Yesterday 4 December 2001 the Asian TV Awards were handed out in Singapore. CNN International‘s Lian Pek was named Best Current Affairs Magazine Presenter. He presents ebizasia, CNN International‘s weekly half-hour technology show. The show focuses on the latest stories from the tech industry in Asia.

Runner up was Karan Thapar of United Television. In 1999 Thapar took home the best presenter award. Niret Alva who hosts Wheels on BBC World was highly commended. This is the third year running that she has been highly commended for her show.

The Best Light Entertainment Presenter or Performer went to Willie Mcintosh from the Mass Monitor Co. Ltd (Grammy Group) and Ken Chan of Asian Television Ltd. Channel [V]‘s popular VJ Asha Gill was highly commended as was MTV‘s whacky host Cyrus Broacha.

Indian expat Gurmit Singh won Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy) for Phua Chu Kang which airs on Singapore‘s Channel 5, MediaCorp TV.

That was it as far as Indian representation went, a comedown from last year which saw seven Indians on the honours list.

The ceremony was held at MediaCorp TV Theatre. Television Asia Magazine runs the awards. Twenty-three countries throughout the region are covered. This year there were over 1,100 entries and 27 trophies were handed out. Sponsors included Bloomberg Television, Sony and Maxell. Judges included senior manager programme evaluation and development Discovery Channel Asia Vikram Channa, deputy CEO (business head), regional and English channels Zee TV Madhavi Mutatkar, senior V-P editorial MTV Networks Asia David Flack, media syndication director Bloomberg Ltd James Ross, editorial director Television Asia Janine Stein and executive producer CNN International Todd Spencer.

Channel News Asia saw two of its presenters Glenda Chong and Melvin Yong walking off with The Best News Presenter award along with Catherine Yang of financial channel Bloomberg Television

The award for Best Actor in a Drama went to Raymond Bagatsing for Maalaala Mo Kaya: Wedding Ring which airs on Phillipines‘ Channel 2, ABS CBN Broadcasting Corp. On the same channel Janus del Prado who stars in Maalaala Mo Kaya: Pasa (Bruises) was the runner up.

Chen Han Wei the star of Love Me, Love Me Not which airs on Singapores‘ Channel 8 from MediaCorp TV was commended. Also recognised was Lim Kay Tong for Growing Up which airs on the country‘s Channel 5 Best Performance by an Actress (Comedy) went to Tan Kheng Hua for Phua Chu Kang which airs on Singapore‘s Channel 5. Her costar Neo Swee Lin bagged the runner up spot. Irene Ang was commended for her performance on the show. The same channel‘s show Under One Roof was commended for the performance of Vernetta Lopez.

Ivy Lee gave the best dramatic performance by an Actress in Angel‘s Dream. The programme airs on Singapore‘s Channel 8. Amy Cheng was highly commended for Channel 5‘s Growing Up.

MediaVault, a live IP Stream encryption system, has just entered the market.
Launched by SpeedCast, which provides satellite based content delivery services throughout Asia and the Middle East, MediaVault ensures that streaming media content that Internet service providers and content providers deliver to customers is provided with the necessary safeguards.

The product uses the latest 128 bit key length advanced encryption system (AES). This way MediaVault protects both live
multicast and unicast, as well as on-demand unicast streams against unauthroised access, according to a company press release. MediaVault currently supports the Microsoft Windows Media platform.

Another advantage that MediaVault lays claim to is that it can be integrated into any streaming platform. This eliminates the hassle of having to modify the encoder, server. It also does away with the requirement for software on the client PC. There is also no need to figure out how to reconfigure the entire infrastructure. The company claims to have received an encouraging response from broadcasters, government agencies and educational institutions.

MediaVault operators have the choice of either hardware or software based client access tokens which allow the system to easily integrate into existing streaming systems.

A host of desi nominees have made their way into the first MTV Music Asia Awards to be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 2 February 2002.
The show that claims to be the first ever to acknowledge popular Asian and international music talent, will be held in front of a 7000-strong audience and will be telecast across Asia to more than 150 million households. The channel has thrown open the polls to viewers from 12 November, through an extensive integrated marketing campaign involving TV, radio, print, internet and retail promotions. It has roped in 350 outlets including retail stores, restaurants, clubs, campuses and malls in 10 cities for the campaign.

Sonu Nigam has been nominated for Jeena Hai Tere Liye

The shortlisted nominees for the Indian (Pop and Film) category include Asha Bhosle for Na Marte Hum from an album of the same name, Falguni Pathak for Saawan Mein from the album Saawariyan Teri Yaad Mein, Shaan for Tanha Dil from the similarly titled album, Sonu Nigam for Jeena Hai Tere Liye from the Yaad album and Ustad Sultan Khan and Chitra for Piya Basanti.

In the film category, Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan for Jaane Kyon from Dil Chahta Hai, Sukhvinder Singh and Srinivas for Mitwa from Lagaan, Asha Bhosle, Sukhwindara Singh and Sonu Nigam for Kambakth Ishq are among those nominated.

MTV is also kicking off on the ground marketing activities this month with eight showcase parties at nightspots in the Philippines, Taiwan, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand and India. The Awards will also be breaking the mould with an innovative award design, made in pewter and enclosing a tiny multimedia screen that plays a short tribute tape to honour the winner.

The awards function will be hosted by Ronan Keating and Mandy Moore, while members from the world acclaimed Cirque Du Soleil will entertain audiences during the show with performances, while funkmeisters Groove Armada will spin their brand of cool tunes at the post show party.

Anjuman, the UK-based Reminiscent Television Network‘s (RTN) Urdu language entertainment channel, is being phased out in the Middle East due to its poor response.

Anjuman will be replaced by a new combi channel, Mashraque, having an equal mix of Urdu and Arabic, that will essentially target expatriates from India and Pakistan who need a working knowledge of the two languages in order to be able to work in the region, along with the local populace.

Mashraque is to be a free to air channel and will be beamed off the Arabsat satellite. The network‘s Indian affiliate RITV was supplying 30 per cent of the content for Anjuman.

It has also entered a deal with entertainment major Viacom, which will promote RITV‘s Lashkara and Gurjari channels as part of a pay package ‘Asia Plus‘ in the Middle East and North Africa. The package also includes the Sony channels (Sony Entertainment, MAX, AXN and CNBC India), MTV, 24-hour Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and Malayalam language channel Kairali.

Although channel officials were unable to put a figure on the extent of viewership Mashraque would target, they said the channel‘s profile would enable it to compete successfully with other government owned channels in the region, like Dubai TV and Saudi TV. The channel is being projected as an entertainment channel with a judicious mix of songs, soaps and comedy. The channel is, however, reluctant to divulge details about where it would be source content.

While Asia Plus will be headquartered at the new Dubai Media City enclave, RITV too is planning to set up its offices there to establish its presence in the region, it is learnt. UK-based RTV which has the cutting edge of offering a group of ethnic channels under one umbrella, owns 20 per cent of RITV.

RITV launched Lashkara and Gurjari in 1998, both 24-hour channels which address the needs of the Punjabi and Gujarati communities respectively. Since their launch, both channels have been telecast in over 30 South Asian contries. Lashkara made its UK launch in May 2000. RTN runs a seven-channel bouquet in the UK.