Warner Bros unveils Asian chnl plans

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Warner Bros unveils Asian chnl plans


04-11-2009


Warner Bros is launching WarnerTV throughout Asia next year, targeting the first quarter for roll out. A new general entertainment channel, WarnerTV will be distributed by HBO Asia.

Continuing the strategy of launching branded programming services around the globe, the channel will be a 24-hour linear offering and the first time there has been a single source for Warner Bros progrmming in Asia. WarnerTV will feature series including The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory, Fringe and Gossip Girl.


HBO Asia is currently in discussions with various cable operators across the region for carriage of the channel.


Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President–Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services, said: “Following in the footsteps of the highly successful Warner Channel in Latin America, WB India and numerous WarnerTV–branded on-demand zones around the world – including the U.K., France, Germany, Japan and Italy – the addition of this new WarnerTV channel in Asia is expected to bring our total number of branded services to more than 30 in over 60 countries around the world.”


As well as the Warner Channel Latin America, Warner Bros has launched WarnerTV-branded on-demand services on various platforms worldwide including Top Up TV, Tiscali, Virgin Media and BT in the uk, FastWeb in Italy, Maxdome in Germany, OnDemandDeutschland in Austria, USEN Corp’s GyaO in Japan, Free in france and Ziggo in the Netherlands.

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Time Warner boosted by cable growth



Time Warner raised its profit outlook for 2009 boosted by better than expected results at its cable channels and films division, even as it reported a 40 per cent lower net income for the third quarter.

The owner of CNN and the Warner Bros movie studio said it will take a $100 million charge for restructuring at its publishing division in the fourth quarter, which continued to face steep declines in advertising and subscription revenue.

Time Warner net profit fell to $661 million from $1.1 billion from the year ago period when it still owned a cable services division. Revenue fell 6 per cent to $7.1 billion. Revenue at its cable networks rose 5 per cent to $2.9 billion and operating profit before depreciation and amortisation rose 9 per cent, from higher affiliate fees paid to them by pay television providers. Advertising fell 1 per cent to $768 million, less severe than some projections.