English Entertainment
“Fear Factor has been an unqualified success on AXN Asia” : Todd Miller Asia Managing Director of AXN
“As far as 2002 is concerned, we are very confident and very well positioned. We have had strong distribution growth of 46 per cent in the last year and our viewership has grown 35 per cent which gives us a more than compelling story for advertisers” – thus spake AXN Asia managing director Todd Miller in an interview to indiantelevision.com‘ in December 2001.
The channel‘s performance in the first half of the year has more or less borne out his prediction with AXN introducing several new shows and promising to bring in even more before the year is out. He answered indiantelevision.com‘s Aparna Joshi‘s queries about the path the channel is taking and the direction in which it is headed?…
How many of AXN‘s new programmes slated to launch in 2002 are yet to take off?
This year, AXN has already launched an unprecedented 15 shows, which underscores our commitment to providing viewers in India with the world‘s best action/adventure entertainment. Since February, we have launched these 15 series: Fear Factor; Scariest Places on Earth; Guiness World Records: Primetime; The Amazing Race season II; Andromeda; Farscape season III; No Boundaries; CSI Season II; The Agency; Relic Hunter Season II; Queen of Swords; The Outer Limits; Motorworld; Rated X (new entertainment magazine show); Eco Challenge New Zealand. There will be much more programming action to come in the second half of 2002, including more blockbuster movies and five brand-new first-run series in September, premiering exclusively on AXN.
What is the gender break up of AXN India‘s viewership? Is it tilting in favour of women?
Generally, AXN appeals to an “attitudinally 20-something” audience. The majority of our Indian viewers are aged 15 – 44; 60 per cent are men and 40 per cent are women. This male/female ratio is a consistent pattern across all of AXN‘s Asian feeds. What is also consistent is the potent mixture of action, reality, escapism, daring and irreverence, which appeals to both men and women.
AXN executives had said recently that animation series on the channel do not strike a chord with Indian audiences, chiefly because the shows target the 15-21 year age group. In India, however, animation is perceived to be meant for those in the five to 10 age bracket. Which animation series is currently on air on AXN and what is its future? Do you plan to introduce any new ones, or will you scrap the genre for India?
Our Indian programming efforts are focused on the four pillars which have highest and broadest appeal: movies, series, adventure reality, and lifestyle sports. Action animation also has a loyal but niche following in India, and to cater to this audience AXN will continue to program some hot animated series which are favourites inside and beyond Japan, such as the Japanese title Dual, which is currently on-air. Excalibur, an exciting CGI fantasy series, will be broadcast from July.
One of the channel‘s major properties for the year was supposed to be the World Stunt Awards, scheduled to take place on 19 May in the US. Is it being developed by the channel in conjunction with US network ABC? When will it be telecast and how will it be promoted?
The World Stunt Awards will premiere in India on July 26, exclusively on AXN. This is a global AXN property and a star-studded event, which celebrates the best movie action stunts, and the people who do them, from around the world. We are developing a fun and clever on-air campaign, which will break in a couple weeks. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an unbelievable entrance to this Awards ceremony.
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“Action animation also has a loyal but niche following in India, and to cater to this audience, AXN will continue to program some hot animated series”
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It was also being said that the channel would continue building the brand through alliances with action-oriented movies released in theatres. Which are the films currently being pushed by AXN? Which other mega movies after Crouching Tiger?. are you planning?
AXN‘s dedication to bringing the best action movies is unwavering. This July, for example, AXN Asia will bring the TV premiere of the critically acclaimed Shadow of the Vampire starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, and from Hong Kong, Time and Tide, as part of the Asian Cinema movie special.
How did the multi discipline adventure races go? Has it helped audience profile of the channel?
The Hong Kong AXN Challenge and the Eco Challenge are both AXN properties. The Hong Kong AXN Challenge fielded 62 teams from six countries and Team India, comprising the Navy‘s Cmdr Siddarth Panday and Leading Seaman Vijay Dahiya performed admirably. Team India came in first in the Dares Challenge and third overall in the adventure race. This one-hour special will be broadcast in July.
Eco Challenge New Zealand that premiered on AXN last month fielded six teams from four Asian nations. AXN Asia sponsored teams from Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. It‘s too early to have ratings yet, but Eco Challenge definitely helps AXN‘s audience profile by catering to our “attitudinally 20-something” target viewer. We‘re also hoping that the Eco-Challenge broadcast will inspire an Indian team to compete in this race.
How do you rate the performances of Survivor, Amazing Race which completed their run in January?
Both The Amazing Race and Survivor are very strong properties with loyal following among Asian viewers. The Amazing Race, in particularly, generates very strong positive feedback across AXN‘s footprint, including India. The first season of The Amazing Race included a leg in India, passing through Delhi and Agra. Both seasons have included Asia on the round-the-world itinerary.
How about Fear Factor – considering the opposition it has drawn in other countries?
Fear Factor has been an unqualified success on AXN Asia. In all measured markets, including India, Fear Factor has been one of AXN‘s most popular shows, because it compels ordinary people to confront their worst fears in extraordinary? we can‘t wait to broadcast the second season later this year.
The second season of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) started on 1 April. How is CSI doing rating wise?
Among affluent adults, a top show. CSI is also the top-rated drama in the US, taking over the title of “#1 Drama on Television” in only its second season on air. We expect CSI to have a long life on AXN Asia.
Do action series and action animation remain one of the main pillars of programming in India? Are action movies, action series and action adventure-reality still AXN‘s principal programming pillars for AXN India?
AXN India‘s core programming pillars remain. Among the English-language channels, AXN is the only broadcaster to deliver a unique mix of movies, series, reality, and lifestyle adventure entertainment.
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“We‘re hoping that the Eco-Challenge broadcast will inspire an Indian team to compete in this race”
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When do you expect to reach break-even status, 2004-2005, or will it be earlier?
We‘re still on plan.
How many homes does AXN reach currently in Asia, and in India?
Currently AXN is seen in over 70 million Asian households. In India, we reach over 21.6 million homes.
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
