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Source:
www.mica.gov.sg |
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SPEECH BY DR LEE BOON YANG,
MINISTER FOR INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AT THE
OPENING CEREMONY OF THE ASIA MEDIA FESTIVAL 2006, 29 NOVEMBER 2006 |
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An Excerpt |
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International Collaborations |
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2006 has been a good year for the
Singapore media industry. Let me highlight four significant
developments achieved by the industry. |
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Firstly, Singapore-made content is
rapidly gaining international recognition as we seal more
collaborations and co-production deals. |
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These deals reflect growing awareness
of our capabilities and the readiness of international producers
to work with our media houses to create high quality ¡°exportable¡±
media content. |
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You will be among the first to catch
the trailer for a new anime ¡°Justeen¡± that is making its premiere
at the AMF. |
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This is a joint production by
Singapore¡¯s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Japanese
company Anime International Company Inc (AIC). |
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The anime is produced using a new
software developed by NTU. This innovative and powerful software
could well change the landscape of animation production. |
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Another exciting development is a
collaboration between Media Entertainment (Singapore) and Korea¡¯s
CJ Entertainment to distribute the ¡°True Singapore Ghost Stories¡±
series into the East Asian markets. This series is adapted from a
book of the same title and will introduce a distinctively
Singapore flavoured product to a regional audience. |
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Later this morning, local content
management company, Mega Media will be signing an MOU with
Indonesia¡¯s Omnicron Asia to set up a US$3 million Singapore -
Indonesia Digital Film Fund. |
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This Fund is the first of its kind
between Singapore and Indonesia. The objective is to create a
forum for the exchange of ideas between the creative talents of
both countries. |
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Moving beyond Asia, Singapore
companies have also struck deals with leading players in Europe. |
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Riding on the success of House of
Harmony, Oak 3 Films (Singapore) is co-producing a new tele-movie
for Germany¡¯s largest broadcaster ARD and worldwide distribution
by Europe¡¯s major distributor Beta Films. |
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Another Singapore company, ¡°Sitting In
Pictures¡± will produce a nine-part series featuring celebrity chef
Kylie Kwong in China with Fremantle International Distribution. |
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This is the first time that the
UK-based company is working with a Singapore company to develop a
series for international distribution. |
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At the bilateral level, Singapore will
also be signing agreements with Canada, Thailand and Italy to
facilitate industry partnerships such as co-productions, exchange
of information and technical expertise. These agreements will set
the stage for more Singapore media enterprises to go global. |
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Loan Guarantee Facility |
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Secondly, we have also made headway in
the area of media financing. |
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As announced this week, MDA has
collaborated with RGM Holdings Pte Ltd, a talent management and
executive production company based in Singapore, to set up a Loan
Guarantee Facility. |
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The Facility will be used as a
catalyst to partially finance at least six international films,
worth S$80 million over the next two years. It provides local
production companies with the opportunities to work with
international production companies and talents to produce
high-quality and globally marketable products. |
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Media Content |
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Thirdly, Singapore¡¯s media industry
also secured co-production deals worth a total of US$50 million at
MIPCOM 2006. This will pave the way for more international
collaborations in television, animation and film. |
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Our creative outputs in television and
film have also been unveiled at some of the world¡¯s most
competitive trade markets and film festivals. |
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Talented local filmmakers have
garnered international acclaim and awards in global film
festivals, such as Eric Khoo and his ¡°Be With Me¡± and Woo Yen Yen
and Colin Goh who co-directed ¡°Singapore Dreaming¡±. |
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High Definition Television (HDTV)
and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) |
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Fourthly, Singapore¡¯s high-definition
television trials are progressing well. |
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The terrestrial and cable trials have
kicked off, making Singapore the first in Southeast Asia to launch
HDTV public trials. In tandem with the launch, MDA is leading a
drive to promote the development of local HD content and speed up
nationwide adoption and deployment of HD technology. |
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We have adopted a two-pronged approach
to support local HD content development and work with
international players to boost HD programming. |
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And we are seeing some results - close
to 50 hours of ¡°Made-by-Singapore¡± HD content will be completed by
the end of this year. This will be doubled by 2007. |
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Concurrently, we are working with
international and regional industry players to produce quality HD
content. For instance, the Korean Broadcasting Institute (KBI) and
MDA will collaborate on three HDTV co-productions, which are
scheduled for international distribution in 2007. |
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The deployment of HDTV in Singapore
will escalate when Starhub launches commercial HDTV services in
early 2007. It will offer two channels. |
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Terrestrial broadcaster, MediaCorp,
also has plans for a commercial HDTV launch in 2007. MediaCorp has
started producing HD content for local television and is also
working with production houses in China to produce HD content for
an international audience. |
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In another encouraging development,
Singapore¡¯s largest telco, SingTel, has started Internet Protocol
TV (IPTV) trials earlier this month. |
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Radio Broadcast and Media Services |
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Lastly, Singapore¡¯s radio broadcast
industry also saw new developments. Rediffusion introduced its new
digital radio service in July with nine new stations added to its
two well established English and Chinese stations. |
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The media services industry has also
made new inroads with the recent partnership between local company
Mega Media and SDI Media USA to bring Hollywood mixing services to
Singapore. |
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This partnership will enable Hollywood
blockbusters to be mixed in Mega Media's digital audio facilities
for the Asian language versions of such movies. |
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This strategic tie-up with the world's
leading provider of subtitling and language dubbing services will
leverage on Mega Media's 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
capabilities and audio post-production services. |
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Interactive Digital Media (IDM) |
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Moving ahead, we will continue with
our efforts to help Singapore media enterprises grow and become
competitive globally. |
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We have identified the fast-emerging
Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) sector as a key engine of
growth for our media sector. |
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A fund of up to S$500 million will be
available to support strategic IDM research projects which can
transform the media sector and double its contribution to the
Singapore economy. |
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We will develop local talent and
attract international talent to develop IDM solutions which will
place Singapore at the forefront of new media technologies. |
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We will encourage both local and
international companies to look to Singapore as a marketplace for
IDM products and services. |
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Full Text of Speech |
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Source:
www.mica.gov.sg Media Release
29 Nov 2006 |
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FrontPage Edition: Sun 3 December 2006
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