ITV

Tag: Bruce Tuchman

  • TV and online video execs unlock mysteries of China’s TV market

    TV and online video execs unlock mysteries of China’s TV market

    MUMBAI: Nobody knows TV content in China like Hunan Broadcasting Station VP and Mango Media executive director Molly Mei Nie. Unless it’s Anke Redl – China Media Management (CMM-I) managing director and partner. Both are featured as top speakers at ‘China and the World’ convention in Shanghai that is scheduled to take place on 10 June, 2015 at Swissotel.

     

    It’s often said China will be the second largest TV market on the planet by 2016 but what is less known is how much China will change the global landscape of TV and online video. The convention will present ‘In Conversation with Molly Mei Nie’ for answers.

     

    In ‘China Going Global – Opportunities and Challenges,’ Redl will join Glocal Media founder and CEO Dennis Young and AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global president Bruce Tuchman. Young is an expert at exporting Chinese and Asian content to the US and around the world, whereas Tuchman is a specialist on the global footprint for content. 

     

    What are China’s ambitions? And what are the best opportunities? What about the regulatory front? Are you where you should be? Answering these questions will be CCTV Copyright Management Dept deputy director and Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union copyright committee chairman Yan Bo. 

     

    China and the World, organised by Lightning International and CASBAA, promises to offer a unique perspective on great TV.

  • AMC Networks makes acquisitions for Sundance Channel Global

    AMC Networks makes acquisitions for Sundance Channel Global

    MUMBAI: AMC Networks International has acquired a wide range of first run original series and miniseries to fuel growth across Sundance Channel Global’s linear and authenticated video-on-demand (VOD) and television everywhere (TVE) services.

     

    The second season of the critically acclaimed Sundance Channel original series The Red Road (6 x 60’) has been acquired from Entertainment One (eOne) as a first window for Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and key European territories including France, Iberia, Benelux, Poland and CEE. It will debut less than 24 hours after its premiere in the US.

     

    The award-winning political thriller The Honourable Woman (8 x 60’) starring Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe Award winner Maggie Gyllenhaal has been acquired from BBC Worldwide and will premiere as a first window in Asia (except a second window run in Thailand). 

     

    Also premiering exclusively in Asia will be the period drama based on one of the world’s most notorious crimes, The Great Train Robbery (2 x 90’), acquired from Content Media. Premiering in Dutch Benelux will be the first run original series Catastrophe (6 x 30’) acquired from Avalon and Welcome to Sweden (10 x 30’) acquired from Entertainment One (eOne). 

     

    AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global president Bruce Tuchman said, “These new acquisitions further highlight our commitment to providing distinctive, compelling first run original programming for Sundance Channel audiences worldwide. Alongside our other global hits from AMC Networks, this diverse range of series will help to increase the momentum of our successful international growth strategy. We’ll continue to offer exclusive original series combined with independent films and documentaries fresh from some of the biggest and most prestigious festivals around the world.”

     

  • AMC Global bags international TV rights to ‘The Walking Dead’ companion series

    AMC Global bags international TV rights to ‘The Walking Dead’ companion series

    MUMBAI: Coinciding with an AMC U.S. pickup of two seasons of The Walking Dead companion series (title TBD), AMC Global has announced its acquisition of the international television rights to the series, and plans to air each episode within 24 hours of its US premiere.

     

    Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert from The Walking Dead are executive producers of the new series, which, like the original, is being produced by AMC Studios. Dave Erickson (Marco Polo, Sons of Anarchy), who co-created and co-wrote the pilot with Kirkman, is an executive producer and showrunner. The series will star Cliff Curtis (Missing, Gang Related), Kim Dickens (Gone Girl, Sons of Anarchy), Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Storm).

     

    The new series will be set in Los Angeles and focus on new characters and storylines. The show’s first season will consist of six, one-hour episodes and premiere on AMC in late summer. The show’s second season will air in 2016. 

     

    “The AMC brand is quickly becoming synonymous with the most sought after and compelling content around the world,” said AMC and Sundance Channel global president Bruce Tuchman. “We’re pleased to bring the series to a global audience within 24 hours of the U.S. premiere and ensure that The Walking Dead’s worldwide community of fans can experience this new story together as it unfolds.”

     

     AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll added, “With Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson at the helm, along with an amazing group of executive producers and cast, this new series will give The Walking Dead fans what they’ve been asking for all along — a look at another part of the zombie apocalypse and one which takes us back to the very beginning of the plague.”

  • ‘Our business model in India will be driven by subscription revenues’ : Bruce Tuchman – MGM Networks executive VP

    ‘Our business model in India will be driven by subscription revenues’ : Bruce Tuchman – MGM Networks executive VP

    The English movie channel genre will have a new aggressive player in MGM. After making the channel available on Dish TV, the largest direct-to-home operator in India, MGM Studios has inked a five-year distribution deal with Star Den. The aim is to make the channel widely available across cable TV networks, DTH and IPTV platforms.

     

    MGM is looking at subscription revenues and will be advertising-free – at least for the time being. The channel is priced at Rs 6 for the cable TV market and Rs 3 for DTH.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto, MGM Networks executive VP Bruce Tuchman talks about the expansion plans for the channel in India and other markets.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Why did it take MGM so long to enter the Indian market?
    We have participated in India before through our licensing deals with Zee and Sony. We learnt a lot from that. India is a growing market and offers huge opportunities. We decided to come with a 100 per cent ownership so that we could control our destiny.

    Didn’t you realise the opportunity a bit too late as channels have to now contend with carriage fees not just on cable but on DTH as well?
    Some channels started operating in this market more than 10 years back. That may have been good. But it is also a great time now with digitalisation growing. India is also on a high-growth story.

    Why did MGM choose Star Den for distribution?
    We did our first deal with Dish TV independently. That will stay as it is. But getting meaningful and broader penetration would have been a real challenge if we were to do it ourselves. We decided on Star Den as they have a strong bouquet of channels. We have good Hollywood content and have a library of 4100 films. Star Den will represent us on cable TV, DTH and IPTV platforms.

    Will carriage fee not hurt the business in a genre that is not growing too fast?
    We do not plan to pay carriage. We have a brand and a track record that stands out. This puts us in a good position to occupy a lot of capacity without paying carriage.

    Would you look at presence on analogue cable and still not pay carriage?
    We are looking for as much distribution as possible. The subscription base is large and it will provide an attractive revenue base. Our business model here will be driven by subscription revenues.
    ‘Our TG would be people who are interested in Hollywood movies and who have a connection with the MGM brand. We are not a channel that showcases blockbusters‘

    Will MGM carry advertising?
    Not for now. Globally we have advertising on some feeds. However our dominant source of revenue is subscription. Models will evolve and adapt though. We don’t know what we will do here in the future.

    In a genre that already has established players like HBO and Star Movies, what value does MGM bring to the table?
    We are the MGM brand. We have a deep connection with the glamour and aura of Hollywood. We do things like having celebrity testimonials, going behind the scenes of films, etc.

     

    Besides, digitalisation offers room for many players. In India there are tens of millions of people who want to watch Hollywood films. In the US there are scores of film channels and not just five or six. Consumers want this kind of choice. It is key to have a brand that people stick to and trust.

    Could you offer an overview of the programming strategy?
    We will handpick titles from our huge library. We do a lot of stunting. We do thematic programming nights. In the evenings, we focus on genres like comedy, action. We also focus on key stars and we try to be flexible and creative with what we do.

     

    Our channel caters to people who want to expose themselves to sophisticated and eclectic film choices. We are not looking to just get attention through new releases. While there is a value to that, people often watch that film and then forget about it. Our library is classic and modern. We have films from different eras.

    Will your core target audience be more elderly skewed?
    Our TG would be people who are interested in Hollywood movies and who have a connection with the MGM brand that is glamorous and well known. We are not a channel that showcases blockbusters that one soon forgets about. Our aim is to show films that define an era. Films that will be shown over the coming year include Woody Allen’s classic Manhattan, Network, A Passage to India, Midnight Cowboy, The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Mystic Pizza.

    Does MGM acquire movies from other studios to show on the channel?
    The MGM library is so large that it can be programmed forever in a manner of speaking. We are doing The Hobbit. We also have Bond films and the Pink Panther franchise. New movies are being made here. We also have the Rocky films.

    Would you look at a dubbed feed to expand penetration in India?
    We are in English at the moment. If we expand deeply and there is consumer demand for it, I would not rule it out.

    What kind of marketing activities are being planned?
    We have just entered into a distribution arrangement with Star Den. We have to sit down and figure out how we are to promote the channel. It could be through television, print etc. We will also do events.
    How has MGM gone about strengthening its worldwide TV distribution business?
    We are growing well. We keep adding new countries. Three weeks back, we announced that we had a great summer across Central and Eastern Europe. Just to give you a frame of reference, in 2002 we had no branded channel presence in Europe. Now we are in over 30 European countries. In June we launched in Italy on Sky Italia.
     

    In Asia we did not have a presence five years back. Now we are in most countries in Asia. We have three channels in South Korea. We are also present in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, among other countries. Our aim is to be as widespread as possible. We will keep an aggressive pace of development.
    Outside the US, which are your key markets?
    We have penetrated Western Europe nicely. Italy, Spain, Germany are key markets.
    In the US, MGM has tied up with Comcast for an action-oriented VoD offering. How did this deal come about?
    There is big demand in the US for on demand content. Comcast is a leader in this space. It was a god idea and launched with fanfare. In Germany, the MGM channel is being distributed on the mobile. We want to get our content delivered across all forms of distribution.
    How has MGM stayed as an independent firm even after Sony took a 20 per cent stake in the company?
    A couple of years back, people were asking whether MGM was independent. We have clarified that MGM is a vibrant and independent entity. We were also innovative in our approach. We came up with an innovative partnership with Tom Cruise. We brought him in as a partner owner of United Artists. We are co-producing The Hobbit.
     

    We are also embracing new media. We are featured on itunes. We do not just have a legacy but are also vibrant and look to the future.

     
  • MGM channel gets distribution deal in Africa

    MGM channel gets distribution deal in Africa

    MUMBAI: The MGM Channel will be broadcast to subscribers across sub-Saharan Africa via the new DTH platform, My TV.

    The MGM Channel will join networks such as BBC World and Fox Sports on the growing My TV satellite service.

    MGM Networks executive VP Bruce Tuchman says, “This agreement represents a very positive development for us in the African marketplace and fits nicely into our preferred strategy of providing more and more local viewers with choice in channels and choice in platforms.

    “We believe that the launch of My TV, and the emergence of new opportunities across the region, will help spur higher multi-channel penetration and create even more attractive business prospects for channels across this burgeoning television market.”

    My TV COO John Tydeman says, “The inclusion of western movies on the MGM Channel in the My TV bouquet will complement the news, music, children’s, sports, documentaries and local African programming currently available.

    “My TV offers entertainment for African families across the sub-Sahara at an affordable price. MGM’s decision to join My TV is a further endorsement by the international programming community of the My TV proposition.”

    The MGM Channel broadcasts handpicked selections from the MGM library, the world’s largest collection of modern films, on a 24/7 basis. The agreement with My TV is non-exclusive and follows a number of breakthrough deals in other parts of the world announced by MGM Networks in the last several months, including the launch slated for later this year of the MGM Channel into Central/Eastern Europe, in partnership with Liberty Global’s chellomedia division, as well as a slew of new distribution deals for the MGM Channel in Asia.

  • MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MUMBAI: MGM Networks, a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., has announced a string of breakthrough distribution agreements in key Asian markets. The MGM Channel will roll out in India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

    Debuting this month, the MGM Channel will be available on Zee’s Dish TV platform.

    MGM Networks executive vice president Bruce Tuchman said, “We are very excited to begin our newest chapter in the booming Indian market with this launch. Having previously seeded demand in India through a co-owned, co-branded channel with Zee TV, we are now launching a wholly MGM-owned, exclusively MGM-branded network in order to more fully mine the opportunities abounding in this dynamic market.”

    In the Philippines, Sky Cable, the country’s largest MSO, has just commenced the roll out of The MGM Channel as part of its new digital “Platinum” package offering. In Vietnam and Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City Television and Phnom Penh Municipal Cable and Optical Television, respectively, have entered into distribution agreements with MGM Networks and recently introduced The MGM Channel to their customers.

    The MGM Channel’s launch into India and these new Southeast Asian markets are the latest milestones in an aggressive roll-out of the channel across Asia. Starting with its debut in South Korea in 2002, The MGM Channel followed up with a series of launches in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. MGM Networks also launched a second branded channel in South Korea, called MGM Plus, following the successful launch of its first Korean network.

    “Our success and growth in Asia mirrors our success and growth elsewhere around the world. Over the last five years, MGM has increased its channel interests from approximately 25 countries and territories in a handful of regions to over 110 across Europe, Latin American, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific Rim,” added Tuchman.

    In Southeast Asia/Greater China, The MGM Channel is produced and distributed by MGM Networks through a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific. In South Korea, the channel is operated through a joint venture with leading local media companies, Skylife and Taewon Entertainment.