Below is a video [HD] demonstration showing how you could toggle wide screen and standard format on your Starhub hubstation.

StarHub Inks Chinese Content Deal With Xinya Media

Singapore – StarHub and Xinya Media today announced a strategic partnership to bring in new Chinese content and productions to the local market.

StarHub’s digital TV platform offers the capacity to introduce more new content that were never before seen in Singapore. On the supply side, China is an emerging content provider which offers programmes that cater to first-generation Chinese immigrants as well as local Singaporeans in the areas of general entertainment, children’s education, travel, lifestyle and elderly’s programming.

Given that Chinese content export is still in its infancy stage, StarHub’s partnership with Xinya Media will tap on the latter’s connection and expertise to undertake the task of selecting, aggregating and packaging content from China that is suitable for the local audience.

These new branded channels exported from Greater China will be internationalised through original content production & packaging based out of Singapore, tapping on regional talent and expertise brought in by Xinya, focused on genres such as music shows, performances from top Mandarin artistes and teen idol dramas.

Mr Yeo Chun Cheng, Director Broadcast and Music of MDA, said: “This partnership represents the continuous development of Xinya media over the last year. This partnership with StarHub is a further step in the continuous development of Xinya. StarHub is a key player in Singapore and Asia and I am confident that such a partnership will bring about the continuous growth of Xinya Media.”

Mr Tan Tong Hai, Chief Operating Officer of StarHub Ltd said: “There is a growing interest for content from the Greater China in recent years. Being the leading Chinese entertainment provider in Singapore, we are delighted to collaborate with Xinya Media to bring in new Chinese content of various genres and repackage them to suit local viewers. Additionally, we also look forward to work with Xinya Media on co-productions with an emphasis to infuse local elements which will allow us to further engage and interact with our local audience.”

Mr Wee Ah Kee, Chairman of Xinya Media Pte Ltd, expressed great enthusiasm to be part of this initiative and to be able to contribute to the local media scene. “While China’s rapidly expanding market has created a lot of innovative content for domestic audience, most of them have never been properly packaged for overseas audience. Singapore is an important reference market to create new branded pan-Asian channels that could then be exported to internationally. “

China’s media industry has been growing exponentially in recent years and the potential for exporting Chinese content is tremendous. China’s TV dramas output has experienced 10 percent compound growth over five years to reach 15 000 hours; movies output has quadrupled to 400 per year over five years and animation has multiplied almost ten-fold over five years to over 100 000 minutes per year.

If you are not used to watching squashed images on your LCD wide screen TV, you can now choose the option to display the programmes for wide screen LCD TV. There is an option on the Hubstation which which you can choose to change the setting.

Once that is done, you get the full screen display in the correct aspect ratio of 16:9. So far, we have only spotted BBC NEWS and DW-TV broadcasting in the wide screen format. Do check it out.

Granada TV joins StarHub

ITV Global Entertainment’s Asian channel Granada TV is set to go live on Singapore’s StarHub pay-TV platform, making it available on every subscription TV service in the country.

Granada TV will be available free via StarHub until March 31, 2010, when it will become part of a yet-to-announced pay package.

The channel currently airs across much of East Asia, most recently securing a distribution deal on SK Broadband’s IPTV platform in Korea.

The channel offers entertainment programmes, talkshows, dramas and reality series from UK-based commercial broadcaster ITV’s back-catalogue, and currently offers a slate including The Jeremy Kyle Show, The Friday Night Project, Ballroom Bootcamp and Airline.

The December line-up will include seasons three and four of cop drama Prime Suspect, a contemporary update of the festive fable A Christmas Carol, The Springer Show (UK version) and seasons one and two of prison series Rough Diamond, starring David Jason.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment regional director James Ross said the deal was a “milestone” for Granada TV, and added that further distribution deals would be announced soon.