ATF Buyer Profile: FOX International Channels’ Michael Dick

PREMIUM: The demand for imported feature films has increased at FOX International Channels in the Asia Pacific, according to its head of acquisitions, Michael Dick.

What have been some of your most successful acquisitions recently for your English-language general entertainment channels?
It’s really hard to pick one show or deal that stands out across all channels and territories as the measurements for success are radically different across them all. But we have been very happy with the continued success of The Walking Dead and the return of Homeland on FOX Movies Premium (FMP). DC Cupcakes and The Apartment: Style Edition are doing fantastically well on STAR World. We are very happy with the our growing partnership with the UFC and are looking forward to the UFC Macao as it’s going to be live on FMP and FOX. I think there’s almost too much to mention but we have been very lucky to have managed to pick up such great content recently.

Can you give me a sense of how much you buy annually?
I’m in a very fortunate position to be buying for multiple channels that cover just about every genre across both series and movies. We do acquire hundreds of hours of series and several hundred movies per year when all our channel groups are added up.

What are the main genres you are acquiring for each of the channels?
As we are expanding the number of movie channels we are running, our demand for feature films has grown. We are always looking for strong new reality shows for STAR World and first-run must-see TV series for FOX.

Are you looking to acquire any formats?
We are starting to acquire formats and are pleased to have already launched The Apartment: Style Edition and Asia’s Next Top Model. We are new to this space so are open to just about any business model. The main focus will always be on that if we think the show will work for the channel on which it will air and so are actively looking for more formats.

Have your programming needs changed significantly over the past year?
In general our needs are largely the same other than an increase in the number of movies we are acquiring. Our series channels, however, are becoming more defined so we need to become more focused and selective about the shows we acquire for each channel. 

What are some of the slots you currently need to fill?
With the recent launch of FOX Action Movies we do need more movies to cover the three Hollywood movie channels—FOX Movies Premium (FMP), FOX Family Movies and FOX Action Movies.

FIC has a number of global co-productions; are you doing any Asia-specific co-productions?
We are very happy to be part of the FIC global co-production deals and acquisition deals like The Walking Dead. The dynamics and business models for Asia-specific co-production deals will be very different but we are interested in exploring these models as this fits well with our plans to expand into the formats arena.

Do you see any major changes in your acquisitions remit in 2013?
For 2013, we are going to make every effort to be increasingly strategic about selecting our partners and the deals we do. As we have in the past we would rather do larger volume deals with strategic importance for us and our partners than lots of small deals, as we feel this approach will help us get the rights we require and will help keeps license fees reasonable.

Are there particular types of shows you’re eyeing at Asia TV Forum?
We don’t wait for the markets to find out about and acquire new shows. We try to keep in contact with our content partners year-round and pick up shows whenever they are available or we have a specific need. We are also very lucky to have a worldwide network of channel teams all looking for content and sharing information year-round so we don’t have any targets currently set for Asia TV Forum.