Andy Kaplan

October 2007

AXN is 10 years old this year. But the content for which it is known is timeless. The universal appeal of its action-adventure programming has made AXN a leading international cable and satellite destination among young adults aged 18 to 34 all around the world.

AXN attracts this desirable demographic group with high-energy, quality entertainment comprising a mix of top-rated U.S. network series, reality shows, alternative sporting events and blockbuster feature films.

Launched in Asia in 1997, AXN is now seen in more than 60 countries across Asia (AXN Asia, AXN Japan); Latin America (AXN Latin America); Europe (AXN Spain, AXN Portugal, AXN Central Europe, AXN Germany, AXN Italy, and the AXN Sci-Fi and AXN Crime digital channels in Central Europe); and the Middle East (AXN Israel).

In Latin America alone the channel is now in 20-plus countries, among them Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, reaching more than 15 million homes. Europe has been the most recent growth area for AXN, where the channel recently reached the 8-million mark in Central Europe and scored a carriage deal with Premiere’s new platform Premiere Star in Germany. The channel continues to expand its distribution and is moving beyond the television screen with events like the AXN Challenge and mobile and broadband offerings. It has also moved into original productions, most notably in Asia, where production is under way on season two of The Amazing Race Asia.

In all, AXN is available in 18 languages, and reaches more than 120 million households. In addition to producing its own compelling original content and format adaptations, the company is a major buyer of programming from all the major Hollywood studios.

Overseeing AXN—along with the rest of Sony’s portfolio of global television networks, including the Animax 24-hour anime channel and the Sony Entertainment Television (SET) family of channels—is Andy Kaplan, the president of international networks at Sony Pictures Television International.

Just as AXN was turning 10, Kaplan spoke to World Screen about the platform and how it is leading the proliferation of new channels around the globe.

WS: Why do you think AXN has been so successful?

KAPLAN: There’s a tremendous appetite everywhere in the world for action entertainment. We’ve combined that with our ability to localize AXN differently in every region, along with some smart marketing, promotions and tie-ins. We’ve put all these elements together into a terrific programming service.

WS: Do you reach most of the world?

KAPLAN: Basically, we’re everywhere except for a couple of territories in Western Europe.

WS: How do you localize for all these regions?

KAPLAN: We customize with local content to fit the demands and the demographics of the particular audience in each region. AXN is a global brand that has consistent themes and brand aspects to it, but the programming is different in every territory and every region.

WS: How much common programming is there across all the AXN channels?

KAPLAN: A lot. We have CSI and the CSI spin-offs in most territories, for example. We have Lost in most territories. Then, as you go into individual countries, you’ll have a different programming grid in Italy than, say, in Spain, and a different one in Latin America than in Asia. So it’s similar in a lot of ways, and local in a lot of ways.

When I say “local,” I mean not only originally created material in particular territories, but also that the American programming is tailored to a particular local audience.

WS: Do you commission original material locally?

KAPLAN: We do some content locally, and we do some formatting. Right now we’re producing the second season of The Amazing Race for our Asian channel, which is Asia-localized. That’s a format we license from Disney.

WS: What are your plans for mobile?

KAPLAN: We’re doing it in a smart and disciplined way, rolling out [content for mobile] where it makes sense, where there’s an audience and where there are carriers in a position to exploit it. It’s still the early days in the mobile space, and yet it’s something everyone is chasing.

In some territories—Germany, for example—we see it as an extension of our linear carriage. It’s an additional set-top box, so to speak. In other territories, like Asia, we customize content for mobile a lot more. Each territory is different because the technology, the infrastructure and the customer expectations are different everywhere. Even within a territory every carrier has a different strategy for programming, packaging, tiering and so on. So mobile is a challenge, but it is certainly a part of our growth strategy.

WS: What about broadband?

KAPLAN: We now have AXN broadband promotional sites attached to every channel. Our next level of growth, expansion and distribution would be more video programming on the Internet, and to customize programming for broadband.

But again, in a lot of the territories, it’s still the early days for broadband distribution. We’ll be sure to be there when the time is right, but we don’t want to be there too early, because you can spend a lot of money for no return if you show up too early.

WS: Do the letters AXN stand for anything?

KAPLAN: It’s not an acronym, but it stands for action. AXN went from being a hard-action, almost B-movie and road-rally channel to something much more upscale, classy and elegant as it has evolved and matured. It’s what we call action entertainment, offering the highest-quality programming. That’s a dramatic change in ten years from the kind of content that was affordable and available on our early program grids.

WS: What’s in store for the next ten years?

KAPLAN: We still have some territories we’d like to be in, so we’re working to spread our reach across the map. Also, we have some digital offshoots in territories like Central Europe with AXN Crime and AXN Sci-Fi, and we’ll try to leverage our existing infrastructures and inventories to expand the audience for digital spin-offs.

And then the mobile, broadband and new-technology worlds are the next level of growth and expansion for these programming services and for this brand. That’s quite a lot to accomplish for the next ten years. We’ll just keep building on the success we’ve had so far.