increased number of runs.” World Screen
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Truth be told: Fox’s Lie to Me has made its way onto several Asian broadcasters, including Malaysia’s ntv7.
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Since launching in 1996 with just over 20 channels, Malaysia’s Astro has become one of Asia’s leading pay-TV platforms. With an exclusive 20-year license for satellite DTH transmission, Astro’s subscriber base today stands at 46 percent of Malaysian TV homes. Its slate of more than 100 channels includes services from the region and around the world, as well as its own bouquet of networks, under the Astro Entertainment banner, featuring locally developed content. Of the top ten most-watched channels in Malaysia, six are on the Astro platform. CEO Rohana Rozhan tells TV Asia Pacific about how Astro is living up to its motto of “Making Your Life Richer.”
By Mansha Daswani
TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are the strengths of the Astro platform? ROZHAN: Central to Astro’s ability to grow at an acceler-
ated pace has been our constant reinvestment in technology,
infrastructure, content and talent.To date, Astro has invested over RM5 billion ($1.4 billion) in end-to-end digital infrastructure, comprising powerful satellites with the highest signal availability,the largest all-digital broadcast-and-production facilities, high-quality content-control facilities, set-top boxes as well as facilities for content creation, aggregation and distribution. With these assets and core competencies in place, Astro is in an excellent position to bring to market its ongoing value proposition, which lies in multilingual content creation, aggregation and distribution capabilities and our ability to offer innovative content and interactive services to the widest possible audience in Malaysia. TV ASIA PACIFIC: How do you appeal to Malaysia’s diverse
Malay, Indian and Chinese communities?
Enhancing Viewer Loyalty
Astro’s Rohana Rozhan
ROZHAN: Unique to Malaysia is the diversity in cultures,
ethnicities and language preferences. It is also common to find two or three generations [living in the same] home in Malaysia.The complexities in programming and packaging are immense. Not only does Astro have to acquire, aggregate and distribute the best of international content, the company also has to create and distribute local content in vernacular languages. Today, its 116 channels, of which 28 are Astro-branded, are packaged into broad genres ranging from sports, movies, dramas, news and current affairs, children’s programs, documentaries, interactivity and general entertainment, to cater to the wide interests of all Malaysians. Seventeen digital radio channels are also provided to Astro’s customers on a complimentary basis to [complete] their total homeentertainment experience. Astro has invested substantially in content—approximately RM1 billion ($285 million) last financial year.As a percentage of revenues, Astro’s content costs rose to 35 percent from 33 percent as we invested in more local content and premium sports programming. TV ASIA PACIFIC: What role does local content play on
the platform? ROZHAN: The company continues to invest in local and local-
ized content to be relevant to the ever-evolving marketplace. We have localized international programs with subtitles and audio language options in Malay, English or Chinese, as well as produced Malaysia-themed programs. Last year we invested over RM300 million ($85 million) in local content, making Astro the single highest investor in local content in Malaysia. The company has more than doubled its first-run transmission hours for local content from 1,700 hours in 2007 to 3,900 hours in 2008 and now to 5,600 hours in 2009. [The success of our local-content strategy is] reflected in the increase in viewership of key signature and local programs such as Akademi Fantasia, Raja Lawak, Sehati Berdansa and Jangan Lupa Lirik, all of which achieved an average of over a million viewers weekly. Chinese and Indian viewership continues to be consistent at 86 percent and 89 percent, respectively. TV ASIA PACIFIC: How have you been expanding your sports offerings? ROZHAN: Live sports programming is a key highlight and Astro brought to Malaysians the EURO 2008 football tour382
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nament,Thomas and Uber Cup, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the all-important Barclays Premier League in 2008. All 31 matches of the UEFA EURO tournament were carried live, with ten of these exclusively broadcast on Astro SuperSport channel. In addition, Astro broadcast an unprecedented 3,000 hours of the 2008 Beijing Olympics via 11 interactive channels, including for the first time ever, a channel in Cantonese co-produced with TVB (in Hong Kong) for the benefit of Cantonese-speaking viewers.
“Astro offers a value-formoney proposition in times of economic uncertainties, when customers shy away from more expensive forms of leisure.”
TV ASIA PACIFIC: How do you see your rate of subscriber growth? ROZHAN: We experienced strong revenue and subscriber increases during the year, sustaining the growth momentum of previous years. Penetration of semi-urban and more rural markets continues to be a key strategy. In addition, Astro offers a value-for-money proposition in times of economic uncertainties, when customers shy away from more expensive forms of leisure, such as dining out, in favor of home entertainment. As a result of all these factors, Astro added a record 374,000 homes to its growing customer base, bringing the total to 2.7 million, allowing the Astro service to reach over 12 million people. The Malay segment is one of the fastest-growing segments in Astro.With more than 1.58 million Malay customers, the segment makes up almost 51 percent of total Malay TV households as at the first quarter of fiscal 2010. We have almost doubled our penetration of Malay TV households from 29.3 percent in fiscal year 2006. While Astro has managed to penetrate a large percentage of Malay households in the urban areas, there’s still good growth potential in the semi-urban and rural areas.While we reinforce the distribution network and customer service, we continues to strengthen our content offering to address the Malay segment. In June 2009 we launched the Mustika package, specially targeted for Malays.The Mustika package comprises three channels:Warna, Malaysia’s first 24-hour local comedy channel; Citra, with local and Asian blockbuster movies, Malay premieres and epics; and B4U, the latest box-office Bollywood movies and music videos. Since launch, the Mustika package has received an encouraging response of over 250,000... subscribers [and the number is growing]. TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are your overall goals for Astro in
the next 12 to 18 months? ROZHAN: The successful launch of the M3a satellite in June
has provided us with additional capacity.With more chan10/09
nels, Astro will be able to cater to all relevant demographic segments by age, language and genres while offering superior interactive features, further widening the competitive advantage over free-to-air TV stations. Today,Astro is already providing personal video recorders (PVRs) and near video on demand. Astro’s next technology leap will enable us to deliver high-definition content and full PVR capabilities. Growing demand for entertainment and information delivered via new media such as broadband IPTV presents opportunities for our content business. We will intensify our efforts to repackage and customize content for distribution on both traditional and new delivery platforms. Going forward, Astro aims to achieve a sustainable, profitable growth via adding customers with potential for increased consumption; managing existing customers through a growth path; keeping high-value customers on the service; and constant content refreshment and introduction of new content and services. In order to achieve this, we will focus on streamlining and raising efficiency in customer growth, product development, customer care and experience enhancement, customer retention and meaningful loyalty programs, as well as establish a technology road map capable of best-in-class operations.The core competency of Astro as a creator, aggregator and distributor of content will always remain its assets, differentiator and competitive advantage. Today,Astro is already at 46-percent penetration of [the total number of] Malaysian TV households, and a 50-percent penetration is an achievable target in the near future, barring any unforeseen circumstances.This is a critical milestone, which will give Astro the operational efficiency, cost advantage, critical mass to acquire costly content, and the feasibility to launch new services such as high-definition TV and video on demand. World Screen
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In July 2008, India’s already crowded channel landscape welcomed a new player: Colors. A joint venture of Viacom and India’s Network18 Group, the channel set out to target viewers aged 15 to 34 with a mix of movies, dramas and reality shows. The eleventh member to join India’s lucrative general-entertainment channel space, Colors launched in third place. By its tenth week it had moved up to second place, and in its 38th week it took the top spot. Since then it’s been alternating in the number one position with Zee TV and Star Plus. “It’s been a good year one for us,” says Rajesh Kamat,the channel’s CEO—“and eventful!” Crucial to Colors’ initial success was its slate of reality programming.“We went in with a strategy that nonfiction shows, Fear Factor and Big Brother, would get us the kind of buzz that we wanted,” says Kamat, who was tapped to launch the channel
Brightening the Landscape
Colors’ Rajesh Kamat By Mansha Daswani after establishing Endemol’s operations in India.“We had to
A new model: Colors launched last year with its own version of Fear Factor.
get noticed and talked about, and fiction typically takes two to three months to actually become a habit [for viewers].” At the heart of the reality strategy was adding “the Indian curry flavor” to imported ideas. “For Fear Factor: Khatron ke khiladi, we got [the Bollywood star] Akshay Kumar to host. We also went with 13 models to do the stunts. And on Bigg Boss [the Indian version of Big Brother] we went in with what we called newsmakers—a lot of them famous, a lot of them infamous—as [compared with the] international versions, which predominantly focus on common people. It gave our viewers a safety net—faces who were known, for both good and bad reasons.There are a lot of tweaks and turns you do with international formats to customize them to the local Indian palate.”
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Colors’ most recent high-profile format import was FremantleMedia’s Got Talent, which ran over the summer.“Reality is something that you can really experiment with,” says Kamat on the decision to become the first broadcaster in Asia to take a chance on the format. “We’ve had singing shows, we’ve had dancing shows. India has a lot of talent—we also have acrobats, ventriloquists, magicians!” Colors is also airing its own edition of the Argentine wrestling series 100% Lucha. According to Kamat, 100% de dhana dhan delivers a mix of reality and drama as it chronicles 13 Indian wrestlers taking on competitors from South Africa. Kamat says that Colors has also found success with reality concepts that originated locally, such as Dancing Queen, with Indian TV and movie actresses competing against each other in a dance contest; Ek khiladi ek haseena, with cricket stars teaming with Bollywood starlets on the dance floor; and the kids’ stand-up comedy show Chhote miyan. While Colors is open to acquiring and developing unscripted formats, Kamat concedes that “India is still predominantly a fiction market.”According to him, 75 percent to 80 percent of Colors’ viewership is for scripted shows. The daily Hindi-language serials that have been among Colors’ biggest hits include Balika Vadhu, set in Rajasthan, and the religious-themed Jai Shri Krishna, about the childhood exploits of the Hindu god Krishna. “It is a fragmented market today,” says Kamat on maintaining Colors’ momentum.“What used to be a peak of eight or nine ratings [points] today has become a peak of four or five. While the second season of a show does well for you, it doesn’t get talked about as much as the first season. It doesn’t mean the viewership doesn’t exist, but the buzz factor dies down. So it’s critical for any broadcaster to have [returning series] that are good from an advertiser standpoint and that bring the viewers back, but also it’s important that we keep adding new formats, new concepts to the mix, for the buzz factor.” Looking to the future, Kamat says that the next major move for Colors, now that it is an encrypted pay-TV service in India—distributed to platforms by the Sony India and Discovery joint venture,The One Alliance—is international expansion. “The next milestone for us will be to get our international feeds in place,” he says. “We intend to launch in the U.S. and the U.K. soon.”
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