KBS and Shanghai Media Group big winners at the Asian TV Awards 2012
Winners of the 17th Asian Television Awards (ATA), were announced last night at a gala Awards event in Singapore, with the big winners of the evening being the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and the Shanghai Media Group (SMG).
The awards event was attended by around 400 industry professionals from across Asia, including channel heads, programming executives, creative talent and on-screen personalities.
This year’s competition saw 1,327 entries representing 13 Asian nations, including nearly 50 new entrants. Three new awards – 2D animation, 3D animation, and a sports presenter award – brought the tally of trophies up-for-grabs to 38, not including the coveted final four awards: Terrestrial Channel Of The Year (KBS); Terrestrial Broacaster Of The Year (KBS); Cable & Satellite Channel Of The Year (International Channel, Shanghai); and Cable & Satellite Network Of The Year (SMG).
Soo Min, Seh, Chief Producer, Entertainment, KBS: “We are very, very excited and happy to have won these awards. Maybe it’s due to K-Pop music’s power and Korean dramas’ power in this region. But it is really unexpected for us. I am the Director of Gag Concert – 600th Episode Special and all I had hoped to win was the award for Best Comedy Programme. So winning that and the Terrestrial Channel and Broadcaster of the Year awards are just wonderful. KBS is now the leading broadcaster in Asia so it is a very great thing. With these prizes, from now on we should do our best even more in Asia.”
Li Lin, Deputy Director, Vision Department, International Channel Shanghai: “I was very surprised, and two awards was in my expectation but to get four is just out of this world. So I am very very happy. It’s such an amazing moment. We got four awards tonight and I think this shows that Chinese television is developing and the quality is getting better and better. Also we get to learn from other Asian counterparts at the Asian TV Awards. We hope we can continue to improve our programming.”
The 17th Asian Television Awards were organised by Contineo Media and official publication Television Asia Plus. A full list of winners and categories will be available from the Awards website.