Simon H. Chang Regional Director TVi Content Provider Asia (HQ in Taipei, branch offices in Tokyo, Guam, Shanghai, Montreal)

What are your acquisition strategies?

TVi has always had a finger on the "pulse" of our local audiences.  Since the establishment of TVi's Asian Office in 1989, we've always looked to international audience's tastes to figure out the next big trends in local markets.  In the late 90's, we were one of the first content providers to introduce foreign cooking shows into the Chinese audiences, for instance. Many broadcasters at that time thought foreign cooking shows were of no interest to local audiences.  Decision makers commented that even if a Chinese person was interested in cooking a Spanish dish, for example, one couldn't get the ingredients locally.  At that time, ingredients may have been hard to come by, but we knew the timing was right to introduce foreign cooking shows and techniques to the Chinese market.  We were right; when Discovery Channel Asia started to air foreign cooking shows back-to-back starting from 3:00 - 6:30 PM, cooking shows became an instant success.
Cooking shows prompted a deeper awareness and appreciation for all foods not just Chinese. We had a finger on the "pulse" and "tastes" or trends of local markets.

What genres are you looking for?

We are always on the lookout for anything new and exciting, something to "wow and ooh" audiences.  If our acquisitions personnel likes something, they must do research into why they think this genres will do well in this particular market.  We were the first company to bring Mixed Martial Arts "Cage Fighting" programs into the Asian markets.  We are now looking into genres that target specific niche markets, targeting the X generation.

Can you give us several titles of domestic / international programming that you acquired this year?

TVi is proud to announce that we successfully acquired many exciting sports programs such as "Tour De France 2006", "Dakar Rally", "K-1 Kick Boxing", "UFC", "King of the Cage", "Thunderbox", "Thunderdome", "PRIDE", "PXC", "Fury", and many other MMA programs.  We have also acquired and are distributing very interesting documentaries, lifestyles, and even animation titles all on a worldwide basis.  Such titles include the award winning "Winds of Fate" based on China Chronicles, which is a subject matter never before recorded in any history books. 

How many hours of programming will you acquire this year? Do you have an increase or decrease in your acquisition budget in comparison with last year?

All in all, TVi's distribution budgets have increased tremendously over the last 5 years.  Just this month, we've acquired hundreds of hours of programming just from MIPCOM and SPORTEL.  Our clients have come to rely on TVi's quality of programming as well as our award winning translation / versioning service.  TVi exclusively or otherwise versions for many well know multinational channels such as HBO Asia, Cinemax, Discovery Channel Asia, Star TV, etc.  Our motto is simple; "The best programs are not worth
their salt if the translations are bad". Audiences are tired of being "lost in translation" or "lost despite of translation" or quite simply just lost!

What domestic /foreign programs are popular in your country in this season?

As the old cliché goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".  All programs are "beautiful" in their own way (some maybe even beautifully awful), and what makes one genre or title more popular than the next is so
subjective that it's often times difficult to say which is popular.  New media certainly will have its unique audiences (e.g. 3G or IPTV audiences may be looking for the young trends, while digital terrestrial channels may be looking for something entirely different as these two platforms target different audiences).  I would say certainly that Korean dramas have come a long way.  I also think people are very interested in China and even modern Chinese subjects now that the giant has awoken.  Certainly the next "most" popular programs are already in TVi's library which we will not reveal until we get the ratings from our clients.