Last year around 2000 trade participants from 35 countries took part in the AMF. A new target has been set for participants for this year’s event. An estimated 7000 participants - 4000 from the trade and 3000 from the public are the figures being projected.

This year more content and activities have been added to the three media events of the AMF, the Asia Television Forum, Asia Film Market & Conference and Asia Animation. New highlights include a Policy Forum, participation from the Tokyo Foundation, a new conference track on Digital Cinema and a bigger and better networking party. The organiser has also brought in leading names of the television and film programming industry across the world including Star India, Alliance Atlantis Entertainment Group, Australia; Rozon/Just for Laughs, Canada; Betafilm gmbH, Germany; Granada International, UK.

The conferences will feature dynamic names in the media industry sharing their success stories and thoughts. Key topics include Financing and Funding, Exploring New Delivery Streams Through Convergence, Promises & Pitfalls Of Digital Cinema, The Growth and Evolution Of Asian Animation, The Next Wave - Moving Into New Markets.

Another highlight is the ATF and Animation Superpitches 2003 contest. Here programme producers and production houses can pitch their best concepts to a panel of commissioning editors and broadcasters from around the region.

MDA’s CEO Lim Hock Chuan was quoted in an official release saying, "The Asia Media Festival was a success last year. This year, we are determined to grow it further as a must-attend event for the media industry, where thousands of executives from the TV, film and animation industries gather to network, source for new media products and close deals.

" The MDA will continue to host the festival as it adds to the vibrancy of the media scene, moving Singapore another step closer towards our vision as a global media city. The event also provides an excellent platform for the local industry to reach out to the international market and vice verse."

The eight Asian Television Awards take place tomorrow. 40 awards including new categories like Best Art Direction, Best Business News Programme, and Best Talk Show will be given out.