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Manori Ravindran International EditorWarner Bros. Discovery has set out its long-awaited international leadership team under Gerhard Zeiler.Zeiler, as announced earlier this month, is the newly installed president of international for the merged company, and oversees the global channels business with a “dotted line” to international streaming lead JB Perrette.

Warner Bros Discovery International Head Honcho Gerhard Zeiler has set his leadership team, with big promotions for the likes of Priya Dogra and Anil Jhingan.

Doubling down on investment and expanding its offer in Japan, Prime Video has unveiled a slate of new Japanese originals including a reboot of iconic game show Takeshi’s Castle and a local adaptation of anthology series Modern Love. The streamer revealed the lineup at a showcase event in Tokyo today, where it also announced it will livestream the World Bantamweight title fight between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire on June 7.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIn support of the Disney Plus streaming service, Disney has expanded its involvement in local production in Asia-Pacific. The company’s APAC head of content and development, Jessica Kam-Engle, gives the keynote presentation on the first day of Hong Kong FilMart.Ahead of her speech she gave a few pointers to Variety readers.Jessica Kam-Engle: From our extensive research, consumers across most Asian markets have a strong preference for local language entertainment content.

James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, formerly CEO of Star India and president of Walt Disney Asia Pacific, have formed Bodhi Tree, a new outfit backed by the Qatar Investment Authority.

Naman Ramachandran James Murdoch and Uday Shankar have formed Bodhi Tree, an investment platform financially supported by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) designed to invest in media and consumer technology opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India. Murdoch set up Lupa Systems as a private holding company in 2019 following his departure as CEO of 21st Century Fox, Sky plc, and Star. He subsequently quit as a director of News Corp.

The number of people with dementia across the globe is expected to almost triple by 2050.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe decision to make a second season of Netflix global hit “Squid Game” is a sound one, according to analysis firm Media Partners Asia which finds that Korean and Thai content have the strongest cross-border travel potential within the Asia-Pacific region.The company’s “Netflix in the Asia Pacific: The Scalability of Local Content” report is based on passive measurement of 30,000 streaming consumers in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines,

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios is consolidating its Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) distribution regions as a single, unified business.The new division, known as Global Markets, under the leadership of Nick Percy as president, will be operational from Jan. 31, 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAnil Jhingan will take over as president and MD of Discovery in Asia Pacific.

Squid Game is a massive hit on Netflix, but the name that’s everywhere at the moment was almost something completely different.

Nominations in the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) were revealed today with nods for 38 films from 25 Asia Pacific countries and regions. Winners will be announced on Thursday, November 11, at the 14th APSA Ceremony on the Australia Gold Coast. Nominations include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, which won the best screenplay award at Cannes,  Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes Grand Prix winning, film , and the TIFF Platform award winning film directed by Kamila Andini.

The Walt Disney Company announced today at the company’s Q3 earnings call that Disney+, its streaming service, will launch in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in November 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: Former eOne Asia Pacific boss Troy Lum is officially launching new Australia-New Zealand distributor Kismet, with a slate of projects including Cannes hits and pre-sale titles.

As it seeks to widen its reach across China and Asia Pacific, Endeavor subsidiary Endeavor China has appointed media and entertainment executive Sum Huang as CEO. Huang was most recently co-founder and partner of XG Entertainment, a leading premium content provider in Asia, and previously spent five years with Hony Capital.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFrom a standing start 19 months ago, Disney’s video streaming operations in Asia-Pacific have already amassed 36.9 million subscribers.

Naman Ramachandran ITV Studios and BBC Studios India have struck a deal to adapt several ITV Studios scripted dramas for the Indian market.The first ITV Studios titles to be adapted include “Gold Digger,” “Sticks and Stones,” “Trauma” and “35 Days.” In addition to the Hindi-language adaptations, BBC Studios will also explore tapping into the large Tamil and Telugu-language markets.Augustus Dulgaro, executive VP, distribution, Asia Pacific at ITV Studios, said: “Working with BBC Studios India

Amazon has greenlit a local version of hit entertainment show The Masked Singer in Japan.

James Murdoch is joining the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) rush in America, seeking to raise $345 million for his new media and tech venture with Uday Shankar, the former president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman, Star & Disney India.

Naman Ramachandran The Indian and Indonesian paid subscribers market across streamers is poised for explosive growth according to Rohit Jain, MD, South Asia and networks – emerging markets Asia, Lionsgate.Starz launched streamer Lionsgate Play in India in December, and Indonesia on Wednesday, both after soft launches.

Naman Ramachandran Discovery Inc.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria says that staying authentically local is key to global success for the giant streaming platform.Speaking at the opening day of the annual Asia Pacific focused APOS conference, a virtual affair for the second year in a row due to COVID-19, Bajaria said that the localization process is led by on-ground leadership.Bajaria described “extraordinary empowered, local decision makers,” who “make the decisions in their own time zone in their own

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJames Murdoch, Kevin Mayer and Bela Bajaria are among the prominent executives lining up to speak at the upcoming APOS conference on Asian media affairs.The conference is operated by consultancy Media Partners Asia and has for several years been held as an in-person event in Bali, Indonesia.

After mid-2000s success building the Star TV empire into one of India’s top broadcasters and the dominant local streaming service, James Murdoch and Uday Shankar are back with a new project. Murdoch and Shankar, Disney’s former president in Asia Pacific, unveiled an ambitious new partnership Jan.

James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former CEO of Star India and president of Disney in Asia Pacific, said Thursday that they are partnering to form a new venture that will explore technology and media opportunities in emerging markets. Murdoch, who no longer holds a role in his family's media empire, is teaming up with Shankar via Lupa Systems, theNew York and Mumbai-based investment firm he established in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: Endeavor Content has recruited Alistair Jennings, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s former vice president of sales in South East Asia, as its SVP of international TV sales in Asia Pacific.

Disney Appoints APAC Chief Disney has named Luke Kang as President, Asia Pacific, following the departure of Uday Shankar, which was announced in October and becomes effective from December 31. Kang will not, however, be taking on Shankar’s responsibilities in India, with a separate appointment set to be made for the territory by Rebecca Campbell, Chairman, International Operations and Direct-to-Consumer for Disney.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has appointed Anna Mallett as vice president of physical production for the U.K. and local language production across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific.Mallett, who joins from ITN where she currently serves as CEO, will lead the Netflix production management team across these regions for live-action series, non-fiction and film.

Jake Kanter International TV EditorDisney APAC Boss Uday Shankar Quits Uday Shankar, president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman, Star & Disney India, is to step down at the end of 2020 after less than two years in the role. Shankar said he intends to pursue new entrepreneurial opportunities to “give back to the country.” Before stepping down, he will work with Rebecca Campbell, chair of Disney’s direct-to-consumer and international segment, to identify a successor.

Naman Ramachandran Uday Shankar will step down as president, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman, Star & Disney India, effective Dec. 31, 2020.