ATF 2024 Dailies: Paramount+ boards Coupang Play + more… ContentAsia @ ATF, Wednesday, 4 December 2024

NEWS

04 December 2024

Paramount+ boards Coupang Play; early 2025 debut for branded destination on Korean streamer

Paramount+ lands on Korean streamer Coupang in early 2025 in a branded destination licensing deal announced by Paramount Global Content Distribution out of London and L.A. a few minutes ago.

This is the fourth deal of its type for Paramount Global in Asia after JioCinema in India, Mono in Thailand and Blast TV in the Philippines.

The Coupang slate includes content from Showtime, CBS Studios, MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon, Republic Pictures and Paramount Pictures.

TV titles include “Dexter: Original Sin”, “Fire Country”, “Halo”, “Star Trek: Discovery”, “The Affair”, as well as the "CSI" and "NCIS" franchises.

Films include “The Godfather”, “Forrest Gump” and “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines”.

The deal was announced by Dan Cohen, Paramount’s chief content licensing officer and president of Republic Pictures.

Commercial details of the licensing agreement have not been disclosed.

NHK wins first Rose D’Or in 50+ years: Ryuichi Sakamoto doc wins arts award

Japanese public broadcaster NHK was the sole Asia winner in this year’s Rose d’Or, bringing home the award for best arts programme for “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Last Days”.

The award is NHK’s first Rose d’Or since 1970.

The one-hour documentary looks at the life of Oscar-winning musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in March 2023.

Sakamoto was a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and catapulted into international fame with his electro music innovations. The programme is directed by NHK’s Kensho Omori.

ROCK doc heads to Hong Kong’s Now; original production set for Jan 2025 release

Singapore-based regional programmer, ROCK Networks, releases its original documentary, “Zero to Macao”, in January 2025 in an exclusive agreement with Now TV in Hong Kong.

The two-part series is co-produced with Lucky Devil Films Production in association with Now True.

Directed by Jonathan Finnigan (“Treasure Fleet”), “Zero to Macao” is about Vivian Siu’s journey from almost zero driving experience to competing in the formidable Guia circuit.

ROCK described the programme as exploring “female resilience and athleticism in traditionally male-dominated sports, providing a fresh perspective on gender equality and feminism”.

“Zero to Macao” will also air on ROCK Entertainment’s Global Trekker channel; the release date has not been confirmed.

Another long-form original is in the works; tentative completion is in 2027.

Australia’s Seven launches “True Crime Files” FAST channel with Keshet and Woodcut

Keshet International (KI), Woodcut International and Australia’s Seven Network launched true-crime FAST channel – True Crime Files – on streaming platform 7plus today (Tuesday, 3 Dec).

KI is licensing/delivering nearly 100 hours of true crime content mostly from U.K. true-crime specialist, Woodcut Media, for the channel.

Titles include the latest two seasons of “World’s Most Evil Killers”, “Jo Frost on Killer Kids” (produced with Nanny Jo Productions), and “Murdered in the Line of Duty”.

KI has also licensed two British true crime documentaries – Top Hat Productions’ “Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret” and Flicker Productions’ “Wayne Couzens: Killer in Plain Sight” – for the new channel.

The companies said in a joint statement that 7plus now had more than 50 FAST channels and had grown its audience by 29% this year. Streamed FAST minutes are up 84% year on year, according to Seven Network distribution and content partnerships director, Richard Henson.