SINGAPORE, OCTOBER 22, 2015 – THE LEISURE CLASS, the end product of this season’s Project Greenlight, HBO’s docu-reality series which takes a revealing, uncensored look at the challenges facing a first-time director, debuts same time as the US – Tuesday, November 3 at 11am on HBO (StarHub TV Channel 601), with a same day primetime encore at 9pm.

The eight-episode fourth season of Project Greenlight, with two parts premiering back to back October 30 to November 2, from 10pm on HBO Signature (StarHub TV Ch 603), began with a digital competition, as thousands of aspiring filmmakers submitted three-minute short films via a Facebook page. The pool of 5000 contestants eventually narrowed to 13 finalists, each of whom was given a scene to direct for their final project, based on a script provided to them. Jason Mann bested the competition and was chosen the winner. In addition to making his directorial debut, Mann co-wrote the screenplay of the film with Pete Jones.

THE LEISURE CLASS and season four of Project Greenlight will also be available on HBO GO / HBO On Demand on StarHub Go.

THE LEISURE CLASS revolves around William, a debonair Englishman celebrating his imminent marriage to Fiona, the beautiful daughter of a U.S. senator and prominent East Coast family. But William is a con man; his identity is fake and his intent is to embezzle funds from the senator’s charitable organization. Unexpectedly, William realizes he has true feelings for Fiona and now regrets his predicament.

On the eve of the wedding, the sudden arrival of William’s unstable, estranged brother, Leonard, threatens to expose both William’s true identity and his scam. Unable to convince Leonard to leave, William watches helplessly as his brother insinuates himself into the family and the wedding festivities. A long night ensues, during which Leonard’s reckless behavior not only calls into question the true nature of William and Fiona’s relationship, but also reveals disturbing, long-hidden truths about Fiona’s family.

The cast of THE LEISURE CLASS includes Ed Weeks (“The Mindy Project”) as the groom-to-be con man, William Rooney; Tom Bell (“Humans“) as William’s estranged brother, Leonard; Bridget Regan (“Jane the Virgin“) as William’s bride-to-be, Fiona Langston; Scottie Thompson (“The Blacklist“) as Fiona’s sister Allison; Melanie Zanetti (“Battle of the Damned“) as Fiona’s youngest sister, Carolyn; Christine Lakin (“Family Guy”) as Leonard’s new friend; Rory Knox Johnston (“Comedy Bang! Bang!“) as the family butler; with Brenda Strong (“Dallas”; two-time Emmy® nominee for “Desperate Housewives”) as Fiona’s mother, Charlotte Langston, and Bruce Davison (Best Supporting Actor Oscar® nominee for “Longtime Companion”; Golden Globe winner for “Short Cuts” and “Longtime Companion”) as Fiona’s father, U.S. Senator Edward Langston.

THE LEISURE CLASS is an HBO Films presentation in association with Adaptive Studios, Pearl Street Films and Miramax, in association with Duly Noted, Inc.; directed by Jason Mann from a screenplay by Pete Jones and Jason Mann; executive produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, Jennifer Todd, TJ Barrack, Perrin Chiles and Marshall Lewy; produced by Effie T. Brown and Marc Joubert.

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ABOUT HBO ASIA

Singapore-based HBO Asia brings the best of Hollywood to Asia first through its exclusive licensing deals with major Hollywood and independent studios, including Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate. HBO Asia has proprietary and award-winning HBO and HBO Asia Original programmes that are produced exclusively for HBO viewers. Wholly owned by HBO (a Time Warner company), HBO Asia reaches 23 territories across Asia and offers a bouquet of channels and services including 24-hour commercial-free subscription movie channels in standard-definition and high-definition – HBO, HBO SIGNATURE, HBO FAMILY, HBO HITS, CINEMAX and RED by HBO – as well as HBO GO and HBO ON DEMAND. HBO Asia is also the exclusive distributor of BabyFirst and the DreamWorks channel in Asia. Log on to www.hboasia.com for more information.

22 Oct, 2015 – Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) announces the launch of its first Ultra-HD (UHD) television channel “4K-SAT” at 122 degrees E on AsiaSat 4, marking a new era for AsiaSat’s satellite broadcasting services in the region.

This new UHD channel will be available free-to-air (FTA) across more than 50 countries and regions within AsiaSat 4’s enormous footprint, spanning from New Zealand to Pakistan and part of the Middle East. Asian TV operators and home viewers with an AsiaSat 4 C-band antenna and a HEVC set top box will be able to receive the UHD channel directly.

Read more at Satnews

22 Oct, 2015 – The Chinese online video service iQIYI has entered into a multiyear agreement with NBCUniversal International Distribution involving the digital rights for a slew of library movies and new releases.

As part of the newly expanded deal between the two, iQIYI gains access to the largest collection of films from Universal Pictures to date in China. This is for both existing titles and new movies to be released in China for the next few years. The service reached 5 million paid subscribers as of June 15.

Read more at World Screen

22 Oct, 2015 – When the history of Indian theatre is written sometime in the future, historians will make references to the pre- and the post Beauty and the Beast era. The date: 21 October 2015 will be enshrined as the day that changed the Indian musical theatre world. That was the day that Disney India had an exclusive premier of its one-year in production international theatrical musical.

It played to a packed house consisting of Bollywood stars, directors, producers, broadcasters, distributors and a select high net worth client list of Citibank credit cards at the National Sports Club of India Dome in Mumbai.

Read more at Indian Television

(Beijing, 21 October 2015) BBC Worldwide has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with China’s leading media group, Shanghai Media Group (SMG), to co-produce Coast China.

The BAFTA-winning show is in its 10th series in the UK and celebrates the unique character of coastal communities in Britain – exploring a wealth of fascinating human stories through a mixture of expert testimonies, contemporary storytelling and stunning aerial photography.

Coast China will be the third international version based on the long running BBC series and follows Coast Australia which has just completed its second series and Coast New Zealand.

Coast China will be produced by one of SMG’s subsidiaries, DocuChina and Yunjijianglai, a subsidiary of DocuChina’s. Founded by SMG in 2006, DocuChina is the first TV channel in China to air only documentaries. It has become a satellite channel since 2014, reaching an audience base of 400 million. Yunjijianglai, established in 2015, is a company specialising in international co-production projects.

“We are delighted to be cementing our relationship with SMG by announcing this exciting new phase of our long term alliance and look forward to working together towards the exchange of expertise and creation in the making of Coast,” said Kelvin Yau, General Manager, Greater China for BBC Worldwide.

“SMG and BBC Worldwide have enjoyed extensive collaborations over the years. I’m delighted that our collaboration will now expand to this new co-production of Coast China. SMG is committed to producing top-notch documentaries for audiences in China and the world and this is a brilliant start.” said Madame Wang Jiannjun, Director-General and President, Shanghai Media Group.

Filming of Coast China, a six-episode series, will commence in Spring 2017.

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For more information, please contact:

For BBC Worldwide:
Jeanne Leong
BBC Worldwide
Tel: +65 6849 5292
Email: Jeanne.Leong@bbc.com

Gladys Sim
BBC Worldwide
Tel: +65 6849 5292
Email: Gladys.Sim@bbc.com

Notes to editors:
About BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its vision is to build the BBC’s brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world. This is achieved through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values. The business also champions British creativity globally.

In 2014/15, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £138.6m and headline sales of £1,001.8m and returned a record £226.5m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website:http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview
bbcworldwide.com
twitter.com/bbcwpress

21 October, 2015 – The brothers, who took over the 21st Century Fox empire July 1, sit down together and open up about who’s in charge, sister Liz, the new age of television and whether their rebellious spirit can create the next great media era.

Read more at the Hollywood Reporter

20 Oct, 2015 – Infinity is infinite only because the finite exists. While this statement may sound like a tongue twister, I find it particularly interesting in the context of our media and entertainment industry. Is the 32GB memory space on your mobile phone infinite? Are the 300+ channels that you receive on your set-top-box (assuming the rays of digitisation have reached your doorstep) infinite? Are you lost every morning in the myriad supplements that your newspaper vendor bombards you with? Or do the radio frequencies on your car’s music system appear finite? Can you count the number of worthwhile reality shows on your fingertips (the ultimate ode to finiteness)? Is the number of movie theatres in your city limited?

Read more at the Financial Express

20 Oct, 2015 – Richard Plepler has a message for Brian Roberts: Don’t turn your back on his streaming service.

The HBO CEO called out his Comcast counterpart and multiple other leading U.S. pay-TV distributors who don’t offer HBO Now with their broadband products as digital giants like Apple and Google have over the past nine months.

“If you’re Brian (Roberts) and you have 6 million broadband subs, why would you not bundle HBO and share that revenue with us? Why would you give up that real estate and not be paid for it? I don’t understand it,” he lamented Tuesday evening in a keynote Q&A at the WSJD Live event in Laguna Beach, Calif.

Read more at Variety

19 Oct, 2015 – Malaysian pay-TV operator Astro have launched a new OD (on demand) offering.

OD is available to Astro customers through an Internet-connected Personal Video Recorder (PVR) at home, or via Astro on the Go (AOTG) on a smartphone, laptop or tablet, with options to suit different needs and every budget. Non-Astro customers can also enjoy our OD content via AOTG.

Dato’ Rohana Rozhan, Chief Executive Officer of Astro said, “Malaysians are sophisticated consumers, increasingly online and connected, increasingly plugged into the digital grid, increasingly watching content outside the home, online and offline. Today we see a rising demand for Video on Demand services. OD is our new complementary way of consuming content, at home or on the go.”

Read more at Content+Technology