Astro Productions, the production arm of Malaysian pay-TV giant Astro, is joining forces with Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios (PIMS) to offer production services for the TV industry.

A leading TV producer in Malaysia, Astro Productions has signed a five-year deal with PIMS’ owner Iskandar Malaysia Studios (IMS) under which it will become the exclusive provider of equipment and services for production of TV content at PIMS’ two 12,000 square feet television studios.

In return, Astro Productions has committed to undertake a minimum of 4,500 hours of production a year at PIMS in the first two years, and 3,000 hours of production a year from the third year.

Malaysia introduced a 30% rebate for film and TV productions filming in the country at the beginning of last year. PIMS is currently hosting production of historical adventure series Marco Polo for The Weinstein Company (TWC) and Netflix.

In addition to local production, Astro has produced programming for international broadcasters including the Australian version of kid’s show Hi5 for NBC, Ben 10 Game Show for Turner International and Asia’s Next Top Model for Fox International.

“The Malaysian creative industry brought in $177m (RM565m) in content export revenues last year, and is expected to bring in $188m (RM600m) in 2014. This strategic collaboration will play a vital role in attracting production of regional television programmes to PIMS,” said Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Malaysia’s Communication and Multimedia Minister.

PIMS CEO Rezal A. Rahman said: “This collaboration will ensure full production services including multi cameras, HD cameras, sophisticated lighting and audio systems and a state-of-the-art Outdoor Broadcast (OB) truck. We are well-placed to provide high quality production for regional and international producers.”

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