Asian nets tune up for karaoke

A trio of broadcasters in Asia have picked up rights to air local versions of Zodiak Media’s extreme singing format Killer Karaoke.

Broadcasters in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines have licensed the format from Zodiak Rights, the international division of Zodiak Media.

Killer Karaoke challenges competitors to do their best to sing along to popular tunes while others do all they can to disrupt them.

VTV3 in Vietnam will air 10×60′ episodes of the format, produced by local prodco BHD, in a primetime spot, while in Cambodia, Hang Meas HDTV will produce and air its own version in 2014.

In the Philippines, TV5 will produce and broadcast a 13-part season to be hosted by local comedian Michael V.

The deals follow Thai broadcaster MCOT tapping local producer Heliconia to produce a 24×60′ run of the show, which began in September. The broadcaster has now commissioned a second 24×60′ season, which will begin production next year.

The format, which has also been sold into Russia (U-TV), the Netherlands (RTL5) and Czech Republic (Barrandov TV), is an extreme version of another Zodiak format, Sing If You Can.

Ngo Thi Bich Hanh, VP of Vietnam Media Corp, said: “This exciting format is very entertaining to watch, a great mix of singing, daring, extreme and fun.”

The truTV US adaptation hosted by Steve-O (Jackass) has also travelled across the world, to broadcasters including BSkyB-owned Challenge in the UK, Comedy Central in Germany and TVNZ in New Zealand.