Dukes of drama: Can BBC Worldwide have it all in Southeast Asia?

What does an old dog doing new tricks look like? Well, pretty much Like BBC First on StarHub in Singapore. 

Why? 

Because, in all the fuss of a new world order and panic over what traditional linear players should be doing to survive, BBC First is going live for the first time in Southeast Asia on 4 April with a pure on-demand, ad-free, multi-screen, premium drama service that tracks the global shift in viewing habits – AND keeps its traditional, old-school pay-TV revenue. Or at least some of it.

BBC Worldwide Channels has not confirmed the financial terms of its SVOD carriage deal with Singapore platform StarHub. BBC Worldwide Southeast Asia senior vice president and general manager, Monty Ghai, also won’t say whether the new revenue matches what it got for general entertainment channel, BBC Entertainment, which, as part of the new Worldwide order, is being laid to rest on 29 April after eight or nine linear years.

BBC Entertainment, which has carriage in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, will be phased out across the region as well. 

For all the unknowns in this new space, what we do know is that subscribers to StarHub's Entertainment HD Upsize pack will not be asked to pay anything additional for BBC First, which will offer many of its titles within 24 hours of the U.K. and, in the best traditions of HBO, will be advertising free. 

BBC First will also be available on StarHub’s mobile service, StarHub Go, and may also be offered as a stand-alone SVOD service through StarHub. Details of a possible standalone platform that can be accessed without a StarHub subscription have not yet been disclosed. 

What's the worst case scenario that could follow this dramatic move?

Not enough people watch, for one. StarHub sees that no one is watching and throws it off. BBC First takes off in a big way and viewers binge faster than BBC Worldwide can buy really expensive premium original drama such as "Orphan Black", "Luther"with Idris Elba, "Sherlock: The Abominable Bride" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and "War and Peace", produced by BBC Wales and The Weinstein Company. StarHub’s customer service can’t answer questions about BBC First immediately and take three to five working days blah blah blah to arrange a callback. 

The best case scenario? 

BBC First programmers get to see what people are watching and give them more of it. Viewership rises. StarHub sees that being innovative works and does more of it. Subscribers talk and share and start believing again that the StarHub bundle is, actually, quite good value after all. Viewers watch more because they can, easily. StarHub’s customer care team takes a leaf out of the books of Netflix and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. Service with a smile. It’s a beautiful thing. And it’s so easy no need for pirate sites; okay, maybe that’s a stretch but you can see where I’m going here.  

Ghai says the move to on-demand does not in any way mean BBC is ringing a death knell for linear in Southeast Asia. Far from it. He points to BBC Earth, a linear service that rolled out across Asia in October 2015 and topped Singapore's factual charts for two months in a row in December 2015 and January 2016 (Kantar Media Singapore, 4+ pay-TV audiences).   

The plan is to roll out BBC First as a pure on-demand offering in markets with infrastructure that can support it. Ghai says the decision to veer away from a linear service in Singapore "allows us to do things differently". But not so differently as to break ties with long-time partner StarHub. 

In other markets in Southeast Asia, BBC First will be offered as a linear channel. In other parts of Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, BBC First is a linear channel. In Japan, BBC First is available as a programming block.

"It's a market by market decision," Ghai says. In Singapore, the technology is available and StarHub has the set-top box to support it, so why not? 

"Linear is strong, and there's also a growing segment that demands on-demand, specifically for genres such as drama," says BBC Worldwide Asia's content vice president, Ryan Shiotani.

Ghai and Shiotani talk about claiming their space in premium land with a high-end offering that puts the brand way above the danger zone – that middle market of okay channels that people like, maybe love at times, but can definitely live without and will as they start getting more of what they love all the time. This big bad "middle" is increasingly being seen as a content wasteland. 

"In this day and age you need to have a clear proposition," Shiotani says. 

He adds that the BBC First launch comes amid a global renaissance and growth of quality drama, and especially the kind of drama BBC does so well – big, nuanced, single author-driven with multi-layered story lines. There's also series and episode flexibility, which suits the on-demand space. Story-tellers can, Shiotani says, take greater creative risks and there's wider variety. "This makes BBC drama unique," he adds. 

There's also more than a little of Hollywood in the titles Shiotani has chosen for BBC First. Shows such as "Orphan Black", "Luther" and "Top of the Lake" are made by BBC America. "War and Peace" was co-produced with The Weinstein Company. 

Curating the on-demand service involves some assumptions about SVOD viewers in Singapore, including an option to binge-watch finished seasons of, for instance, "Luther" and "War and Peace", and a high-taste crime stories, Shiotani says, eager to point out that BBC First is most definitely not a replacement for BBC Entertainment, which offered a broader schedule including genres such as comedy and chat shows mixed in with drama. 

Many of the titles on BBC First would never have made it onto BBC Entertainment. "BBC First is really focused on premium drama. BBC Entertainment was a general entertainment play," he adds. 

And then there are the content regulations – or lack of them – in the SVOD space. It's not why BBC First went this route but it certainly helps in an environment still plagued by piracy and powerful competitors such as Netflix, both of which fly free of current broadcast rules. BBC First content will always comply with local content codes, Shiotani stresses. At the same time, with parental control capabilities and the absence of regulations for the streaming space... 

"We're treading new waters here," Ghai says. Shiotani adds: "We will learn as we go".

An edited version of this story is in the 4 April 2016 issue of ContentAsia e-Newsletter. Plus it's at www.contentasia.tv along with others like it. Enjoy!