November 28, 2012 – A fresh generation of African leaders is to be featured on new Al Jazeera English series Tutu’s Children.

The four special documentaries will follow the exploits of participants in the leadership programme Desmond Tutu leads, which attempts to build a new network of African leaders who are together committed to tackling their countries’ most stubborn problems.

Viewers will witness the legendary archbishop pass the baton of moral leadership to these emerging leaders who are drawn from across Africa.

Once they pledge themselves to Tutu’s mission, the participants are put through group tasks designed to bring out their true colours – from conducting a choir to cooking under pressure.

They are provoked to re-examine their opinions in debates on the most controversial ‘African’ issues – racial hierarchy, corruption, privilege, and Western democracy. This experiment also pushes them out of their comfort zones emotionally, culturally and intellectually.

With exclusive access, the series follows Tutu’s class of 2012, focusing in particular detail on the lives of five very different participants, as together they are coached to become a ‘moral task force’ for Africa.

The young leaders are followed in their home cities as well as during the coaching, with filming in Tunis, Cape Town, Kigali, Johannesburg, Oxford and London over a period of 7 months. Tutu’s fellowship is run in conjunction with Oxford University.

Al Jazeera director of programmes Paul Eedle said:

“Tutu’s Children offers a rare chance to witness a turning point in the lives of those who may one day change the course of Africa’s history. The travails of our fantastic onscreen characters will entertain, and will also give our viewers a strong glimpse into the big issues affecting Africa.”

This series will begin on January 10^th 2013, and transmit for four weeks at the following times GMT:

Thursday             2000
Friday                    1200
Saturday              0100
Sunday                 0600
Monday               2000
Tuesday               1200
Wednesday       0100
Thursday             0600

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Biographies

1) Marc van Olst, Private Investor, 36

From South Africa
Lives in Johannesburg

From inventor to investor.

A scientist from a privileged background, Marc left his job as partner with global management consultancy firm McKinsey to become a private investor.

He now uses his commercial knowledge to help small businesses that benefit society in some way. By helping them, his vision is to help boost local economies, and in turn help catalyze an African economic renaissance.

Husband, father, and fitness fanatic, Marc once invented a patented mining device.

Marc’s one nagging doubt is that post-colonial Africa may not yet be ready for a white African leader. Will his experience during the series give him the answer?

2) Dr. Zied Mhirsi, Media Entrepreneur and Public Health Expert, 34
From Tunisia
Lives in Tunis

“We are here to establish a new style of leadership, not more dictatorship!”

The unstoppable Zied demands to be heard. 

Founder of Tunisia’s first English news website, Tunisia Live, where he leads a team of young journalists, on an average week Dr. Zied also hosts radio shows, writes articles and helps NGOs.

Medically-trained, he has also worked on the ground to treat Africa’s biggest public health problems and taboos.

But fresh from the front line of Tunisia’s revolution, some of his fellow Africans find his fire for democracy provocative.

Married to singer-songwriter Kesang Marstrand, there are many sides to Dr. Zied.

3) Swaady M. Martin-Leke, Tea Company CEO, 33
From Cote d’Ivoire
Lives between Lagos and Johannesburg

“If you were to scan my heart, you’d see the shape of Africa.”

CEO of YSWARA, a luxury tea company, Swaady often has a cosmopolitan approach to the continent’s problems.

A child refugee, Swaady’s family fled 2 violent coups. By now, she has lived in 11 countries and is convinced that Africa’s outlook has to change and that she has to be involved.

As one of multinational General Electric’s first female African leaders, she headed up transport development for sub-saharan Africa.

Divisive and nurturing in equal measure, she’s pushing for African women to take what she believes are their rightful positions in a man’s world. So much so, that she controversially only employs females, and buys from females.

Bringing a touch of glamour to development, she’s passionate about African fashion.

4) Lydie Hakizimana, Publishing Entrepreneur, 30
From Rwanda
Lives in Kigali

An accidental entrepreneur, and self-declared introvert, Lydie never expected leadership success.

When she returned to Rwanda after the genocide as a teenager, she found her generation had lost all hope in the future. But she believed that through stories they may find both escapism and hope.

So she began by selling her own books from a small store in her spare time. Now her company helps spread English literacy in schools by representing UK publisher Pearson in Rwanda.

Lydie wants the next generation to imagine a happier story – not easy when painful memories are still very raw.

5) Ndumiso Luthuli, Legal Advisor, 36 

From South Africa
Lives in Johannesburg

As first-hand witness to the anti-Apartheid struggle for black emancipation, Ndumiso believes passionately in the power of the law to protect civil liberties.

Having made it from the volatile townships of Johannesburg to the colleges of Oxford, then to his own law firm, he now plays a top role in South African business.

But never shy to express an opinion, will he intimidate people? Or will they just see him as the ‘big brother’ of the group? Ndumiso carries a presence and aura.

Action channel KIX brings the fastest growing sports league in the United States to Asia

Hong Kong (29 November, 2012) – Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), the operator of the largest bouquet of pan-Asian channels dedicated to Asian entertainment, and Lingerie Football League, LLC (LFL) jointly announced today the signing of a first and exclusive licensing deal for CTE’s action channel KIX to bring the Lingerie Football League (LFL) to audiences in Asia.

Since its premiere in 2009, the LFL has been touted as the ‘fastest growing sports league in the United States’ by NBC Sports and has drawn record television ratings for its U.S. broadcaster.

“We are excited to partner with the Lingerie Football League to bring America’s fastest growing sports league to Asia. The LFL is not about models attempting to play football. The LFL presents tough, sexy, and talented female athletes playing full-contact, American football.  At KIX, we promise our viewers the hottest action from around the world, and action doesn’t get any hotter than this,” said Betty Tsui, Vice President, Programme – KIX and Thrill, Celestial Tiger Entertainment.

“This partnership with Celestial Tiger Entertainment is yet another step towards building a global sport. We thank Celestial Tiger for being the pioneers that introduced LFL Football to Asia,” said, Mitchell Mortaza, Founder & Chairman, LFL Global.

The athletes in their uniform tops and bottoms as well as custom helmet and shoulder pads, have played to sold-out crowds across the US. The (12) twelve US franchises include teams such as the 3-time champion Los Angeles Temptation, Las Vegas Sin and Atlanta Steam all of whom have built an incredible international fan base. The enormous international audience of LFL Football led to the formation and launch of LFL Canada in 2012 followed by the premiere of LFL Australia in 2013 and LFL Europa in 2015. The LFL is also the first-ever women’s sport to have attracted its own video game set to be released in 2015.

KIX promises viewers non-stop, heart-pumping action entertainment anchored by four programming “pillars”: combat sports, action series, action reality and action movies. The LFL will be a key program for its combat sports pillar and will air first and exclusively on KIX in the first quarter of 2013 across the pan-Asian region.

The TV rights deal was brokered by LFL’s exclusive agent in Asia, Total Sports Asia.

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Media enquiries

Pauline Poon
Celestial Tiger Entertainment
T: +852 2239 6131
E: pauline.poon@celestialtiger.com

Julian Jackson
Total Sports Asia
T: +603 7626 8000
E: tsa.pr@totalsportsasia.com

Tyler DeHaven
Lingerie Football League, LLC
T: +1 702.778.5800
E: Tyler_DeHaven@LFLUS.com

About Celestial Tiger Entertainment

CELESTIAL TIGER ENTERTAINMENT (CTE) is a diversified media company dedicated to entertaining audiences in Asia and beyond. The company focuses on the operation of branded pay television channels, content creation and content distribution targeted at Asian consumers.

CTE operates a powerful bouquet of distinct pay television channels including: CELESTIAL MOVIES, the most broadly distributed 24-hour Chinese and Asian movies channel in the world; CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES, the gateway to an unparalleled array of Chinese movie masterpieces; CELESTIAL MOVIES ON DEMAND, Celestial’s subscription Video On Demand service; KIX, the ultimate in action entertainment; Thrill, Asia’s only horror and suspense movie channel; and KIX HD, featuring the best of action with a late-night dose of thrillers in high definition.

As one of Asia’s largest vertically integrated independent entertainment companies, CTE produces original content which complements its channels business. CTE is also the exclusive sales agent for Hollywood studio Lionsgate in Greater China and Southeast Asia, and represents Lionsgate’s television content and vast feature film library in Japan and Korea as well.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, CTE is a joint venture among Saban Capital Group, a leading private investment firm specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries; Celestial Pictures, a major Asian entertainment company wholly-owned by Astro, the owner and operator of the leading DTH platform in Malaysia; and Lionsgate, the world’s largest independent filmed entertainment studio.

About Lingerie Football League, LLC

The Lingerie Football League (‘LFL’) is the league extension of the annual Super Bowl halftime television special called ‘Lingerie Bowl’ which draws millions of worldwide viewers and blue-chip advertisers.

Since premiering in 2009 in league form, the LFL has been named ‘The fastest growing sports league in the US’ (NBC Sports). LFL Football has drawn record television ratings with its US national broadcaster MTV Networks, sell-out crowds, the first-ever women’s sport in history to be awarded a video game and launched international league play with LFL Canada (2012), LFL Australia (2013) and LFL Europa (2015). 

To place the early success’ of the LFL into perspective, in comparison to now billion dollar popular sports franchises such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) or World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) through their first three seasons of operation, the LFL has achieved far more national television viewership, attendance and growth through the same initial period of time.

About Total Sports Asia

Over 15 years of success has firmly established Total Sports Asia (TSA) as Asia’s only independent global sports marketing agency, with regional offices in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing (Greater China), and Mumbai & Delhi (India-Sub).

TSA has one of the most experienced management teams in the region. We have the advantage of bringing both top local and international talents together to service our wide range of clients. Our intimate knowledge and understanding of Asia’s diverse business cultures has earned us global recognition for our expertise in building, developing and marketing sports brands across the world.

We are a fully integrated sports marketing company offering media rights distribution, production, events management, sponsorship and consultancy services to our clients. We work with Asian and international rights holders, corporations, government bodies, advertising agencies, sports federations and media platform owners.

Our strength lies in creating innovative ways to bring sports properties closer to the fans and consumers while generating maximum exposure and demand for our clients’ brands.

TSA is recognized as Asia’s global leader in sports content and branding solutions agency. For more information please visit www.totalsportsasia.com

November 27, 2012 – Brightcove, a global provider of cloud content services, has announced that TVNZ, New Zealand’s national broadcaster, will launch a new TVNZ onDemand catch-up TV app for Apple iOS and Google Android devices using the Brightcove App Cloud mobile app platform. With App Cloud, TVNZ will be able to deliver long-form advertising-supported content experiences to viewers across devices, while also ensuring its content is protected with digital rights management (DRM) technology. The new mobile app will also leverage App Cloud’s seamless integration with the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform, which is currently used to power video content across TVNZ’s Web properties and for the desktop version of TVNZ onDemand.

Read more at Advanced Television

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL TO AIR ALIEN DEEP, TAKING VIEWERS TO NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN SHIPWRECKS, WILDLIFE, AND VOLCANOES THAT LURK IN THE DARKEST REACHES OF THE OCEAN

This amazing new mini-series premieres in Singapore this month, in association with Samsung Electronics

SINGAPORE, 23 Nov 2012 – The ALIEN DEEP. It’s a place in the sea, thousands of metres beneath the surface and hundreds of metres from the first crack of light, where the planet’s last and greatest secrets hide in the cold darkness of endless night. Dr. Robert Ballard, famed explorer who found the Titanic at its final resting place and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, takes viewers into these underwater worlds where no man has gone before.

FOX International Channels announced today that this five part series begins airing this month in Singapore on National Geographic Channel (StarHub TV Channel 411 and mio TV Channel 201) in association with Samsung Electronics. Dr. Ballard will be joined on camera by leaders in modern science, like Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and TV personality Bill Nye the Science Guy, as well as professional surfers, fishermen, and boat pilots who understand the sea at an instinctive level. From scientists to surfers, Dr. Ballard and his team will travel the world, seeking answers to questions at the root of earth and humanity. Where did life come from? What made the continents? What is the ocean’s engine? Are rogue waves real? Will men ever call the sea home?

To find these answers, Dr. Ballard visits breath-taking sites like volcanoes submerged a thousand metres beneath the Hawaiian islands, to shipwrecks on forgotten Ancient Greek trade routes, to cracks in the ocean floor where red-hot magma pours into open water. It is a surreal journey where National Geographic Channel’s cameras catch never-before-seen rock formations, lava vents, and unusual species that call the ocean-bottom home. Dr. Ballard will depend on the knowledge of peer leaders in science to decode the evidence he finds in this bizarre world.

“I want to discover as fast as possible,” Dr. Ballard says. “Because in my lifetime, I will not get the job done. It’ll take generations. So I’m trying to accelerate the rate of discovery. I’m selfish. I want to see it before I die.” In ALIEN DEEP, Dr. Ballard and his teammates will push the threshold of exploration, braving depths that would crush a state-of-the-art nuclear submarine to bring back images of objects and life forms from places that other scientists long ago deemed impossible for survival. What they find along the way has the potential to alter modern science and archaeology.

Episodes include:

ALIEN DEEP: FIRES OF CREATION

Dr. Ballard explores the history of volcanoes, Hawaii, and life on earth as he travels from the summit of Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii to the crown of its submerged cousin Loihi, a voyage that spans over 5000 metres from top to bottom. His trip – from the lifeless world above the clouds, through the diverse ecosystems on the mountainside, and into the ocean deep – runs the gamut of life on earth. What he witnesses at the end where heat and magma bubble up from the earth’s crust some 900 metres beneath the sea, is a real-time depiction of the birth of the continents and life itself.

ALIEN DEEP: WRECKS OF THE ABYSS

Textbooks say that the Ancients did not have the guts to brave the open sea, out of sight of land and exposed to the elements, but not surprisingly, Dr. Ballard and his crew are out again to rewrite history. In Wrecks of the Abyss, captain and crew sail out into the deep water sea lanes of the Mediterranean in search of ancient shipwrecks that generations of scholars have written-off as impossible finds. “I’m out

here trying to prove how adventurous the ancient mariners really were,” Dr. Ballard says, and he is proven right when he discovers two lost ships in precisely the spot his predecessors said they wouldn’t be: in thousands of metres of water, headed from Ancient Greece to ports in the Pharaohs’ Egypt. They are huge discoveries that have the potential to alter our understanding of the ancient world.

ALIEN DEEP: IT’S ALIVE

“I know it’s really hard for people to grasp the concept that the Earth is alive, but we’re on a creature that’s been around for billions of years,” Dr. Ballard says about the heart of his research in It’s Alive. Together, with peer scientists from Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and the U.S., Dr. Ballard searches for the origin of life in the planet’s most unforgiving environment: the darkness and chill of waters thousands of metres beneath the surface. Here, on the slopes of the Mid-Ocean ridges that divide the earth’s tectonic plates, are formations called “chimneys,” where molten lava superheats the ocean, mixing in the nutrients and hardening magma that allows life to thrive against the odds. Watch as a global brain trust searches for clues to life’s beginning in the columns of smoke emanating from these mysterious volcanic formations lining the ocean floor.

ALIEN DEEP: OCEAN’S FURY

What is the killing blow of the perfect storm? Rogue waves. For centuries, mariners have told tales of these supposed super-waves, freaks of nature that emerge from nowhere and swallow whole ships in the blink of an eye; but only in the last two decades have we been able to detect and measure them. Dr. Ballard thinks that rogue waves – and all waves – are getting larger and more frequent on the seas. In Ocean’s Fury, Ballard travels the world in search of the forces behind the motion of the ocean, meeting with scientists and practitioners along the way. He talks to oceanographers, climatologists, river boat pilots, surfers, fishers, and more – all to prove a single point: the ocean is growing more dangerous by the day.

ALIEN DEEP: INNER SPACE VS. OUTER SPACE

Space, we are told, is the “final frontier” but that description discounts the mystery of inner space – the deep sea – where few men have been and modern technology fails as readily as it does in outer space. “We may explore it [outer space], but the future of the human race is right here on planet Earth,” says Ballard. In Inner Space vs. Outer Space, Dr. Ballard takes-on the long-held belief that space colonies will save the earth, as argued by on-air Apollo 11 crewmember Buzz Aldrin. To do so, Dr. Ballard travels to Hawaii to meet with experimental open-water aqua farmers; to California, where fast moving personal underwater vehicle are being developed for future ocean colonies; and Texas and Alaska where oil platforms are being converted into sea colonies and new imaging technology is unlocking resources hidden on the ocean bottom.

ALIEN DEEP is produced for National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) by National Geographic Television (NGT). For NGT, series producer is Gary Johnstone. For NGCI, Executive Vice President and Head of International Content is Hamish Mykura.

The episodes of mini-series will air at the following times on StarHub TV Channel 411 and mio TV Channel 201:

• Alien Deep: Fires of Creation – Wednesday, 21 November, 9pm (Repeats: 25 November, Sunday, 7.55am and 28 November, Wednesday, 3.15pm)
• Alien Deep: Wrecks of The Abyss – Wednesday, 28 November, 9pm
• Alien Deep: It’s Alive – Wednesday, 5 December, 9pm
• Alien Deep: Ocean’s Fury – Wednesday, 12 December, 9pm
• Alien Deep: Inner vs. Outer Space – Wednesday, 19 December, 9pm

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About National Geographic Channels International

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) inspires viewers through its smart, innovative programming that questions what we know, how we view the world and what drives us forward. A business enterprise owned by National Geographic Ventures and FOX Entertainment Group, NGCI contributes to the National Geographic Society’s commitment to exploration, conservation and education through its six channels: National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Wild HD, Nat Geo Adventure and Nat Geo Music.

Globally, National Geographic Channel (including NGC U.S., which is a joint venture of NGV and Fox Cable Networks Group) is available in 435 million homes in 173 countries and 37 languages.

For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.

About FOX International Channels

FOX International Channels (FIC) is News Corporation’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 350 wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, factual, sports and movie channels across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in 37 languages. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high-definition extensions reach over 1.1 billion households worldwide. We also operate a global online advertising unit .FOX (“dot-fox”) specialized in online video and display, and four TV production houses.

In Asia, FIC operates or distributes 33 channel brands, including the FOX, STAR and National Geographic brands, with over 100 feeds across 14 markets, As the leading pay-TV network in the region, FIC reaches more than 550 million cumulative subscribers across Asia Pacific and the Middle East with offices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Australia, New Zealand and the UAE. For more information, please visit www.foxinternationalchannels.com.

For media inquiries please contact:

Viviane Then 
TACTIC PR 
e: viviane.then@tacticpr.com.sg 
t: 6325 8271 
m: 9735 5318 

Diana Low
TACTIC PR 
e: diana.low@tacticpr.com.sg 
t: 6235 8264 
m: 9877 6706 

November 23, 2012 – A Myanmar TV station has bought rights for the English Premier league football games, benefiting from the easing of sanctions against the Asian country.

Myanmar’s SkyNet will now show all the matches in the next two seasons.

“SkyNet is delighted to be able to offer the world’s most followed football league to its viewers,” company chief Daw Myint Myint Win said.

Read more at BBC News