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Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), formerly Tiger Gate Entertainment, is a diversified media company based in Hong Kong that operates pay television entertainment channels in Asia and oversees Lionsgate distribution rights in Greater China and Southeast Asia.[1] It is a joint venture co-owned by Saban Capital Group, Lionsgate and Celestial Pictures.
Overview
Celestial Tiger Entertainment was founded in 2008 as Tiger Gate Entertainment, as a joint venture between private media investment firm Saban Capital Group and entertainment company Lionsgate. Pay television channels Kix and Thrill were later launched in August 2009.[2]
Celestial Pictures Limited joined Tiger Gate Entertainment in late 2011 adding the already established Celestial Classic Movies and Celestial Movies to the company's channel lineup.[3][4] Following this partnership, the company was renamed Celestial Tiger Entertainment and the high definition (HD) feed was added to existing channels for territories in Asia.[5]
In 2013, cHK was launched in Singapore with Hong Kong celebrities Bernice Liu, Him Law and Liu Kai Chi hosting a media event to promote cHK as a Hong Kong general entertainment channel.[6][7]
Lionsgate partnership
CTE owns the Shaw Brothers film library[8] and leverages a library of film and TV from Lionsgate.[9] In February 2012, YOU On Demand Holdings and Lionsgate announced deal to show a number of Lionsgate films on a Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) and Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) basis in China.[10] In 2013, CTE sold over 1700 hours of Lionsgate TV series and movies including Anger Management, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, and the Hunger Games franchise to broadcasters and media platforms in southeast Asia and China as part of a regional distribution deal,[11] CTE also expanded its Southeast Asian distribution deal with Lionsgate to cover Japan and Korea[12] and sold a further 700 hours of TV series and feature films in an SVOD deal with MediaCorp’s Toggle digital platform in Singapore.[13][14]
Channels
Celestial Tiger Entertainment operates the following channels:
- Celestial Movies - A channel featuring current Asian films and entertainment news
- Available in Malaysia, Brunei, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore, Also Upcoming in Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar.
- Celestial Classic Movies* - Featuring classic Hong Kong Chinese films
- Available in Australia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
- Celestial Movies Pinoy** - Filipino and English dubbed, Original Language subtitles in English Asian movie channel distributed and marketed by Viva Communications.
- Available only in the Philippines via Cignal TV Channel 40 SD.
- cHK - Local Hong Kong entertainment and showbiz news channel
- Available only in Singapore until 2021
- CM+ - Featuring the latest blockbusters and exclusive movies from across Asia
- Available only in Singapore via Singtel TV Channel 571.
- Kix* - Action, MMA, TV series, reality television and extreme sports[2]
- Available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar and Vietnam, formerly available in Malaysia and Thailand. From October 2020, this channel is launched across Africa.
- Thrill* - Horror, thriller and suspense[2]
- Available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Myanmar, formerly available in Thailand and Malaysia.
- Miao Mi* - Mandarin Kids Channel.
- Available in Thailand, South Korea.
* Distributed in the Philippines by Creative Programs
** Joint Venture with Viva Communications
References
- ^ About Celestial Tiger Entertainment Archived 2012-06-26 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on July 12, 2013
- ^ a b c Tiger Gate KIX Into Gear to Thrill Audiences, Launching Two Pan-Asian Action and Horror Channels and Announcing Financial Partners[permanent dead link] newswire.ca, Retrieved on July 18, 2012
- ^ "The Wrap" Saban Invests $30M in Asian Pay-TV Business With Lionsgate Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine thewrap.com, Retrieved on July 17, 2012
- ^ "Asia Media Journal" Celestial And Tiger Gate Join Forces Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine asiamediajournal.com, Retrieved on July 17, 2012
- ^ A new HD channel for the new Celestial Tiger Entertainment, Retrieved on July 15, 2013
- ^ Singapore to Get Hong Kong Entertainment Channel retrieved on April 23, 2014
- ^ SingTel mio TV cHK Channel Launch - Meet & Greet retrieved on April 23, 2014
- ^ Lionsgate strikes Asian partnership with Saban Capital and Celestial Pictures, Retrieved on July 12, 2013
- ^ LIONSGATE AND SABAN CAPITAL GROUP FORM JOINT VENTURE TO OPERATE TIGER GATE Archived 2011-08-26 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on July 12, 2013
- ^ YOU On Demand announces licensing deal With Lionsgate and Celestial Tiger Entertainment for Video On Demand in China, Retrieved on July 23, 2013
- ^ Celestial Tiger Sells Over 1700 hours of Lionsgate Product in Asia, Retrieved on July 12, 2013
- ^ Lionsgate Extends Celestial Tiger Entertainment Distribution Deal to Korea and Japan, Retrieved on July 15, 2013
- ^ Lionsgate, Celestial Tiger License Over 700 Hours of TV and Movies to MediaCorp's Toggle, Retrieved on April 23, 2014
- ^ Dope show Weeds to air in Singapore Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on April 24, 2014