Andy Kaplan & George Chien Buy SPT’s Asian Channels

KC Global Media Entertainment, founded by Andy Kaplan and George Chien, has acquired Sony Pictures Television’s (SPT) Southeast Asian and Korean media networks business.

The transaction—the value of which was not disclosed—includes AXN, available in 16 million homes across 16 markets in Southeast Asia; the Japanese anime destination ANIMAX, distributed in more than 10 million homes throughout 13 territories; and the Korean entertainment channel SONY ONE.

“We strongly believe in the global channel and content model, which has the potential for tremendous growth,” Kaplan said. “Traditional television continues to offer many opportunities and advantages. Our goal is to fully maximize all of them, building a footprint with these channels and laying the foundation for a beautiful future.”

Chien added, “These popular channel brands were all born in Asia and went on to enjoy great success around the world by providing the best English-language movies and TV shows from Hollywood, Japanese anime, Korean drama, K-Pop, variety and general entertainment—genres that command a healthy share of pay channel revenue in the region. As we look to realize even more value from them, we will remain sensitive to the local tastes and flavors, offering our cable, satellite and telco partners the languages and customization so important to delivering the uniqueness local consumers demand from their content.”

Kaplan ran SPT’s global networks business from 2002 to 2018. Chien spent many years as executive VP of the worldwide networks at SPT, working alongside Kaplan.