World Screen

NEW YORK: As of today, Pooja Nirmal Kant has come on board as A+E Networks’ senior manager of international content sales for Asia. Kant will work out of Singapore under Ling Sze Gan, the company’s senior director of international content sales for Asia. Her primary responsibility will be to supervise program …

SINGAPORE: TV4ME, a new lifestyle channel focused on brand-funded content, has launched in Singapore on cable platform StarHub. The service, from Brand New Media, aims to deliver aspirational brand-funded lifestyle content. Programming highlights include SG4ME, a weekly studio program on travel, shopping, cooking, home DIY, fashion, beauty and body care; …

SYDNEY: Channel Nine in Australia has held on to the broadcast rights for cricket games for another five years, while Network Ten signed a deal with Cricket Australia for exclusive coverage of the Twenty20 Big Bash League. In addition to securing the broadcast deal for a further five years, Channel …

SINGAPORE: Joy Olby-Tan, VP of network acquisitions at Singaporean free-to-air broadcaster MediaCorp’s Channel 5, found that the new dramas and comedies presented by the Hollywood studios were less U.S.-centric and more internationally appealing than those offered in previous years. "The number of pilots this year was refreshingly copious," Olby-Tan tells …

NEW YORK/CHENGDU: Time Warner has formed a strategic investment partnership with China Media Capital (CMC), the investment fund founded by former Shanghai Media Group chief Ruigang Li. The alliance was announced at the 2013 Fortune Global Forum, currently taking place in the Chinese city of Chengdu. The partnership will look for …

NEW YORK: PwC’s latest entertainment and media outlook reveals that Indonesia will be the fastest-growing market in terms of TV subscription spending, followed by Vietnam and Thailand. From 2013 to 2017, TV subscription revenues in Indonesia are expected to deliver a 21-percent compound annual growth rate to reach $1.7 billion. …

LONDON/MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan has signed on to star in a new drama for Sony Entertainment Television India that is being co-produced by Endemol India and the Bollywood star’s own company, Saraswati Creations. The idea for the as yet untitled show came from Endemol India, with a script that is being …

SINGAPORE: Former Eurosport executive Arjan Hoekstra has been tapped as the new president and managing director of Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, succeeding Tom Keaveny, who has taken up a new role with Discovery Networks International (DNI) out of the London office. Hoekstra’s appointment is effective September 1, reporting to Mark …

HONG KONG: Michael Dick, the head of acquisitions at FOX International Channels (FIC) in the Asia Pacific, didn’t see many breakout hits among the new crop of shows unveiled by the Hollywood studios, but did spot "more solid mid-range shows than in recent years that could work both domestically and internationally." Dick …

SINGAPORE: Free-to-air broadcaster MediaCorp has shored up the rights to all matches for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the international soccer competition that kicks off in Brazil next weekend. In addition to coverage on its Channel 5, HD5 and Channel 8 networks, MediaCorp will deliver all 16 games, live and …