AXN (Asian TV channel)


AXN is a pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television and KC Global Media. The network was formerly wholly owned by Sony Pictures Television, but the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa channels were sold to KC Global Media in January 2020.

Programming

AXN primarily airs shows from the U.S. and U.K., with new episodes airing on the same day after their U.S. telecast. The channel also airs original programming specifically made for Southeast Asian viewers, as well as movies from Sony's film studios and other Hollywood film studios.

Anime programming

Upon its launch, in the late 1990s and early 21st century, AXN used to broadcast several anime series, many of them in Japanese audio with English subtitles and held annual anime festivals around Southeast Asia. Its anime programming would later be moved to Animax Asia in 2004, the preparations for which Sony had been planning since the late 1990s. In the last quarter of 2010, selected English-dubbed anime programs from Animax Asia were broadcast during mornings and late-afternoon. This feed was then made available in the Philippines only, but was shut down in August 2016 as AXN would focus on its main programming.

Original productions

There are two feeds for the channel. One is aimed at viewers in Hong Kong and Thailand only, while the other one is aimed towards the rest of the region. Programming on both feeds are the same, with the exception of local advertisement and promo timings. This is also the case with the Philippine feed, which sometimes modifies its own programming due to broadcast issues.

AXN HD

AXN first launched its high-definition feed in Korea on 1 March 2009 and was later made available in Singapore on StarHub TV on 25 May 2010. In Malaysia, it was launched on 16 June 2010 on Astro. In Thailand it was launched on 12 July 2011 on TrueVisions and in India it was made availave on Videocon D2H in 19 July 2014. It premiered in Sri Lanka on Dialog TV 2013. In the Philippines it was launched on 20 April 2015 on SkyCable, Sky Direct, Cignal and Singtel TV in Singapore.