WHAT’S new at HBO Asia nowadays? Just about everything, from the scheduling and between-movie interstitials, to the on-air look and the redesigned web site.This transformation wasn’t dramatic or instant: the changes were phased in incrementally. The final element – the launch of the ‘new look’ for the main HBO channel, is set for this month.The channels started promoting the new web site in August, including running a contest where those who signed up for HBO’s online mailing list and answered some questions correctly stood a chance to win two MacBooks.HBO executives insist that none of these initiatives is prompted by encroaching competition from other regional or local movie channels. “It’s all about getting new subscribers on board and increasing the usage of current subscribers,” says Suarina Chua, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, HBO Asia.“The objective is to ensure our viewers can maximise the value of the HBO subscription of all the channels that we offer. With the enhancement of our new scheduling, subscribers have more viewing choices at any one time and can watch our movies when it is convenient for them, therefore getting more out of our service.” HBO has a subscriber base of 31 million in Asia (excluding Korea). Since the launch of two additional channels, HBO Family and HBO Hits, the new services are available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines,Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. “We are in discussions with cable affiliates in the other markets to avail our additional channels to their subscribers,” adds Chua.Analysts say these are good times for the movie pay-TV businesses in the region. “Demand for HBO and its plexes is still very robust amongst cable and satellite operators in Asia, especially Southeast Asia and Taiwan,” observes Vivek Couto, Executive Director of Media Asia Partners, a leading independent provider of information services focusing on Asia’s media and telecommunications industries.“I think the English movie channel is getting more fragmented and competitive however with (Sony’s) PIX added to the fold and its success in India, where it’s in more than 30 million homes and is rating well. Also of note is the increasing prevalence of VOD and the potential success of SingTel in Singapore.”Chua does acknowledge there are numerous ways to access movies and other entertainment when she observes, “With new entertainment options launching almost daily, we need to consistently ensure we stay fresh and relevant to our viewers. We want to simplify the HBO viewing experience by making it easy for our viewers to know what is on and when it is on. We have improved the scheduling of our channels so our viewers see us as a convenient entertainment option.”HBO Asia has been working with Singapore-based Infinite Frameworks to develop the new on-air look which will be used on the main HBO channel. Another Singapore-based firm, Spiragram, HBO Asia’s web partner, helps the company to create and maintain the website (http://www. hboasia.com).The on-air look and web sites were specifically designed for and catered to the Asian audiences while at the same time maintain elements of the HBO brand.All this is a counterpoint to a number of changes in programming and scheduling which include:- Blast Strategy, which means screenings of each blockbuster are now compressed into one week, rather than one month as in the past. The biggest movies premiere on Sunday and Tuesday nights, to encourage appointment viewing so subscribers know when to catch a brand new blockbuster airing for the first time on Asian television on HBO. Among the fresh offerings on Sundays at 9 pm (Singapore time) in December are Mission Impossible III, The Ant Bully, Failure To Launch and The Holiday. HBO Original Programming screens each Monday at 11 pm.“We are scheduling our brand new blockbuster movies intensively within the week they premiere, ‘blasting’ it throughout the week at different time-slots, including at least one prime-time (7pm / 9pm / 11pm) and one lunchtime screening (1pm), so subscribers don’t miss their favourite movie as they will have more options to catch it during a time which is convenient for them,” Chua explains.- Weekly scheduling of movies, instead of monthly. This means subscribers can watch several brand new movies to the channel each week across the HBO channels.- With movies starting every other odd-hour (Singapore time-zone) on four of the five channels (except HBO Signature which starts every other evenhour), subscribers now have four movie options at any one time. Collectively, the five HBO channels offer more viewing choices, thus helping to retain subscribers.- New interstitial programs have been developed to help drive tune-in details. For example, the ‘Web Look’ interstitial, created in-house, provides details of what shows are coming up over the next few hours or few days. This web look has the same look and feel as the web site and is available across all five channels. The ‘Web Look’ for each channel will have its own distinct colour so viewers can easily identify the movies coming up on the other HBO channels. And the countdown clock timer also lets viewers know exactly how much time is left before the next movie starts.The new interstitials are intended to make breaks more varied in content, more entertaining and interactive and to drive tune-in for the movies available on the channels. Film School, for instance, is a 30 second promotional spot that addresses the topic of movies in a light-hearted manner through a trivia question with three answers for viewers to select from. A question such as “What’s a Dolly?” can be asked and images of three answers such as Dolly the sheep, Dolly Parton, and then the real answer – a camera support with wheels to do tracking shots—will be shown.Time Trials is a 60 second promo spot that takes the form of trivia questions in a beat-theclock format. A movie related trivia question is posed before the answer appears. The movie in question will be one of the key movies that’s showing on HBO. For example, the question can be “Owen Wilson has received an Oscar nomination for somethingother than acting. What is it? A) Directing; B) Screenwriting; C) Costume Design.” The answer (Screenwriting) is revealed after 10 seconds, followed by the tune-in details of a movie starring Wilson that will screen on HBO.The HBO Asia website is currently available in four local languages apart from English which are Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Simplified Chinese (China), Cantonese (Hong Kong) and Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia). The firm is also looking into localizing the web site in Thai and Bahasa Malaysia. HBO continues to screen more than 120 programs a month with up to 30 exclusive television premieres of new blockbusters. The channels predominantly screen Hollywood-centric movies, but the firm is open to acquiring Asian or other foreign-language films that fit in with its programming philosophy.The HBO Original Series offerings this year included new seasons of Entourage, Big Love, Rome and Deadwood. The HBO Signature channel also airs the more provocative and controversial series such as Weeds, The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm

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