Our new section – NO BLINKS – is where we’re logging what’s bubbling, breaking, or just bugging us, from brewing deals and background drama to strategic moves with the potential to (or not) reshape the industry. 

Thursday, 24 July 2025: 👀🚪 YASMIN ZAHID TO EXIT MOONBUG ASIA Yasmin Zahid is exiting Moonbug Entertainment’s Singapore-based Asia operation after two years. There’s nothing official so far and Zahid hasn’t commented but our sources say she has started sharing the news with partners around the region. The Asia leadership change emerges just ahead of the August debut of the first local Singapore version of preschool educational series, “Blippi”. The 20-episode series, which debuts in Singapore on National Day (9 August), was announced in December 2024 as the first original production by Singapore’s Mediacorp and Moonbug Entertainment. We’ve asked Moonbug what their plans are and will of course share…

Thursday, 24 July 2025: 🚨🔥 FLIGHT, FLIGHT & DIGITAL MIGRATION The latest border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia continue to squash hopes that video content/rights traffic will resume between the neighbouring countries. But that isn’t stopping other media developments, specifically a new commitment between Cambodia and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). On the sidelines of this week’s 20th Asia Media Summit in Siem Reap, the two reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening broadcasting cooperation, focusing particularly on Cambodia’s digital migration. Minister of Information, Neth Pheaktra, said Cambodia’s new national digital broadcasting policy was nearing completion and was expected to be implemented soon. The ITU has committed to training, including a special focus on preventing interference with aviation communications (aka not putting antennas in the way of flight paths).

Tuesday, 22 July 2025: 🎥 📈 NOT PLAYING AROUND Thai telco AIS is plugging its business cred, telling investors this week that it “dominates the global business news arena” and that it is “rising as Thailand’s most comprehensive video platform”. What does this mean? For starters, the addition of FOX News, Fox Business and Bloomberg to the AIS Play streaming platform; these join a raft of news services, including NHK World, DW and Euronews. AIS’ new swagger also has to be a knife in the heart of rival True, which has already lost the Premier League along with the grip it used to have on a leadership narrative. AIS Play describes its play for news as a “strategic move” that “caters to Thai audiences seeking timely and comprehensive access to economic, financial, capital market, investment, and international political news, as well as in-depth expert analysis from across the globe”. The new channels are part of the Play Family pack starting at THB 119/US$3.70 a month.

Tuesday, 22 July 2025: 🙋🏽‍♂️🙋🏽‍♂️ CULTURE ALERT Former Viacom18 COO Raj Nayak has put his hand up for a share of the creator economy in a partnership with Atul Hegde’s digital content and influencer marketing company, YAAP Digital. The new outfit, House of IPs, is being set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Dubai. Talking about the urgent need for “strong, scalable IPs” in an age when “content is fragmented, attention spans are shrinking, and brands are seeking more immersive and ownable experiences”, Nayak says House of IPs is “a strategic partnership” and a “first-of-its-kind venture studio for scalable sports and entertainment properties”. He also says the venture “is about building cultural properties that connect deeply with audiences while delivering real value to brands and platforms”. Hegde says the two will “co-create iconic, scalable properties that will redefine how brands engage with culture and communities”. And together they say that House of IPs “aims to be the creative engine for India’s evolving, experience-driven entertainment landscape, where bold ideas are transformed into timeless institutions.” Beyond the jargon, the company plans to create IP it hopes will be high-impact and revenue generating, and it will do it everywhere and anywhere it can, including music festivals. We will, of course, keep an eye out for these first-of-a-kind properties.

Tuesday, 22 July 2025: 🤖 🇰🇷 WORDS OF ADVICE Korean broadcasting giant KBS has declared 2025 as the “first year of AI broadcasting” and has appointed a six-member AI Broadcasting Innovation Advisory Committee to lead the charge into the future broadcasting environment ecosystem, including AI-based content production. The six members include two university professors, a tech lawyer, the head of telco KT’s AI Future Lab and the head of the AI Policy Promotion Support Group at the Korea Information Science and Technology Society. KBS said this week that the committee would “establish strategies and policies for the transition of the entire broadcasting system to AI and to operate the organisation in line with the AI era”. KBS was quick to point out that it has already presented radio news with AI anchors and animation created with generative AI technology.

Tuesday, 22 July 2025: 🎙🎭 NOT AMUSED Authorities in mainland China’s Zhejiang province are not amused at the latest group of popular female stand-up comedians – and local artists are bracing for the fallout. According to a report in Hong Kong’s daily South China Morning Post, Zhejiang’s provincial publicity department said some shows stirred up “gender antagonism” in attacking men. The government did not single out specific artists, but the newspaper named iQiyi’s “King of Stand-up Comedy” in July and Tencent Video’s “Rock and Roast” in June. The official note was quoted as saying that content had “gradually deviated from humour and simplified gender topics into pitting men and women against each other”. The authorities also pointed out that clicks did not equal value and that an extreme online environment magnified antagonism. Zhejiang urged balance, less division and more understanding, the report said.

Monday, 21 July 2025: 🔴🎥 SQUID RULES – Global viewing of Asian shows soars 62%: Viewing of Asian content on Netflix soared 62% in the first half of this year compared to 1H 2024, according to our analysis of the streamer’s latest “What We Watched” report, released in the early hours of Friday morning Asia time. 13 of the top 100 titles were from Asia with 3.4 billion combined hours viewed. Last year, the combined hours viewed of Asian shows on the top 100 last year was 2.1 billion. ”Squid Game” seasons two and three were Netflix’s most watched titles in the first half of this year after U.K. limited series, “Adolescence”. Five Asia titles (all Korean) appeared on the top 20 – three seasons of “Squid Game” plus “When Life Gives You Tangerines” at #19 and “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call” season one at #20. The three “Squid Game” seasons were watched by a total of just under 1.63 billion hours over the six months. Eight of the top 50 shows and 13 of the top 100 were from Asia – way up from last year’s 9/100 titles. The one Japanese series that broke Korea’s grip on global viewing from Jan-June this year was “Sakamoto Days”. Pritish Nandy Communications-produced Hindi romcom “The Royals” was the only Indian series on the top 100 titles for the first half.

Monday, 21 July 2025: 📻RADIO DAYS Singapore is all ears at the moment driving record weekly listeners of Mediacorp’s 12 radio stations to an all-time high of 3.94 million (total number of unique, unduplicated radio listeners) from March to May this year. Meanwhile, radio personalities are driving unprecedented engagement on TikTok with content that includes interactive live streams, micro-dramas and original short form such as “987 Bad Jokes” (9.85 million views) and “YES 933 Comedy Skits” (4.23 million views). Mediacorp said engagement soared 97.5% for three youth-centric stations. And now back to the rest of the new Nielsen Radio Survey data, released today, which showed that the national media network commands an 84% market share (note: quantity of 15-minute spots listened to across Singapore’s radio stations). Engagement rates with the country’s top eight stations by reach (all part of the Mediacorp stable) were up to 10.3 hours a week – an increase of 0.3 hours. The Nielsen diary survey involved 2,021 adults aged 15 and above. Singapore’s top radio station is Chinese-pop YES 933, which broke its own records at 1.22 million weekly listeners (+127,000). Malay station WARNA 942 hit a record 611,000 (+64,000), and listening time of 13.7 hours a week – an increase of 3.6 hours. Others (including Love 972 and CNA 938) were up, they just didn’t break records.

Monday, 21 July 2025: 🩳🎭 SHORT & SWEET Japan’s WOWOW and ad agency/creator-management studio15 are “business testing” a joint vertical (aka micro) drama project, kicking off with a focus on TikTok but with a presence too on Instagram, YouTube, X and LINE VOOM. Studio15 brings its creator network, Gen Z drama streaming app BUMP and its experience from “Dorama Mitai da” (400 million+ cumulative views) to the table. Wowow brings its “experience in producing original drama content”. The official explanation for the alliance is the “aim to explore the potential of visual content in the age of social media by creating new touchpoints with viewers”. The first initiative kicked off at the weekend under the “Heisei Retro” banner, and promises to reinterpret elements of Japan’s Heisei era (eg. music, fashion, and speech) “to create a nostalgic-yet-fresh vertical short drama world”. The cast includes young creators with a combined following of over 2.6 million on TikTok. Two posts a week are planned. Phase two of the biz test involves per-episode micro-payments, a concept the newly minted partners took from manga apps.

Monday, 21 July 2025: 👋BYE MODE Five channel brands are exiting Philippines’ platform SKY from 31 July – Animal Planet, Food Network, TLC, Travel Channel and Eurosport channels. The platform is pointing customers to Global Trekker, Discovery Asia, Love Nature, AFN, Metro Channel (fashion and lifestyle), and sports channels, Premier Sports and SpoTV for similar-ish entertainment. That the ABS-CBN-owned platform is alive is something of a miracle. Sky clawed its way out of what looked like an almost-certain grave in Q1 last year after the sudden collapse of a US$123-million deal between ABS-CBN Corporation and telco/media giant PLDT. The deal required ABS-CBN to shut down the pay-TV part of the business. When the deal fell through five days before dark-day on 26 Feb 2024, the platform re-emerged.

Thursday, 17 July 2025: ▶️🎥 Yesterday, Applause Entertainment’s Sameer Nair put “Criminal Justice: A Family Matter” at #3 on his IMDB list of top 12 shows to watch behind supernatural crime thriller “Sinners” and West Texas oil boom series “Landman”. Earlier this month he marked the 25th anniversary of “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (“Who Wants to be a Millionaire”), the series that changed television in India and which he was instrumental in bringing to life as programming head of Star Plus. The day after that, he dropped “The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case”, by Applause Entertainment & Kukunoor Movies for Sony LIV. Today, Nair celebrates “Criminal Justice: A Family Matter”, which Ormax Media research puts at the top of India’s streaming rankings in the first half of this year. Applause produced the series with the now defunct BBC Studios India for JioStar. According to Ormax Media’s half-yearly Top 50 Streaming Originals in India rankings (Jan-June 2025), at least one episode of the series was watched by 27.7 million people. In second place was “Ek Badnaam Aashram” season three part two (27.1 million people watched at least one episode), by Prakash Jha Productions for Amazon MX Player. Ormax only counts unduplicated audiences, so a viewer is counted only once even if they watch episodes of a show over multiple weeks. Prime Video took third place with “Panchayat” season four by TVF.

Wednesday, 16 July 2025: ▶️🎥 TOP 10 Squid Game’s total domination of the top spots on Netflix’s non-English global TV top 10 lasted for all of one glorious week. And now it’s back to scattered rule; the three seasons ended the week to 13 July at #1, #5 and #7, shedding 211 million hours of viewing from the previous week. The three seasons ended the week with combined viewing of 140 million hours. Season one dropped 186.4 million hours from week 2 to week 3. Season two was down 12 million hours or 34% from week to week. And season one, now in its record 32nd week on the top 10, shed 12.2 million hours to end the latest week at 19.1 million hours viewed (down 39% from the previous week). The six Asian titles on the latest top 10 (7-13 July) give Asian programmes a 61% share of viewing hours of programmes on the global top 10. New Asian shows on the list include Korean dating reality show, “Better Late Than Single”, which premiered on 8 July.

Wednesday, 16 July 2025: 🌈👩‍❤️‍👩 BEC’s BOLD BET ON GL Thailand’s BEC World is upping its GL (Girls Love) focus, pulling new series “Only You” into a much earlier prime-time evening slot on its free-TV broadcast network for the first time, and counting down to new title “My Safe Zone” (รักสุดท้าย / “Rak Sudtai”) in Q4. Directed by Saratsawadee Wongsomphet and starring popular couple Lingling Kwong and Orm Kornnaphat, the 14-episode “Only You” – BEC’s second GL – premieres on Thai Channel 3 at 8.30pm this Friday. Netflix drops the series in Southeast Asia two hours later, followed by Taiwan’s Far Eastone Telecommunications’ streaming service, friDay Video, at 11.30pm local time. BEC launched its first GL project – “The Secret of Us” – in July last year in a 10.30pm Monday slot, kicking off a multi-platform phenom that included fan-meets and product endorsements. The next show, “My Safe Zone”, stars Lena Lalina and Miu Natsha, will be followed by “Play Park” (รักไม่คาดฝัน / “Rak Mai Khaat Fun”) – starring Yada Narilya (“Dhevaprom: “Kwanruetai”) and Tan Duangkaew.

Wednesday, 16 July 2025: 🕵️ INVESTIGATIONS Korea’s powerful Communications Commission (KCC) has launched an investigation into allegations that telco giant KT violated regulations by exploiting rival SK Telecom’s cybersecurity breach to run deceptive advertising. The investigation follows a complaint filed this month. KCC’s note today said the official investigation follows last week’s site inspection at KT’s HQ. Commission investigators found that KT “may have provided misleading or exaggerated explanations about service terms and contract conditions in order to recruit users”. KCC also noted “indications of discriminatory practices against certain users, raising suspicions of legal violations” and promised “strict action” if violations of the Telecommunications Business Act were confirmed.

Wednesday, 16 July 2025: ▶️🎥 STREAMING Prime Video releases Joko Anwar’s “The Siege at Thorn High” globally on 15 August following its strong theatrical run in Indonesia. The latest data puts domestic admissions at almost 1.9 million since the 17 April release. The theatrical feature, produced by Come and See Pictures, was Amazon MGM Studios first out of Southeast Asia. Set in the tumultuous near-future of Indonesia in 2027, "The Siege at Thorn High" shows Indonesian society teetering on the edge of anarchy, with chaos ignited by discrimination and racial hate. Against this backdrop, a young substitute teacher at a school for juvenile delinquents battles for survival. “The Siege at Thorn High” was announced in October 2024. Stars include Morgan Oey ("Srimulat: Hidup Memang Komedi"), Omara Esteghlal ("Ali Topan") and Hana Malasan ("Susuk").

Wednesday, 16 July 2025: 📊 MEASUREMENT Japanese audience measurement agency, Video Research, rolls out its Streamo platform nationwide in October this year, promising to “visualise” the country’s video streaming usage, including distribution services like TVer and YouTube, and to deepen audience insights by region. The company said today that the new platform was “responding to changes in the media environment with an eye on providing advertising data services for connected TVs” in addition to PCs, mobile devices and traditional TV. The survey sample involves 10,800 households nationwide/approximately 25,000 samples planned. A limited beta version has been available since April. Video Research bosses say the new service enables better insights into actual media usage by region.

👉 Tuesday, 15 July 2025: Netflix continues to get real in Korea – although no similar release promises are being made this year as there were last year, when the streamer rolled out nine premieres in eight months and committed to adding a new unscripted Korean series every month from August 2024 to end-March 2025. In the new push, Netflix has confirmed its expanded “B&B Universe” alliance with Korean producer Jung Hyo-min and Studio Modak. The working title of their new show, with entertainer Yu Jae-seok (“Family Outing”), is “Yu Jae Seok’s B&B”. Netflix is also returning “Kian’s Bizarre B&B” for a second season. “Yu Jae Seok’s B&B” was announced officially at the weekend after doing the social media rounds for a few days. The decision to expand the universe follows the popularity of “Kian’s Bizarre B&B”, which was part of Netflix’s reality promise last year. Producer Lee So-min, who is spearheading the expansion of this B&B universe, promises “a completely new type of B&B”. “Kian’s Bizarre B&B”, featuring Kian84, was announced in mid-2024 and released in April, reaching the top 10 globally for two consecutive weeks. The series was created by Jung Hyo-min, Lee So-min and Hwang Yoon-seo.

👉 Tuesday, 15 July 2025: China’s State Administration of Radio and Television’s China Audiovisual Big Data (CVB) report for the first half of this year (1 Jan-30 June) shows 750 TV dramas broadcast on satellite channels nationwide; 229 TV dramas broadcast during prime time, and 55 premiers. Among these, the premiere ratings of "A Good Life" was 2.3%. This put the urban livelihood drama second among all types of programmes on satellite channels in the same period during the broadcast. "A Good Life" was produced by CCTV, Shanghai Radio and Television (Shanghai Media Group)'s Shangshi Pictures and Youku. The series premiered on CCTV-8 and Youku on 17 April. Dragon TV occupies seven spots on satellite station’s top 10 prime time TV drama rankings.

👉 Tuesday, 15 July 2025: In India, Eros International Media’s battle with its joint-venture production partners at Colour Yellow Productions continues. Eros told the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday that it had secured interim protection against Colour Yellow Productions and directors, Aanand L. Rai and Yogita Rai. Eros holds a 50% equity stake in Colour Yellow, which was behind 2024 thriller/romance, “Phir Aayi Haseen Dilruba”, directed by Jayprad Desai for Netflix. Eros alleges “acts of oppression and mismanagement, including concerns over non-disclosure of financials, unauthorised transactions, and related-party transactions without requisite board approvals”. The tribunal’s interim directions mandate that Eros be given seven days notice ahead of Colour Yellow board or shareholder meetings. The order also says no payments can be made to related parties of the respondents while the petition is pending. Eros said it filed the petition to protect its shareholder rights and to ensure accountability, transparency and adherence to corporate governance standards in the functioning of Colour Yellow.

👉 Tuesday, 15 July 2025: Miss Universe Organisation owner, JKN Global Group, has bought another two months in the ongoing battle to snatch its Thai-listed business from ruin. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new filing deadline for rectified 2023 financials is 9 September this year. The original deadline was 11 July. JKN requested the extension, saying a special audit was required to “extend the scope of work to cover transactions related to creditors, debtors, sales and purchases of content, and other related transactions, as instructed by the SEC”. The extension comes a little over a month after the forced exit of two top JKN Group execs – MD and CEO, Anne Jakrajutatip, and director and deputy MD of the content division, Pimauma Jakrajutatip (Angie) – following a damning case of alleged financial irregularity. Listing multiple infringements of Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Act, the SEC said that it was “also investigating and expanding to other cases that are questionable” in coordination with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The SEC has accused the two along with JKN, of falsifying financials and has referred the case to the DSI “for consideration of legal action”. The SEC also said the sisters were involved in fiddling the books to boost revenue and liabilities in 2023 and Q1 2024, and said its findings classified the company and its two senior directors as “lacking trustworthiness”. The case highlights activities related to JKN’s 2023 accounts, where auditors found “several unreasonable commercial content purchase transactions”.

👉 Tuesday, 15 July 2025: In another reality move, Netflix has set 12 August for the premiere of its first made-in-Japan physical survival series, “Final Draft”. The series involves 25 former athletes – including baseball legend Yoshio Itoi and three-division boxing world champion Hozumi Hasegawa along with a line up of younger athletes – who were either forced to walk away from their dreams or who retired on their own terms looking for redemption. The prize money is ¥30 million/US$203,000.

👉 Friday, 11 July 2025: Philippines' media company ABS-CBN bade farewell to its long-loved compound this week. Outpouring of nostalgia, grief and commitment to the values ABS-CBN holds dear flowed thick and fast. John Arcilla said "ABS CBN molded our love for Country and commitment to serve the Filipino people through our Arts and Talents". He described the building as "the space within its four walls which used to be our playground, strength and refuge". "It is easy to fight back the tears which suppose to be flowing on my cheeks. Instead it flowed inward down to my heart as a new inspiration to a new beginning. Yes we will stay. We will always be here, much wider much bigger and stronger," he said. “ABS CBN is in our hearts and Home is where our heart is”

👉 Tuesday, 8 July 2025: Today’s excitement is led by a date – 25 Sept –  for the premiere of the third season of survival drama “Alice in Borderland”, and what’s next for Arisu and Usagi after their S2 return to the real world. S3 (announced in 2023) is one of 13 Japanese titles (seven scripted, four unscripted, two films) Netflix showcased in Feb this year for 2025. We dug out a few things the streamer has to be hoping that the returning series – one of its most-watched Japanese dramas globally – will at least equal if not beat. “Alice in Borderland” became Netflix Japan's most-watched title ever (including anime), after the season two premiere in Dec 2022. In its first week, S2 was on the non-English language global TV top 10 in more than 90 countries, made #1 in 17 and clocked 200 million viewing hours worldwide. Season two topped Netflix’s global non-English TV top 10 with 61.2 million hours viewed (week of 19-25 December), putting the show within a hair’s breadth of the 63 million hours that “Squid Game” was viewed in its first week on the global top 10. “Alice in Borderland” S2 drew the first season back onto the Top 10 for the first time since October 2021, with 18.7 million hours viewed during the week. For the third season, Netflix has promised a drama at an even grander scale. The countdown has begun…

👉 Tuesday, 8 July 2025: Government/public broadcasters love a MoU (and the opportunity to platform a bit of feel-good in the name of stronger bonds and better collaboration, as well as, clearly, to provide a photo op that will contribute to a post-event report to justify existence). This week’s best use of ceremonial tools goes to Korea’s KBS and Italy’s RAI, which “solidified” their “enduring partnership” with a new MoU “reaffirming their strong bond and fostering enhanced collaboration in the evolving global media landscape”. The pair of pubcasters have been allies since 1985 (ie. 40 years), and the MoU opportunity of the moment was the 94th European Broadcasting Union (EBU) General Assembly in London last week. What’s on the table this time? “Cooperative initiatives including programme and personnel exchanges, expert training, and joint participation in events”. KBS’ avowed need was to highlight its “active role in global media”. In their own words: “This MOU underscores KBS' dedication to strengthening its international network and promoting cross-cultural understanding, further solidifying its global standing in public broadcasting”. Nothing in public, of course, about recent youth drama “Kick Kick Kick Kick”, which broke all-time Korean records for low ratings; “Villains Everywhere”, which wasn’t much better (ratings from 1.4% to a high of 2.7%); and Wed/Thu prime-time series, “Pump Up the Healthy Love”, which averaged 1.3% across its run from 30 April to 5 June this year. “The First Night With A Duke”, currently airing in the Wed/Thu prime time drama slot, is faring marginally better at a high of 608,000 viewers for episode 6 (3.3% share), but still pretty sad. Back to the latest MoU… maybe it will help.

 

👉 Thursday, 3 July 2025: India’s audience measurement could enter free-for-all territory if new policy amendment by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) go through. This week’s high-excitement follows the publication of revisions suggesting restrictions be lifted on who can be involved in Television Rating Agencies. MIB’s proposals were published on Wednesday. The previous guidelines have been in place since January 2014. The new framework would, if approved, strip the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of its long-held monopoly and allow anyone who wants to back their own systems. There’s mention of avoiding conflicts of interest in the new policy wording. But that’s not mollifying those who think the Ministry’s U-turn is a terrible idea that will, in the words of one insider, “lower the threshold and credibility of audience measurement altogether”. It’s easy here to get lost in the weeds of what BARC is accused of not doing, and what’s needed going forward, but it revolves around panel sizes, representation and cross-platform measurement. Tracking industry response so far, opinion is split between those who believe the revised environment could be a win for transparency IF certain conditions are met and, on the other hand, the potential for complete chaos. The deadline for comments is the first week of August 2025.

👉 Thursday, 3 July 2025: Bangkok-based Miss Universe owner, the JKN Global Group, has appointed Rubporn Promvongsanon as managing director and stripped previous boss, Anne Jakrajutatip, and her second-in-command, Pimauma Angie Jakrajutatip, of their signing powers on company accounts. JKN told the Thai Stock Exchange this week that it was in the process of recruiting a new CEO. The Jakrajutatip sisters were forced to resign in early June following the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusation of falsifying financials and the referral to the Dept of Special Investigation “for consideration of legal action”. The latest chapter in the long-running drama, comes a little less than a month since the Miss Universe Organisation (MUO) said JKN’s troubles in Thailand would have NO IMPACT on the beauty pageant’s global leadership. MUO said the rumours that Jakrajutatip was stepping down from her MUO role were unfounded. “We categorically deny any reports suggesting a change in leadership within the organisation. Anne Jakrajutatip remains the Chief Executive Officer of the Miss Universe Organisation, and Raúl Rocha continues to serve as President. There have been no modifications to our executive structure,” MUO said. “These rumors are entirely false and do not reflect the internal operations or direction of our organisation,” it added. 

👉 Wednesday, 2 July 2025: Thailand’s turmoil and the future of a high-hype soft power initiative that hasn’t really had a chance to kick in and, despite lots of smiles, charm, celebrity selfies and grand plans involving red carpets and promises, looks like it may be chewed up and spat out at the feet of the latest political theatre. Thailand started pushing its big, shiny dreams of becoming Asia’s next cultural juggernaut – modelled on Korea’s KOCCA and Taiwan’s TAICCA – in early 2024, hanging out the THACCA (Thailand Creativity & Culture Agency) shingle and spreading around glossy presentation decks. At the time, the plan’s chances of working depended upon who you asked. Although optimism ran high, many wondered how the tangle of government organisations and interests could be united behind the sweeping ambitions. Even then, one year and three months ago, the political will for long-term commitment was being closely watched. The notion of “soft power” is neither new nor novel in Thailand; insiders pointed us last year to previous efforts that died with changes in government and shifts in political power. Which brings us to this week… and the suspension of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra yesterday over a leaked phone call with Cambodian leader Hun Sen, which came atop the political deadlock that has been going on for weeks. Will THACCA survive? Who knows… for now, the “Splash Soft Power Forum” – A THACCA-backed four-day “gathering of global thinkers, creators, and dreamers, all fired up about making Thai soft power go global” – goes on. Head over to QSNCC if you’re in Bangkok from 8-11 July.

 

👉 Wednesday, 2 July 2025: Given the potential blowback, we’re thinking moves don’t come much bolder than this: The Queer Muslim Project’s QueerFrames Screenwriting Lab in partnership with Netflix. The project – South Asia’s first and only screenwriting incubator for early-career LGBTQIA+ filmmakers – champions “bold new voices in South Asian cinema”. According to organisers, the initiative “addresses a critical gap in industry representation by empowering queer storytellers to shape narratives that challenge norms, affirm identities, and drive cultural change”. The aim is to support “bold, intersectional stories rooted in the realities of South Asia”. This year’s lab brings together eight writer-directors from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and the South Asian diaspora. Since its inception, QueerFrames has supported 14 emerging queer filmmakers. The Queer Muslim Project was founded by Rafiul Alom Rahman. Applications for the third edition close on 13 July.

👉 Wednesday, 2 July 2025: The latest in the death-by-a-thousand cuts story of listed entertainment company mm2 Asia/Cathay Cineplexes and its clearly-irate landlords continued this week, when lawyers delivered a statutory demand for back rent/interest totalling approx S$3.5 million/US$2.7 million and a 22 July payment deadline… or else. The amount relates to Cathay’s Jurong JEM mall cinemas, which mm2 closed at the end of March after more than a year’s worth of rent negotiations came to nought; at the time, Cathay Cineplexes said it would continue to work with the landlord to settle the outstanding sums. mm2 Asia, which has been struggling since Covid and has been closing its complexes across Singapore, is seeking legal advice and said today it would make further announcements as and when there were material developments. In Feb this year, mm2 said the “slower-than-expected recovery of the cinema industry” had hampered its ability to pay its arrears on a timely basis, and that it had paid approx S$12 million/US$9.43 million rent to the landlords between 1 April 2020 and 31 January 2025”. mm2 has applied for an extension to the deadline for filing its latest earnings reports.

 

👉 Tuesday, 1 July 2025:  How the latest border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia plays out for media companies. Right now, a rude halt has been called on Thai programming in Cambodia, which means holes in schedules, payment issues, and all-round disruption by forces beyond programmers’ control. That comes on top of broader payment issues since September last year, when the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat, his conglomerate L.Y.P. Group Co and a few linked entities for “serious human rights abuses” related to online scam operations. The knock-on impact is that PNN TV, backed by the group, hasn’t been able to remit U.S. dollars outside of Cambodia for any of the programming it has signed for. Short of carrying suitcases of cash across borders (illegal in the amounts we believe are due), a solution is way beyond rights holders’ pay grade. So…

👉 Tuesday, 1 July 2025:  “Squid Game” season three’s performance; Netflix premiered the third installment on Friday (27 June). The first numbers are out in the early hours of this morning (Asia time), so we’ll be bringing them to you from tomorrow and tracking them through July. As of today, season one remains Netflix’s all time top show, with season two in second place. S3 could pull the first two back on to the weekly top 10. As of today, S1 has been viewed for 2,205.2 million hours (265,200,000 views). S2 has been viewed for 1,380.1 million hours (192,600,000 views) to take second place ahead of “Money Heist” part 4 (710.2 million hours/106,000,000 views). The top English-language show of all time is “Wednesday” season one, which has been viewed for 1,718.8 million hours (252,100,000 views) – which puts it in front of “Squid Game” S2 on the combined rankings. First half 2025 “what we watched” rankings should also be out soon; our analysis to follow.

👉 Tuesday, 1 July 2025:  The ContentAsia Awards 2025 Jury panels are in full swing. In the interests of the broadest range of eyeballs, opinions and tastes, we’ve hand-picked 100 jury members from around the world to consider 500+ made-in-Asia entries in 27 categories. Score submission deadline is 29 July, nominees will be announced the following week, and the winners announced in an on-ground event in Taipei on 4 September. Plus, new this year – our very first People’s Choice voting category. Watch this space…