SATELLITE & CABLE: AXN Asia snaps up Eco-Challenge race

AXN Asia, the regional action/adventure broadcaster set up from scratch by Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar International Television, has entered its third year of operations on a strong note. It recently won the rights to broadcast Eco-Challenge, which AXN managing director Todd Miller described as the flagship product for action adventure programming. Eco-Challenge, the broadcast rights of which was previously held by the Discovery Channel, is an expedition race of some 80 teams through an uncharted wilderness course in Malaysia over a 10-day period. The teams have to call upon all their athletic abilities - running, swimming, climbing, biking and scuba diving to name a few - in order to complete the course. "Our target audience are viewers who are not just into sports per se, they are into action/adventure, adventure sports and extreme sports, so having Eco-Challenge in our line-up is very important to us in maintaining viewer interest in AXN," Mr Miller told MEDIA. He added that because this event is so popular around the world, there would be unique feeds for different markets. "We would have a camera crew following the team from Japan for Japanese audiences and we would have the same for the Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysian viewers. What used to be broadcast was a one size fits all programme but we know that customisation is the key to building viewer loyalty as well as providing greater advertising opportunities," Mr Miller said. AXN is able to broadcast Eco-Challenge after its parent company Columbia TriStar recently purchased the international broadcasting rights. AXN has four dedicated feeds: Japan, Taiwan, East Asia including Hong Kong, and India. Its target audience range in age from 15 to 45, with a male skew, although there is a large percentage of female viewers in the 15 to 24 age group. Mr Miller said, however, that understanding the mindset of the viewers was of utmost importance. "What we have to always remember is that although our viewers come from diverse backgrounds, they all have a common mindset. They are all 20-something in attitude with a strong interest in action/adventure. That's the glue that holds AXN together." AXN has, therefore, put together programming that attempts to appeal to this group. Apart from Eco-Challenge and other similar extreme sports shows, AXN also carries action programming: Hollywood blockbusters such as Men in Black, Taxi Driver, Dracula and the Hellraiser trilogy and series such as Relic Hunter, Pacific Blue and Earth: the Final Conflict. The channel has a wide range of blue chip advertisers including Visa, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's and Ford.

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