Spark flies into Asia

MIPCOM: Factual entertainment channel Spark, a joint venture between Germany’s ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) and producer-distributor Autentic, is to launch in Asia next year.

Currently, ZDFE and Autentic operate Spark in South Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. Now the two companies have linked up with consumer media group Astro Malaysia and Singapore-based producer Moving Visuals International to launch Spark Asia.

The channel will go live in the first half of 2015 airing both local and international content in genres spanning science, tech, history and wildlife on linear television and online.

It will source programming from the libraries of Autentic and ZDFE but will also attempt to promote Asian documentary filmmaking.

Autentic promised today at a press conference here in Cannes that the channel will “empower the local community of producers and filmmakers by offering an alternative platform to showcase their documentaries and also drive training initiatives.”