Pay-TV needs a fresh & sexy story - probably starting with not calling it pay-TV.

Taiwanese animation house Next Animation Studio (NAS) launches its nxTOONS channel this Friday (30 June), moving into original digital edu-tainment content for kids for the first time.

Asian buyers emerged from Sony Pictures Television screenings in L.A. a few weeks ago talking mostly about Shemar Moore’s abs and British actor Freddie Highmore as an American version of Korean heartthrob Joo Won in medical drama The Good Doctor.

Japanese drama story lines took something of a different turn in new series Crisis – Special Security Squad, integrating politically charged story lines inspired by real events and stepping carefully through issues previously considered too sensitive for mass television audiences.

Asia’s SVOD subscriber landgrab is in full swing, playing out against a wild background where, in the words of Media Partners Asia (MPA) executive director and co-founder, Vivek Couto, “everything is dissolving”.

Asian content consumption on streaming platforms in Asia has risen dramatically, pushing Hollywood content from 80% of viewing to about 50%.