BVITV Kicks Off ATF Presence with VOD, Emerging Markets Deals

SINGAPORE, November 29: Buena Vista International
Television-Asia Pacific kicked off its presence at the Asia TV Forum today with
a bevy of Ugly Betty look-alikes on hand
at the Shangri-La Hotel to promote the hit ABC show, as well as a VOD agreement
with the broadband on-demand channel Anytime and new deals in Vietnam and
Brunei.

The multiyear, pan-regional video-on-demand movie deal with
the IPTV channel Anytime brings a range of current and library features from
Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films to the Anytime
service in Australia, Thailand and Taiwan. Titles include Pirates of the
Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Herbie: Fully Loaded, among others. “As flexibility and choice of viewing
become increasingly important, our focus will continue to be on finding
innovative and convenient ways for consumers to access our content,” said Steve
Macallister, BVITV-AP’s senior VP and managing director.

Anytime already serves up Hollywood features from Fox, Sony,
Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, as well as regional content providers like
Celestial Pictures and Becker Entertainment. It has carriage deals in
Australia, India, Taiwan and Thailand, and the rights to license into 14
Asia-Pacific territories.

In Vietnam, terrestrial Vietnam Television has taken Desperate
Housewives, Lost and Alias,
via the agent TVPlus. Vietnam Television also scooped up Ghost
Whisperer. In addition, in a deal brokered
by Kiet Kuong, VTV3 has picked up Criminal Minds and the classic action thriller series Nowhere
Man.

In Brunei, BVITV has renewed a multi-year volume agreement
with terrestrial broadcaster Radio Television Brunei (RTB) for more than 260
hours of programming. Among the new shows for the broadcaster are Lost, Alias,
Extreme Makeover, 8
Simple Rules and My Wife &
Kids. The network also renewed The
Amazing Race, America’s Funniest
Home Videos, Disney’s Art Attack, According to Jim and Life with Bonnie. The deal also covers the Jetix titles W.I.T.C.H., Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!, What’s with Andy? and A.T.O.M.