MyChinaChannel has linked up with Shanghai Media Group to launch a Mandarin-language rugrats' channel for Southeast Asia, in collaboration with GlobeCast for launch in 2013.
The yet-to-be named channel will feature content in Chinese produced in China by SMG's unit Toonmax and promises more than 1,000 hours of new programs every year in Mandarin, which is the official Chinese dialaect and the one spoken most widely.
The channel will be owned by MyChinaChannel and GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom and a leading global provider of content management services, will manage the on-air creatives, playout and technical services for the channel.
"There is a growing population of Mandarin speakers within Southeast Asia, but there is not enough Chinese content out there, and MyChinaChannel sees great growth opportunities in China-produced, Mandarin-language kids' content," said Melvin Ang, executive director of MyChinaChannel.
The deal was announced at the Asia Television Forum & Market in Singapore, which is being run in tandem with ScreenSingapore 2012.
The event was officially opened Wednesday by Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and it features more than 4,000 buyers, sellers and participants from more than 60 countries.
Eight Singapore film directors have been awarded a S$250,000 ($205,338) grant each under the Singapore Film Commission's New Talent Feature Grant, which fosters the careers of local filmmakers. The eight projects were picked from a pool of 25 proposals.
Meanwhile, local shingle Supernova launched the first Singapore-Cambodia co-production, a pic about the sex trafficking industry in Phnom Penh, "3.50," at the fest.
Pic is helmed by Eysham Ali and Cambodia's Chhay Bora, whose "Lost Loves" is Cambodia's entry for the foreign-language category at the Oscars.
In other news from the fest, A+E Networks said it would take over full ownership of AETN All Asia Networks, the Singapore-based company formed as a j.v. with Astro Overseas Limited in 2007.