Women in focus as Asian cable booms

SINGAPORE  - Asia’s female audiences are looking increasingly glamorous to programmers with an eye on sexing up their channel packages - and bottom lines.

 At least five new channels skewed toward women launched in the second half of 2007 and more are scheduled to roll out in the first half of this year.

 The new services cover everything from such country-specific channels as the Philippines’ Velvet and Singapore’s new Mom-on-Demand digital outlet, to women’s-only pay TV channels and regional lifestyle platforms that also may appeal to men.

 “There’s no argument that men need their channels, like movies and sports, but it’s women who are making the decisions on which packages to buy,” said Christine Fellowes, Asia-Pacific managing director of Comcast International Media Group, which is launching the Style Network in mid-2008.

 The Style Network targets younger women and focuses on topics like relationships, weddings, beauty, fashion and how to achieve a contemporary look. “It’s inspirational rather than aspirational,” Fellowes said.

 Korean-American television personality May Lee, says Asia’s modern women need a new voice, which is why she’s helping to launch the Lotus Channel in the second quarter. She described it as a chic, sexy, useful television destination that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than 100% focused on women.

 Broadcasters like Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fox and BBC Worldwide Global Channels also are rushing to supply programming for Asia’s 1.7 billion or so women, joining the likes of Hallmark Channel and Discovery Networks Asia’s female-skewed Discovery Home and Health.

 BBC Lifestyle and Sony Entertainment Television both rolled out in Singapore last July. Sony Entertainment’s schedule highlights such female-friendly dramas as ABC freshman “Cashmere Mafia” alongside reality and lifestyle programming.

 Fox Life, meanwhile, is moving beyond Japan, where it launched two years ago and currently has about 1.5 million households. Fox Life Korea launches in the next two months and will target 7 million-8 million households.

 The lifestyle brands entering this space insist that, while they may be female skewed, their channels don’t exclude men.

 “Fox Life has a personality that a female audience is drawn to, but ideally it’s not exclusionary,” said Ward Platt, president of Fox International Channels Asia. 

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