NBCUniversal’s television channels followed longer-established rivals into Asia only relatively recently, entering an already crowded market for Hollywood entertainment.

Christine Fellowes, the executive looking after NBCU’s non-news channels in this part of the world, has no intention of playing catch-up, however.

The company has better things to do, Fellowes explains. NBCU, a storied TV and movie group, was acquired by US cable giant Comcast just over three years ago, providing first-hand insights on how pay-TV channels can retain their appeal with viewers and operators in a fast-changing world.

“What we have an ability to do – and it’s because of who we are – is have an eye to the future of where the end plan is,” says Fellowes, regional MD for NBCU’s international channels arm, Universal Networks International (UNI).

“There are a number of things we’ve got going on,” Fellowes adds. “This piece is about accelerated growth for us. We know there are challenges and we’re fine with that. We know exactly what we need to do with our partners, and we’ll get there.”

That has meant realigning the portfolio and sharpening up channel brands (Asian anchor channels Diva, E Entertainment and Universal Channel have all been revamped over the past 24 months), while investing in shorter windows, multiscreen rights and a steady uptick in global and local production.

E’s first international reality series – It Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez, featuring the lives of a celebrity family in the Philippines – was recently renewed for a second season.

“Gutierrez is emblematic of where we see the future and what our future strategy is,” Fellowes says.

It’s a long-term play, focused primarily on Australia and four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Fellowes aims to speed up growth with the help of profits from Australia, by far UNI’s biggest market in the region, where country head Chris Taylor oversees both channels and content syndication.

In Asia, the businesses are run separately, with Justin Che overseeing program sales, although UNI’s on-ground presence varies by market.

The Philippines for example has its own territory head, Liza Latinazo, with sales and marketing support, plus a local feed for E, helping fast-track channel revenues there. Diva meanwhile is on a dedicated subtitled feed for Taiwan and Hong Kong.

More local execs

Over the next one to two years, Fellowes wants more people based in other markets – primarily sales and marketing executives to drive brand awareness as well as local ad revenue – while notching up more local feeds and local shows.

Malaysia, which also has its own sales and marketing team, could be next as a relatively mature business for UNI, followed by Indonesia, which has its own sales staff and has started airing its own short-format programming.

Singapore will serve as a regional production hub alongside Australia, where NBCU owns Matchbox, a local studio.

“We see the future of channel brands as being more experiential,” Fellowes says.

“We need people on the ground to develop those initiatives. At headquarters in Singapore and Sydney, we are also adding more creative people, both to develop on-air localization work and then to work with production companies around the region.”

Despite traction for It Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez, aired on UNI’s local feed in the Philippines as well as regionally, original production in the foreseeable future for Asia will mainly focus on series for regional feeds, one-off shows and short-form content.

The strategy is geared towards long-term returns, Fellowes explains. “I don’t apologize for not doing things earlier,” she says. “We’ve done them in a very considered, very measured way. The key is, there’s a lot more of that to come.”

The main targets are mainly smaller emerging markets for now, part of an NBCU mandate to pursue profitable growth around core channels in Asia rather than broad coverage.

Long-term, there are opportunities to extend the reach of UNI’s channels via digital networks in other large APAC markets, notably on digital cable in India as well as on broadband in Japan.

For now however, NBCU is more focused on revenue from its other divisions in these countries, while channels wait patiently in the wings. “We are seeing opportunities open up,” Fellowes says.

“We are already established with partners and relationships, and we will do things in those spaces for my business, but there’s not a sense of urgency about making fast deals for the wrong reasons.”

Efforts will concentrate on continuing to widen reach and relevance for Diva and E, relatively broad but female-skewed entertainment channels which UNI feels complements growth plans for both operators and advertisers in Southeast Asia.

Universal Channel, NBCU’s global flagship, was a later entrant to Asia with more direct competitors and more expensive shows, although it still offers value and has room to grow in this part of the world, Fellowes contends, with long-form original content developed for the channel globally out of the US.

Relevance is multi-faceted, Fellowes says. This includes multiscreen rights, which still carry a premium price tag and which have made up a significant slice of UNI’s content investment in recent years, plus content that resonates with audiences as well as acquired and commissioned made-for-Asia shows.

In August, Diva is launching a weekday afternoon two-hour branded block for Telemundo, NBCU’s Spanish-language broadcast network, airing contemporary telenovelas that Fellowes thinks will strike a chord with Diva’s audience.

UNI’s APAC head also wants to work closer with operators on content, airing E News content on Astro’s Malay channel Astro Ria, for example. Ria also carried the launch episode for the fourth season of SupermodelMe, a reality series airing on Diva.

“We are building businesses where we see future scale, in a methodical way, around what partners are doing and where we see the future,” Fellowes says. “It is a stepped approach.”

This article first appeared in Media Business Asia magazine, Q2 2014.