Los Angeles, October 13, 2015 – FOX, the exclusive international home of The Walking Dead and global leader in delivering the best scripted entertainment to international audiences first, today revealed an impressive 17% year-on-year live ratings growth (+24% reach increase) for the season six return of the world’s #1 show.

In the 18 markets across Europe and Asia where Live Overnights were available at time of release, The Walking Dead consistently outperformed its prior seasons records and dominated as #1 in its slot. In key markets such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, the premiere episode became the highest rated live TV hour on FOX ever.

Hernan Lopez, President and Chief Executive Officer, FOX International Channels commented: “Around the world, FOX is synonymous with “The Best. First,” and now clearly also, first in ratings. We are thrilled to see our #1 series continue to perform so well on FOX and are convinced this season will continue to deliver explosive entertainment and ratings to match.”

Performance highlights available at time of issue:

The premiere was up 17% in rating across 18 metered markets from prior season and boosted the channel’s Prime Time average 5-fold. The live opening attracted 4.3 million viewers increasing last year’s reach by +25%.

In the highly competitive UK market, where The Walking Dead was pegged against the Lithuania vs England football match on ITV, the premiere achieved phenomenal success, scoring the highest Overnights audience ever recorded on FOX. +11% vs last year’s season opener. FOX comfortably became the most watched Pay TV channel during the timeslot, with an audience more than four times bigger than its nearest rival, beating out the likes of BBC2, Channel 5 and Discovery. The Talking Dead, which FOX has licensed in the UK, also got off to a positive start, helping FOX to retain its hold as the most watched Pay TV channel through Prime Time. It should also be noted that the #TheWalkingDeadUK was the top UK Twitter trend during the premiere.
This year’s premiere of The Walking Dead in Germany drew the largest viewership to FOX ever, resulting in a new record of 3.7% daily share for MF14-59 Pay TV Individuals for the channel.

In the Netherlands, The Walking Dead premiere became the best ever performing entertainment hour on FOX, attracting 153% more Adults 6+ compared to the season 5 debut and delivering +37% from the previously held record for the season 5 finale.

Also in Spain, the premiere episode drew the largest audience for FOX to date, commanding a 2.4% share of live viewing for the slot. Year-on-year, The Walking Dead was up 5% against prior season premiere and up 18% compared to the whole season 5 average.

In Korea, The Walking Dead ranked #1 among all M30-39 in Pay TV and over performed the prior year’s debut by 77% in total Pay TV Households. The premiere also saw an impressive 375% growth in Metro MF25-39 audiences compare to last year.

The premiere in Taiwan was up 18% compared to the premiere of season 5 part B last year, and was the only foreign language program to make the top 10 total TV ranker for the timeslot.

Across the Balkans, The Walking Dead premiere ranked #1 across all pay in Croatia and Slovenia.

The Walking Dead was simultaneously launched in all 127 FOX markets on October 12, reinforcing the network’s “The Best. First” programming and scheduling strategy and reaffirming FOX’s commitment to its viewers to deliver the best entertainment programming before anyone else.

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ABOUT FOX
FOX is FOX International Channel’s global flagship general entertainment basic cable channel, promising international audiences “The Best. First” in entertainment programming. The brand is synonymous with groundbreaking Hollywood entertainment and delivers a varied programing schedule that includes comedy, drama, science fiction, action and animation. FOX’s exclusive, original and breakthrough series include The Simpsons, The Walking Dead, Empire, Scream Queens, American Horror Story, Homeland and others. FOX is available as a linear channel and through authenticated FOX Play apps in 31 local languages in over 255 million homes across 127 countries outside the U.S. As a result of its scale and global synergies, FOX was able to pioneer a global day-and-date release strategy for key series, and remains the only international network able to release TV series worldwide at the same time as the U.S. Launched in August of 1993,

ABOUT FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS
FOX International Channels (FIC) is 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 300+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, sports, factual and movie channels in 45 languages across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. FIC’s core channel brands include FOX, FOX Sports, FOX Life, FOX+ and National Geographic Channel. FIC’s movie channels include FOX Movies, FOX Movies Premium and Star Chinese Movies. Our non-linear brands include FOX Play, FOX Play+ and Nat Geo Play. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high- definition extensions, reach over 1.825 billion cumulative households worldwide. In addition, FIC owns and operates two production studios and produces thousands of local programming hours for its wholly owned channels and third parties. In operation since: August 14, 1993.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Alexandra Marinescu | FOX International Channels
alexandra.marinescu@fox.com | +1 310 369 5487

Paris, 13 October 2015 – At the inaugural TV Sports Awards held yesterday evening in Monaco at SPORTEL, the leading convention for sports media industry leaders, Eurosport picked up the awards in all three nominated categories, concluding a stellar month for the channel in which it was also awarded ‘Channel of the Year’ at the Content Innovation Awards. The TV Sports Awards were voted for by the attendees at SPORTEL.

Peter Hutton, Chief Executive Officer, Eurosport said: “It was a fantastic surprise and achievement to go home with three awards at the TV Sports Awards yesterday evening. It is great to be recognised in the Best TV Rights Deal and Best Broadcaster categories in a year in which we have been investing heavily at Eurosport to enhance the viewing experience for sports fans. Not only have we demonstrated a commitment to secure some of the best sports properties, like the Olympic Games in Europe for Eurosport and Discovery from 2018, but then delivering the most compelling experience to the viewer. This year, we have had more prime time shows, better on-site production and great on-screen talent that have all helped deliver record breaking ratings around flagship events and I’m delighted this has been recognised by our peers at SPORTEL.

“Being named Media Executive of the Year is the icing on the cake but I am fortunate to be able to represent a fantastic and talented team of colleagues at Eurosport and Discovery. All three of these awards are for them and for all their hard work throughout this transformative year.”

In June this year, the IOC awarded all TV and multiplatform broadcast rights in 50 countries across Europe to Discovery and Eurosport from 2018-2024. With an average of 10 channels in every market and the #1 European online and OTT sports offering, Discovery and Eurosport will deliver more coverage across more screens than ever before to over 700 million people across Europe. The agreement ensures comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Games, including the guarantee to provide extensive free-to-air television coverage in all territories.

Since Eurosport became a Discovery company in May 2014, the channel has acquired more than 8,000 hours of coverage – with more than 4,000 of that live – per year across more than 50 properties with the ambition to strengthen Eurosport as a premier sports destination with the most compelling, premium sporting events shared with local fans. In addition to the Olympic Games, new rights acquired this year include the Champions League in Singapore, F1 in Portugal, Wimbledon in Belgium and Serie A and Ligue 1 in the Netherlands.

Partly as a result of significant investment in production and on-air talent and expertise, the channel has achieved record breaking ratings for many major events such as the tennis US Open and cycling’s Vuelta a España, for which the 2015 editions were the best ever on Eurosport. Eurosport 2 has also seen an uplift of ratings across Europe by approximately 20 percent this year.

The TV Sports Awards is a new awards ceremony created to honour some of the biggest brands and most influential figures in the global sports media industry, coinciding with the annual SPORTEL Monaco convention and featuring an array of sporting legends and high-profile guests from the world of sport, entertainment and media including football superstars Rio Ferdinand and Luis Figo.

Co-organised by SPORTEL and global sports charity Play for Change, the event is set up to raise valuable funds in support of the charity’s initiatives around the globe dedicated to the provision of life changing opportunities for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The 2015 shortlist included:

Best TV Rights Deal:
Discovery and Eurosport agreement for European rights of the Olympic Games
WTA agreement with Perform for global media rights
The Bundesliga’s betting rights deal with Sportsman Media Group

Best Sports Broadcaster:
Eurosport
BT Sports
Le TV Sports

Media Executive of the Year:
Peter Hutton, CEO, Eurosport
Joerg Daubitzer Managing Director, DFL Sports Enterprises
Javier Tebas, President, La Liga

12 Oct, 2015 – China-based Letv has obtained the exclusive broadcasting rights of English Premier League (EPL) in Hong Kong for three consecutive years from 2016-2019, replacing the previous EPL broadcaster, PCCW.

Letv said it would rebroadcast some of the upcoming EPL games in 4K resolution (aka ultra high-definition) in various modes — using multiple signals, to multiple devices, with commentary in multiple languages, and providing multiple ways of interaction.

Read more at Telecom Asia

9 Oct, 2015 – Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) is teaming up with Chinese online media service provider LeTV to jointly offer broadband access and online content services to consumers in Hong Kong.

Under the partnership, HKBN, the second largest residential broadband provider in the city with over 2.1 million residential homes passed, will bundle its fiber service with LeTV’s content services including 4K channel, VoD, entertainment and sport channels.

Read more at Telecom Asia

12 Oct, 2015 – LONDON — U.K. pay TV operator Sky has inked a new multi-year movie and TV agreement with Disney, continuing a relationship that has lasted almost 25 years.

Sky Movies and NOW TV Sky Movies Pass customers will be able to watch new movies like “Inside Out,” “The Good Dinosaur” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in the first pay TV window from around nine months after their release in movie theaters.

Read more Variety

6 October 2015 – Victorious, a platform for celebrities and content creators to build their own dedicated app, wants to conquer the international market, the company has announced at Cannes’ MIPCOM. Launched last April in the US, the company built its success in part thanks to strategic partnerships with Youtube stars such as Ryan Higa (15 million Youtube subscribers), and gaming channel Machinima (12 million subscribers). Now Victorious is coming to 12 different countries in Europe, South America and the Asian-Pacific region, with a variety of media and entertainment partners…

Read more at Euronews

8 Oct, 2015 – Every year bees contribute over £106.2 billion to the global economy; coral over £6.1 trillion; plankton over £138.7 billion and beavers almost £500 million. These figures were released today by BBC Earth in a pilot model for an Earth Index that demonstrates the financial contribution that nature makes to the world economy every year.

BBC Earth published the Earth Index in the financial sections of the Wall Street Journal (US); Times (London); Singapore Business Times (Singapore) and the Economic Times (India) putting nature on the stock exchange for the first time.

Neil Nightingale, Creative Director for BBC Earth commented: “When you see the figures in black and white it’s illuminating to see that the annual revenues of the world’s most successful companies, Apple; General Motors; Nestle; Bank of China* all pale in comparison to the financial return to our economy from natural assets.”

The Earth Index was devised to place nature at the heart of economic conversation by understanding the financial value of the services we receive each year from natural resources. To create the Earth Index, BBC Earth worked with British environmental specialist Tony Juniper to commission a scoping study from the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

“We scoured the available research and data to find comparable figures to company stock listings and settled on the financial value delivered each year,” said Juniper. “What this unequivocally shows is the major contribution that nature makes to our health, wealth and security.”

Nightingale added: “By recognising the practical and economic benefits that we derive from natural assets we can better understand the impact of long term changes in natural capital.”

BBC Earth’s ‘nature stock exchange’ is based on a study of the existing available data and the Earth Index pilots a model for reporting the financial contribution that nature makes to the global economy. To find out more and view the source material visit: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/cost-the-earth-sources.

“Embarking on this study revealed the paucity of consistent information available about the financial importance of nature to our society,” said Nightingale. “Our review of the existing research has shown us how vital the ecological economy is to us – and yet there are no consistent measures for natural capital. Nature of course has an intrinsic value over and above its monetary contribution. But what the nature stock exchange shows is that its economic importance cannot be ignored.”

To accompany the Earth Index, BBC Earth has created ‘Cost the Earth’, an interactive feature that challenges people to guess the value of global companies such as Starbucks compared to natural assets such as Otters or commodities such as Diamonds. To play the game and find out more about BBC Earth’s ‘nature stock exchange’ visit: www.bbc.com/earth.

Examples of the services that we receive from natural assets include:

Coral
Valued at £6,187,500,000,000
Coral reefs provide vital protection from storms; support multi-million pound tourism industries; capture and store carbon and are nurseries for the young of commercially important fish species.

Bees
Valued at £106,250,000,000
Bees are vital to crop pollination worldwide. In Maoxian county in Sichuan China, fruit farmers now perform this job themselves, hand pollinating their crops following the loss of their natural pollinators in the 1980s.

Vultures
Once valued at £1,634,615,385
We understand the financial value of vultures after their sharp decline in India brought to light the vital service they performed in cleaning and removing animal carcasses. Their decline created a public health risk due to remains being left to rot and generated significant costs for the communities who had to pay for carcasses to be disposed.

Beavers
Valued at £497,500,000
An individual beaver was valued at £80,487.72 per year** for the contribution they make to flood risk reduction; enhanced water purity and improved water storage through building dams and other structures that change the environment in ways that can benefit people.

-Ends-
For more information, please contact:

Jeanne Leong
Communications Director, BBC Worldwide Asia
Tel: +65 6849 5292
Email: Jeanne.Leong@bbc.com

Gladys Sim
Senior Executive, Communications, BBC Worldwide Asia
Tel: +65 6849 5295
Email: Gladys.Sim@bbc.com

Asia Satellite Telecommunications (AsiaSat) has partnered with Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) to introduce free-to-air ultra-high-definition channel and to power its UHD broadcast platform. AsiaSat has planned to uplink the new FTA UHD channel on AsiaSat 4 satellite positioned at 122°East this month.

Read more at NexTV Asia

9 Oct, 2015 – The international ad sales team within Viacom’s international division, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), is being rebranded as Viacom Velocity International. The London-based sales team will offer Viacom’s advertisers outside the US the same type of content-led marketing as what’s offered from New York under the Viacom Velocity brand.

In the US, Viacom Velocity has partnered with a range of clients to develop bespoke, content-led strategic marketing campaigns that go beyond traditional TV and online media buys to encompass TV, digital and social media across Viacom’s brands, including Comedy Central, MTV and Spike.

Those products and services will now be made more widely available to international clients including data-driven targeted advertising tool, Viacom Vantage, and the social media analytics platform, the Echo Social Graph.

Read more Rapid TV News

9 Oct, 2015 – “Fear the Walking Dead,” AMC’s second successful offshoot of a popular series this year, has become the highest-rated first season of any series in cable history.

Last Sunday’s season finale averaged a 5.15 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.11 million viewers overall, according to Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates, which include delayed viewing via VOD and DVRs during the three days after its initial telecast. It was up slightly in total viewers vs. the previous week.

For its six episodes, “Fear” averaged 11.2 million viewers, including 7.3 million adults 18-49 (a 5.8 rating), according to Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates. On average, it grew from “same-day” to “L+3” by 2.0 ratings points in 18-49 (from a 3.8 rating) and by 3.6 million total viewers overall (from 7.6 million).

Read more at Variety