ContentAsia's Issue Four, November 2020

Page 8

productioninterview

Live action KC Global Media Entertainment is part of a rising breed of indie live curated channels operators in Asia. Six months after buying Sony Pictures Television’s business across much of Asia, co-founder, president and chief executive, George Chien, talks about the business and where to next. Backstreet Rookie, KC Global Media

AXN All-Stars is something of a coming-out party for one of Asia’s oldest

Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines,

live video channel brands, officially under new management since May

Singapore and Japan – and

this year. The special goes live on Saturday, 28 November, with a mix of

hosts from Indonesia, Singapore,

celebrities from shows such as Asia’s Got Talent, The Elements: Cosentino

the Philippines and the U.S.

and Cyril: Simply Magic, and a slew of new hosts and performers. AXN All-Stars demonstrates a few things: ongoing pulling power some

AXN All-Stars comes six months after KC Global Media took over most of

George Chien, President & CEO, KC Global Media

thought AXN may no longer have after Sony Pictures Television sold to

Sony Pictures Television’s networks business

indie outfit KC Global Media Entertainment; the ability to attract title

across Southeast Asia, Korea, China, Australia/New

sponsors for original production; the will to even do original production in

Zealand and South Asia (excluding India).

a wickedly shrivelled regional channels environment where most others

The sale, involving four channel brands (AXN, Animax, ONE and Japa-

have fallen back; the EQ to tap into a desperate need for hope and op-

nese channel Gem) was followed up in July with the acquisition of a

timism at the end of a hideous year, sidestepping most of the nauseating

bundle of Korean drama rights for Indonesia from Korean broadcaster

platitudes of companies hijacking real sentiment.

SBS, which wanted out of its own Indonesia channel. The new arrange-

While KC Global Media said from the start that original production was

ment expanded ONE’s footprint in Indonesia.

part of its playbook, no-one would have held them to it through a year

“When we bought this, our focus was really on how we were going

of upended plans and vanishing advertising support. And so, it turns out,

to make this company more efficient,” says co-founder, president and

no one needed to...

CEO, George Chien, who, along with KC Global Media’s Andy Kaplan,

AXN All-Stars goes live on AXN Asia’s Facebook and YouTube channels, with appearances by Afgan, Anggun, Cosentino, Cyril Takayama, David Foster, Michael Bolton and Mel C, guest performers from five countries – 8

was a fixture in Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia for almost two decades. “We felt like there was unfinished business there,” he adds. “We don’t believe that linear TV is dead. We do see that there are contentasia november 2020


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.