Star Movies to be replaced with premium product

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Ancillary News

Star Movies, one of the best known movie channel brands in Asia, is to be scrapped by Fox International Channels. It will be replaced by Fox Movies Premium as part of an upgraded package throughout half a dozen territories in South East Asia.

"This is not just another channel, not just another rebranding. We see it as a long-term evolution of premium pay-TV in this region," said Zubin Gandevia, FIC's COO for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. "We are doing this to stay ahead of the game."

FMP will also include a 'media player' that is free of charge and only available to the channel's subscribers. Other channel upgrades include HD and Dolby 5.1 surround sound.
The channel and the player will become both become operational from 1 Jan 2012 in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In programming terms the new channel will add more movie events, such as the Indie Spirit Awards and Golden Globes transmitted live, and more film-quality series and mini-series, while still keeping "just as many first-run and exclusive movies as before," said FIC director of acquisitions Michael Dick. The new series include FIC originals Walking Dead season 2 and Port Royale; new mini series include Titanic, Neverland, True Justice and Treasure Island.

Dick explained that the channel has renewed long-term film supply contracts with studios including Disney (and its Pixar, Touchstone and Marvel brands), MGM, The Weinstein Company and Summit Entertainment. In order to accommodate the added content FMP will cut down on repeats.

Content will be available on the online player within days of transmission and remain available for approximately one month before being rotated. Dick said that FIC had recently acquired additional library content in order to prime the pump.

FMP's player, which is modelled on one rolled out by FIC in Latin America earlier this year, is intended to give subscribers increased viewing flexibility and allow them to continue watching where they stopped. Eventually they will be able to switch devices too. The provision of the player is expected to build channel loyalty, encourage genre experimentation and reduce piracy. He said it is the first of its kind in South East Asia.

The new FMP and the player will not be available in Taiwan or The Philippines, which FIC described as 'analogue territories,' and where the Star Movies brand will be retained in the near term.

The rebranding applies only to FIC's Hollywood content and does not affect the Star Chinese Movies channel or the popular Star Chinese Mandarin-language general entertainment channel in Taiwan.

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