Member Press Release

Turner brings a taste of POGO to Thailand

turner silver 123BANGKOK (March 30, 2015) – Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific has partnered with Thai free-to-air broadcaster Channel 3 to host a daily two-hour programming block of POGO-branded content from March 30. The block offers a mix of animated and live-action original content from POGO, one of the most popular kids’ channels in India that Turner launched in 2004.

The block will air in Thai on the Family Channel 13 from 4-6pm on weekdays and 7-9am on weekends. Its programming includes first-run and exclusive content with live-action shows such as M.A.D. (which stands for Music, Art and Dance) and F.A.Q. (a science show for inquisitive youngsters), and Chhota Bheem, one of India’s biggest ever animated homegrown franchises.

Phil Nelson, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, North Asia and Southeast Asia Pacific, Turner International Asia Pacific Limited, said “For more than a decade, kids in India have loved POGO and we are confident that its content will also work well in Thailand. It’s yet another example of how Turner is creating engaging local viewing solutions and we’re looking forward to working closely with Channel 3.”

Surin Krittiyaphongphun, Executive Vice President, added “We are excited to bring the POGO brand to Thailand for the first time and local audiences are going to love it. The deal is a result of a great partnership – Channel 3 is one of the country’s most watched channels and Turner is a world leader in curating and creating content, with an impressive track record in delivering viewers in Thailand. We’re also looking forward to seeing how the brand evolves and develops in the coming months.”

Although this is the first time that the POGO brand has travelled outside India in this way, Turner has been very active recently in Thailand. This announcement follows successful launches in Thailand for Turner’s other kids’ brands Boomerang and Toonami – the country’s No. 1 and 2 kids’ cable and satellite channels – as a result of a partnership with the Major Kantana Group. At the same time, Cartoon Network, the ever-popular premium channel on TrueVisions, opened Cartoon Network Amazone, its first ever branded waterpark in Bang Saray, near Pattaya.

After the block’s launch, Turner and Channel 3 will explore opportunities for co-productions and local original production to offer even more tailor-made content to local viewers.

– Ends –

Media enquiries
James Moore, Turner International Asia Pacific
James.Moore@turner.com
+852 3128-3720

About POGO
Catering to a generation of kids who bounce higher, play smarter, think louder and dream bigger, POGO is Turner’s only-for-India kids’ entertainment network that launched in 2004. POGO is amongst the leading kids’ channels in India and features both animated and live-action content that spans multiple genres from comedy and art to games and curiosity. POGO is a brand created and distributed by Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc.

About Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc.
Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. creates and distributes award-winning brands throughout Asia Pacific. In the region, Turner runs 46 channels in 13 languages in 38 countries, including CNN International, CNNj, CNN, HLN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, POGO, Toonami, World Heritage Channel, Warner TV, Oh!K, Turner Classic Movies, truTV, WB, MondoTV, TABI Channel and HBO in South Asia. Turner also manages distribution for HBO Defined and HBO Hits in India. Turner is a Time Warner company.

Asia’s Next Top Model Premiere Tops Charts

FIC-NEW-LOGO-123MARCH 30, 2015 – HONG KONG – FOX International Channels’ (FIC) Asia’s Top Model Season 3 (AsNTM) premiered on March 25 across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia to unprecedented ratings. AsNTM is an FIC regional production for the network’s female-targeted entertainment channel StarWorld. Additionally the show generated tremendous online engagement and conversation across key social media platforms, making it a highly trending topic on its premiere night.

In Singapore, the 10:35pm primetime telecast placed StarWorld in the #1 spot amongst all western general entertainment cable channels in that timeslot amongst female viewers aged 18-39. Amongst the particularly sought-after demographic of women aged 18-25, the telecast smashed records as the highest-rated ever in the series’ run on the channel. In the Philippines, the season 3 premiere was the highest-rated debut episode of all seasons on StarWorld.*

Online conversations around the show increased significantly the week leading up to the show launch and spiked the night of the premiere. The buzz was across blogs, forums, news and key social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram but the majority of the social conversation was driven by Twitter, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines. Asia’s Next Top Model ranked 6th in Yahoo! Indonesia’s trending topics and the show (@asntm) and host Georgina Wilson (@ilovegeorgina) were top trending topics on Twitter in the Philippines the evening of the premiere. The network has also invested in building the fan community around show, with its Instagram page (asntm_3) more than doubling in followers to 16.5K since promotion for AsNTM S3 began in February, and rising rapidly. **

*Source: Kantar Media Singapore & Philippines (National Urban). 25 March 2015. Target: Female 18-39 with cable and Female 18-25 with cable in Singapore. All people 2+ with cable in the Philippines.
**Source: Sysomos
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Irdeto and Alibaba Group Strengthen Anti-Piracy Efforts in China

irdeto123CCBN 2015 – BEIJING, CHINA, 26 March 2015: Irdeto today announced its latest anti-piracy success with partner Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, where over 5,000 online advertisements for pirate devices from 71 manufacturers and suppliers on Alibaba.com were identified and taken down in one month.

The rise of illegal devices being manufactured in and distributed from China has contributed to an overall increase in pay media piracy. To combat piracy in China and around the world, Alibaba Group has been working closely with Irdeto since 2013 when a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed to formally support and reconfirm commitment to anti-piracy initiatives on the Alibaba Group e-commerce platforms.

The pirate devices receive content via Internet servers that are typically hosted in jurisdictions where it is difficult to enforce intellectual property rights. Therefore, addressing the problem at source and preventing the supply of these devices proves to be an effective deterrent to the pirates and ensures that the rights holders get paid for the content they own.

As part of the MOU, Irdeto conducted investigations into Alibaba.com advertisers that market and sell these pirate devices and notified Alibaba.com to have their advertisements removed. Alibaba.com played a pre-emptive role in assisting with the removal of 5,389 ads marketing pirate devices from 71 manufacturers and suppliers that offered content from Irdeto’s pay TV operator customers.

“We thank Alibaba for leading the way and supporting anti-piracy measures in China. Pay TV operators and content owners rely on a wide range of technologies, automated mechanisms and global collaboration networks to disrupt broadcast and online piracy. Through our partnership with Alibaba, we are able to stop illegal devices at the point they are being sold and protect the revenues of our pay media customers,” said Rory O’Connor, VP Services, Irdeto.

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About Irdeto
Irdeto is a world leader in Multiscreen, Revenue Assurance and Media Protection solutions for pay TV operators, OTT service providers and content owners. Irdeto enables pay media companies to provide a personal media experience for their consumers, uncover new revenue opportunities and offer new forms of entertainment on broadcast, broadband and mobile networks. The company offers an advanced portfolio of rights management, multi-screen, home networking, piracy control, media protection and business intelligence services. Irdeto’s success in the market is evidenced by its broadcast software security solutions being the most widely deployed in the world for pay TV on satellite, cable, terrestrial and IP networks and by helping customers preserve business value and generate new revenue with its Multiscreen services. Irdeto is a subsidiary of multinational media group Naspers (JSE: NPN). Please visit Irdeto at www.irdeto.com

For further information, please contact:

Joyce Wang
Senior Account Manager
Waggener Edstrom Communications
P: +86.010.5900.1057
M: +86.186.1195.1820
jwang@waggeneredstrom.com

Katie Walsh
Director, Public Relations
Irdeto
Mobile: +1-603-738-9599
Email: katherine.walsh@irdeto.com

Conax establishes Beijing test centre

conax123March 27, 2015 – Conax, part of the Kudelski Group and a provider of complete video content and service protection, is in the final stages of establishing a Conax test centre in Beijing. The facility will provide authorised Pre-Testing and Conformity Testing services certifying client device conformance for Conax content protection functionality requirements…

Read more at Advanced Television

Conax establishes Beijing test center; new regional offering for Asia Pacific set-top-box manufacturers

conax123Beijing, CCBN 2015, March 26th, 2015: Conax, part of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) and a leading provider of complete video content and service protection for pay-TV operators and OTT service providers, today announced it is in the final stages of establishing a Conax test center in Beijing. The facility will provide authorized Pre-Testing and Conformity Testing services certifying client device conformance for Conax content protection functionality requirements. Conax works closely with a wide range of STB partners and other device manufacturers to ensure Conax enabled client devices are developed according to its strict requirements for functionality and security. The new test hub extends the security provider’s current offering for 3rd party test facilities in Europe and India and aims to offer cost efficient access for set-top-box manufacturers and partners in Asia Pacific.

  • The Conax testing facility in Beijing will be available from early May 2015
  • This week Conax is available during CCBN 2015, Beijing, at a CCBN event suite at the Beijing Radisson Blu. The Conax team will have information about Conax client device testing (link to details) and demonstrations of Conax’ broad portfolio of security solutions for pay-TV and OTT operators

Establishment of the test facility in Beijing further exemplifies how Conax has been able to cultivate synergies within the Kudelski Group since its acquisition by the Group in April 2014. Sister company, Nagra, has a well-established and highly reputable test and certification center in Beijing providing Conax with an agile and trusted solution for quickly establishing regional testing services. A dedicated team of test engineers is being trained and certified to drive and uphold the Conax requirements and robust testing regimes at the facility.

– “During the last 2 years, Conax has security integrated close to 200 STB models, confirms Erik Abrahamsen, acting EVP Services, Conax. While a very high percentage of the manufacturers are based in Asia, we are pleased to introduce a regional offering for our partners. Establishing a test center closer to our STB partners will provide flexibility and reduced costs for STB projects, benefiting both our partners and our customers – leading pay-TV operators across the globe.”

– “It’s a great opportunity to further develop Kudelski Group synergies. It will contribute to extend our service offering that set-top-box manufacturers will benefit from, said Hervé Goupil, Vice President Device Integration and Trusted Platform, NAGRA. Having more than 10 years of experience in testing STB models, we have the capability to ramp up quickly and efficiently a dedicated team for Conax activities”, he adds.

About Conax
A part of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD:S), Conax is a leading global specialist around the total service protection for digital TV services over broadcast, broadband and connected devices. Conax provides telcos, cable, satellite, IP, mobile and terrestrial and broadband operations with the innovative, flagship Conax Contego™ family of flexible and cost-efficient solutions to deliver premium content securely and enable operators with easy access to the OTT multiscreen arena. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, ISO 9001 & 27001 certified Conax technology enables secure content revenues for 400 operators in 85 countries globally. For more information, please visit www.conax.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Conax media contact
Leslie Johnsen
Head of Public Relations & Communications
Mob: +47 41 45 80 43
Email: Leslie.Johnsen@conax.com

Conax Client Devices contact
Arild Nergaard
Client Devices Director
Mob: +47 91798861
Email: Arild.Nergaard@conax.com

Scripps Networks expands regional teams

scripps 123March 25, 2015 – Scripps Networks UK & EMEA, a division of the global producer of lifestyle content, has announced two new appointments as it continues to grow its international business.

As Senior Vice President, Commercial for Scripps Networks UK & EMEA, Ross Hair will be responsible for distribution, brand growth, and revenue across its television properties: Food Network, Travel Channel and Fine Living. Reporting into the Managing Director of Scripps Networks UK & EMEA, Hair will have direct responsibility for the Affiliate Sales and On-Air Ad Sales teams, and work closely with Programming and Digital to build cross-platform revenue. he begins his role on 30th March…

Read more at Advanced Television