HBO recently launched its first regional HD channel, HBO HD, in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines,Thailand and Malaysia. HBO is available in twenty-two countries throughout Asia and has closed-captioned subtitling in several local languages.
HBO Asia has licensing deals with two major Hollywood conglomerates and their film studios: Time Warner (Warner Bros. Pictures; New Line Cinema, HBO Films, Castle Rock Entertainment; Warner Independent Pictures, Franchise Pictures) and Viacom (Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks; Paramount Vantage). It also licenses movies from Columbia Pictures and many independent distributors such as Village Roadshow Pictures, Morgan Creek, Screen Gems and Universal Studios
The HBO multiplex channels are divided into special packages. In Hong Kong, now TV's package is HBO/MAX PAK Premium while in the Philippines, SkyCable Platinum's package is THE HBO PAK. In Indonesia, First Media's package is HBO MAX PAK In Singapore, StarHub TV's package is called HBO PAK.
Since HBO Asia headquarters is in Singapore, HBO Asia has to follow Singapore Law, which means that cuts have to be made to programs such as "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos".
The HBO-made series "Entourage" was taken off-air for three weeks by one cable operator in the Philippines pending clearance by MTRCB. The entire series continued to air without disruption on all other Philippines cable operators.
Every movie with content which is considered to oppose or distort the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Communist Party or Communism is replaced by a black screen. In addition, if the Ministry of Culture and Information considers a movie has contents of a serious sexual or horrific nature not conforming with Vietnamese society, it will not be aired.
HBO Asia airs a separate PAY TV feed with commercial breaks for viewers in South Asia. The channel is labeled as HBO South Asia and often referred to as HBO India since it specifically caters to the Indian market. All movie promos in this beam are according to IST The channel is also available to viewers in Bangladesh and the Maldives. HBO South Asia took over the rights for DramworksProductions movies from STAR Movies in June 2008.
In Pakistan, HBO is available as HBO Pakistan. It is a simulcast of HBO India with slight modifications and running in PST. Diwali ads and other adverts targeted towards India are filtered out in this beam. This beam can also be called the +0.30 version of HBO South Asia since all the programs aired on this beam are aired with a thirty minute delay.
Discovery Channel (South East Asian TV channel)
Discovery Channel (formerly The Discovery Channel) is an Asian satellite and cable TV channel which provides documentary programming. Its documentaries focused mainly on popular science, technology, history and culture, similar to that of the National Geographic Channel and History.
It is owned and operated by Discovery Networks Asia, a division of Discovery Communications. Discovery Channel SE Asia now divided into two channel feeds.
National Geographic Channel (Asia)
The National Geographic Channel, also known as Nat Geo, is an Asian subscription television channel, that has non-fiction, factual programming involving nature, science, culture, and history programmed, made by the National Geographic Society, just like History and the Discovery Channel.
It was launched in 1 January 1994 in partnership and distribution with Star TV, a Hong Kong-based pan-Asian satellite network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, replacing the NBC Asia channel. , the Asian version of National Geographic Channel is available in over 56 million homes. NGC Asia has eight different channels feeds.
Gifted education
Gifted education is a term for special ways to educate (teach) children who have been identified as gifted. There is no definition of a gifted student which everyone agrees on.
Gifted and talented education has a long history of thousands of years. Plato (c. 427–c. 347 BCE) was in favour of providing specialized education for intellectually gifted young men and women. In China's Tang Dynasty (580-618 CE), child prodigies were summoned to the imperial court for specialized education. Throughout the Renaissance, those who showed creative talent in art, architecture, and literature were supported by both the government and private patronage.
In 2011, the National Association for Gifted Children published a position paper that stated what a gifted student is. The word "gifted," describes people who demonstrate outstanding aptitude or competence in one or more domains. An "aptitude" is defined as an exceptional ability to learn or reason. "Competence" is defined as documented performance or achievement in the top 10 percent of the population.
Sport England
Sport England is the name for the English Sports Council. It is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It works with national governing bodies of sport to grow the number of people in sports. Their goal is to keep these people in the sports. Sport England also helps more talented people do well by identifying them early, nurturing them, and helping them move up to the top level.
Sport England has two statutory, functions: (1) a lottery distributor for sport; and (2) it must be consulted on planning applications that affect playing fields. The funding it distributes comes from both H.M. Treasury and the National Lottery. Since 1994, it has invested over £2bn of lottery funds and £300 million from the Exchequer into sports in England.
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers (often referred to as the Manics) are an alternative rock band from Blackwood, Wales, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield (vocals, guitars), Nicky Wire (bass, occasional vocals) and Sean Moore (drums, backing vocals, occasional trumpet). The band is part of the Cardiff music scene. Their biggest success was during the 1990s.
The band were originally a four piece band: lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards mysteriously vanished on 1 February 1995. In November 2008, 13 years after his disappearance, he was officially declared presumed dead.
The Manics released their debut album "Generation Terrorists" in 1992. Their combination of androgynous glam punk imagery, outspoken
invective and songs about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" soon gained them a loyal following and cult status. The band's later albums kept a politicized and smart lyrical style. They also adopted a broader alternative rock sound. Enigmatic lyricist Richey Edwards gained early notoriety by carving the words "4 REAL" into his arm with a razor blade (narrowly missing an artery and requiring seventeen stitches) in response to the suggestion that the band were less than authentic. The dark nature of 1994's "The Holy Bible" showed the result of Edwards' instability.
Following Edwards' disappearance, Bradfield, Moore, and Wire kept with the Manic Street Preachers and went on to gain critical and commercial success. They became one of Britain's top rock bands. They have had eight top ten albums and fifteen top ten singles. They have reached number one three times, with their 1998 album "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" and the singles "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) and "The Masses Against The Classes" (2000). They have also won the Best British Album and Best British Group accolades at the BRIT Awards in 1997 and 1999, and were lauded by the NME for their lifetime achievements in 2008. Their ninth studio album, "Journal For Plague Lovers", was released on 18 May 2009 and features lyrics Edwards had left behind to the band weeks before his disappearance.
In 2010 their tenth album "Postcards from a Young Man" was released. Their eleventh album "Rewind the Film" was released on 16 September 2013. Their next album "Futurology" is going to be released in 2014.
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