Wednesday, 3 December 2025

The Singapore Media Festival’s ATF market opened this morning with free-flowing good news laced with info from Vietnam about the death of Canal+’s long-running K+ platform, which is closing after more than 15 years, and that Philippines’ superstar Kim Chiu is locked in a battle vicious enough for her to issue a formal public statement on why she’s taking legal action against her sister – and it’s not pretty. We’ve kept a close eye on K+/Canal+, which flagged the move in July saying that the “Vietnam business is being closely assessed as its performance has been meaningfully affected by the market environment”. Sports specialists say K+’s English Premier League rights for Vietnam have already gone to Thailand’s Jasmine International. In other talk on the market floor, insiders say China’s current ire at Japan could benefit Korean rights holders. “You can’t really fight with all your neighbours at once, can you?” the person said.

Meanwhile…

First Korean co-production for Singapore’s Mediacorp; “Absolute Value of Romance” on the way in debut Coupang Play deal

Singapore’s Mediacorp enters K-drama production territory for the first time with Korean streaming service Coupang Play; the new co-production – “Absolute Value of Romance” – premieres in 2026. Billed as a “fresh and witty romance set in a high school”, the series follows Yeo Eui-ju (played by Kim Hyang Gi), a quiet student with a double life, alongside Cha Hak-yeon of K-pop boyband VIXX and Kim Jae-hyun of rock band N.Flying. Rising Mediacorp star Gladys Bay plays Jenny – a spirited Singaporean exchange student – in her K-drama debut. Mediacorp’s chief content officer, Virginia Lim, said today that the co-production “represents a meaningful step in expanding our storytelling reach… and underscores our focus on creating stories that transcend cultures and connect audiences”. Coupang Play’s head of original production, Christine Ahn, said “Absolute Value of Romance” built on the momentum of originals like “Boyhood” and that the platform would “continue to expand its global footprint through distinctive storytelling that reflects our unique identity, while deepening collaborations with Mediacorp and a diverse network of international partners.”

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Malaysia, Philippines join forces on three co-productions; Double Vision, ABS-CBN and Astro Shaw collab reboots 2008 hit “A Time for Us”

Malaysia’s Double Vision and Astro Shaw and the Philippines’ ABS-CBN have joined forces on three scripted series that signal the beginning of a ramped up co-production era for the two countries. The deal involves 30 hours of content over the next two to three years. The new shows include a reboot of romantic suspense drama, “A Time for Us” (“Kahit Isang Saglit”) – the 2008 collaboration between Double Vision and ABS-CBN. Production is scheduled for the second half 2026, with delivery towards the end of the year. The other two scripted series will be “Besa” and “Habitat”. The three series will stream as originals on ABS-CBN’s iWant and on Astro platforms.

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Fremantle opens ATF with raft of Asia deals; platforms in Korea, Japan, India & regional add scripted series to local schedules

Fremantle opened the three-day ATF market today with a raft of scripted sales across Asia led by action-adventure series, “Sandokan: The Pirate Prince”, which has been picked up by Rewind Networks for its pan-regional Asia channel HITS NOW, Hulu (Japan) and LG U+ (South Korea). Broadcasters and platforms in India, Japan and Hong Kong.

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ATF told ‘Investors Need to Recalibrate’ as financiers offer alternative models and return on experience

Asian film and TV executives at the ATF Leaders’ Dialogue were presented with a range of production finance techniques that offer to make investing safer, budgets stretch further and attract outside investors. Most of the methods are employed in the U.S. and Europe, but are not so commonly used in Asia. The session also heard speakers discuss the increasing shift of private capital to focus on lifestyle and quality of life, where return on investment (ROI) is replaced with "return on experience or return on interest”. The panel took a worrying – or more realistic – turn when several speakers said that entertainment investment is a mug’s game.

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