MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has big plans for Asia in the animation area. It will have three dedicated feeds for Animax Asia by the end of the month. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the channel will showcase the best of Japanese animation.

A dedicated service will be launched for Hong Kong on 12 January. This will be followed a South East Asia service on 19 January. This will complement the Taiwan service, which launched on 1 January and is already viewed in over a million homes, claims the channel.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the channel, SPE Asia's marketing VP Gregory Ho says, "We are extremely excited about Animax Asia which we believe has tremendous potential and meets a large but rather under served audience. Animax is a basic tier channel. Our target audience are those in the seven - 35 year bracket."

Regarding the launch of Animax Asia in India, Ho said, "As you can imagine, at this point all our efforts are focused on successfully launching these three services and it is a little too premature for us to make any comments beyond them."

Ho went on to elaborate on the programme blocks which had been created. "The programming in prime time is divided into four key belts. The first is Kids Hour (5 - 7 pm) - for school kids seven - 14 years. It will feature anime that is fun, creative, educational and entertaining. This will be followed with Youth Hour (7 - 9pm). Targeted at teenagers, the content will rest on fantasy, sci-fi and sports. Many of these have been popularised by games, merchandise, and in highly read comics."

"Mega Zone (9 - 11pm) is for the adult viewer. It will have the hottest shows from Japan ranging from romance and drama to action and sci-fi. Finally we have Super Maniax (11pm - 12 midnight) - appealing more to adults and die hard fans. This will mix classic anime with anime that have more sophisticated themes."

Ho added that alongside Japanese anime programmes that have not been seen outside the land of the rising sun, Animax Asia will also feature anime movies which are rarely broadcast on TV. They are usually only available on DVD / VCD.