RockBand Format Heads to Australia

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SYDNEY: ActiveTV is teaming up with Universal Music and Ato Ato Integrated Media to bring the hit Chinese format RockBand to Australia.

The format, known as Battle of the Bands in China, sees a nationwide competition with hundreds of musical contenders hoping to win a place in a ten-week rock-band battle. The show was a success in its native of China, with 130 million people tuning into the show in its first season, 50 million visitors to the website and 20 million watching the live web show.

“Australians love their rock music. It’s a hugely popular genre which hasn’t been tapped into for prime time Aussie TV. This format worked incredibly well in China particularly with its strong transmedia elements,” said Michael McKay, the president of activeTV. "With activeTV’s expertise in live entertainment shows and our success with unscripted formats we think RockBand will excite family audiences as they witness the rock gods of tomorrow, breaking out of the garage and on to the big stage.”

“Australia is renowned for breeding some of the best rock bands in the world from all over the country—think Silverchair out of Newcastle, Jet out of Melbourne, Powderfinger from Brisbane, both INXS and Wolfmother from Sydney and of course the legendary ACDC to name just a few,” added Darren Aboud, the general manager of business development and strategic marketing at Universal Music Australia. “It’s time for the next big thing to break out and this is the perfect platform to do so.”

“Following our similar format successes in China and now working with activeTV and Universal Music to create a program custom tailored to fit the Australian rock culture, we are ecstatic about bringing our exciting new reality format to Australian TV,” commented Eric Zho, executive producer Ato Ato Integrated Media of China. “It promises to be one of Australia’s new hit series in a forthcoming season.”