BVITV’s Steve Macallister

December 2006

By Mansha Daswani

It’s fair to say that with
a stable of top-rating U.S. dramas, Buena Vista International Television
(BVITV) is having a good year in virtually every market around the world. It
can also be said that the company is having a better year than most U.S.
studios in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to free-to-air and cable and
satellite deals on the hit shows Desperate Housewives, Lost
and Grey’s Anatomy region-wide,
BVITV has been leading the charge on the new-media front, striking agreements with
mobile and broadband platforms, and has been boosting its format-sales
operation, working with the AXN channel on a pan-regional version of The
Amazing Race. Steve Macallister,
the senior VP and managing director for the Asia Pacific at BVITV, speaks to World
Screen about his strategy for
continuing to build the business.

WS: What is
your overall sales strategy for BVITV in the region?

MACALLISTER: Our strategy has always been to get closer to our
clients. It’s our commitment to them that drives our business. In the last few
years, we’ve opened up a number of sales offices and we’ve gone from being a
Hong Kong-centric organization to having [a larger] network of offices in the
region than any other U.S. studio. Our regional headquarters is in Hong Kong,
and we have liaison offices in Sydney, Mumbai, Seoul, and liaison persons in
Beijing and Shanghai. As part of this commitment, we also conducted
customer-satisfaction surveys, basically asking our clients what was or wasn’t
working for them. In countries where we had local offices, the feedback
confirmed that the investment was sound and clients really saw this as an added
value. They now view us as business partners, as opposed to just suppliers. We
haven’t looked back since.

We’ve also just completed
the first wave of an extensive multiregional research study on attitudes to
American programming in Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Korea—countries
where English isn’t the first language. In this study we talked to clients—broadcasters
and consumers—to gain greater insight into the strength of American
programming and to understand the role it plays on local schedules. There’s a
lot of talk about localization, but as a distributor of U.S. content, our real
reason for being is, first and foremost, to sell U.S. content. One of the
initial findings is that there is an aspirational quality to American programs,
which really do make these shows premium content for broadcasters. This is an
important piece of research for us. There is still some work to be done, but
what this study demonstrates is our willingness to invest in the region and to
work with broadcasters to come up with content solutions that will work for
them.

WS: How have
you been working with IPTV and mobile platforms?

MACALLISTER: The application of new media is one of the three
corporate strategic pillars for the company—along with creation of
quality content and global expansion. And certainly in the Asia-Pacific region,
we are working closely with our strategic partners to deepen the relationship
that viewers have with our content through the use of new platforms. We also
want to continue to build our on-air franchises through new relationships. That’s
just one aspect of it, and we’re experimenting with different business models
in the region. The market is still nascent and we don’t see any set model for
these platforms today. We’re taking a market-by-market approach.

WS: What have
been some of your big hits in the region this year?

MACALLISTER: We have some of the biggest shows in the
marketplace at the moment, and they’ve been doing really well. For example, Desperate
Housewives has been licensed to 18
broadcasters in 41 markets, which is pretty amazing. Grey’s Anatomy and Lost have also been big hits for BVITV, with Lost being our fastest- and biggest-selling series
worldwide. We’re also excited that these shows have been performing strongly
for our clients. For example, Desperate Housewives, Lost
and Grey’s Anatomy continue to
be the top three shows in Australia and New Zealand. And our freshman series
have been generating a lot of buzz—Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters and Six Degrees.

WS: How is
your kids’ programming doing?

MACALLISTER: High School Musical has been absolutely a runaway success for us
across the globe. It scored massive ratings in Australia on Seven Network,
where it had a 64-percent share amongst tweens. We look forward to similar
success as it launches on free-to-air in other territories in the Asia Pacific.
Our preschool programming, such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins, is also gaining a lot of interest, not to mention
our branded blocks, which frequently win their time slots among children. We
have over 20 Disney branded blocks available in 10 markets, including China and
India, reaching over 380 million viewers. Our Jetix block is also doing well—shows
like Power Rangers and Yin
Yang Yo! are now available in
markets like India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and Korea on terrestrial TV.

WS: You
recently began picking up Asian content for distribution.

MACALLISTER: That’s correct. Part of our content strategy
includes delivering programming that appeals to local audiences, so we’re
always looking at ways to diversify our portfolio with local content wherever
possible. Sometimes we work with our theatrical colleagues in acquiring rights
for both television and theatrical, and we recently picked up the rights to Fearless, starring Jet Li. And we’re also looking at
representing more Korean content, which is hot in Southeast Asia and China. Just
last year, we acquired a property called Coma from [Orion Cinema Network] one of our broadcast
partners. Another part of our localization strategy is to look at adapting
properties in our library and reversioning shows such as The Amazing Race, where we worked with AXN to create an Asian
version, and Extreme Makeover,
with SET in India, which is currently in production.

WS: Are there
any particular titles you’re focusing on in terms of format sales?

MACALLISTER: There are a lot of shows in our portfolio that we’re
actively talking to broadcasters about. We are looking at sitcoms in particular—for
example The Golden Girls. We
are talking to a couple of broadcasters about that. It’s one of those shows
that absolutely transcends cultures. Another classic one for formats is Home
Improvement, with Tim Allen, which
has a timeless appeal and is a great family series for formats.

WS: What
about your feature-film slate?

MACALLISTER: At The Walt Disney Company, the focus going forward
is on producing more Disney-branded features. Essentially, more titles such as Pirates
of the Caribbean and The
Chronicles of Narnia, both of
which had a phenomenal year. And audiences can expect to see more of these
quality branded movies, which will also continue to deliver for our clients.