1Asia producers aim to get programs into Europe and North America

It is time for Asian Broadcasters to make high quality programs for distribution to Europe and North America, says one of the people behind a new co-production project being championed by the ABU.

Takeshi Doki, the Union’s Director of Programming, told a project meeting of six co-production partner broadcasters that the 1Asia project had attracted 18 proposals from 13 ABU Member organisations in 12 countries.

“I felt this project had elicited high expectations to make excellent quality programs and to penetrate other markets outside Asia,” he told the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“The Asian Content market has been receiving special attention from broadcasters and independent production houses in Europe and America because of the rapid economic growth in this region. I also believe that the time has come for us Asian broadcasters to make high quality programs and distribute those to Europe and North America as well as within Asia.” 

The 1Asia project is being driven by Japan’s media and advertising powerhouse Dentsu and the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, whose Deputy Director of the Promotion for Contend Distribution Division, Naohiro Yamanaka, told the two-day “matchmaking session” between the six finalists and their Japanese partner broadcasters that MIC was working hard to support co-productions with regional partners outside Japan.

Keiko Bang of the project’s managers Bang Singapore explained how the 1Asia key objectives were to generate sustainable relationships between broadcasters, promote cross-border transactions to increase sharing of Asian content, create opportunities for capacity building between countries with varying levels of know-how and forge business networks within Asia in the spirit of building a single content market.

 She explained that by August or September, final treatments would be completed. Filming and production would start in November and December, with editing to begin by the end of 2013 so that rough cuts and final cuts of the six programs could be completed in January and February. All programs will go to air on the ABU participant stations in the first week of March and they will be offered to other ABU members for a period of one month.