Television
March 31, 2010
New WarnerTV Linear Channel To Launch On StarHub In Singapore On April 1
(March 31, 2010 - Singapore and Burbank, CA) – WarnerTV, the new Pan-Asian general entertainment linear television channel featuring a programming mix of hit TV series and theatrical motion pictures from Warner Bros. Entertainment selected specifically for Asian audiences, is set to launch in Singapore with leading telecommunications company StarHub Ltd. WarnerTV will bow April 1 as channel 515 on StarHub TV. The announcement was made today by Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President–Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services, and Jonathan Spink, CEO, HBO Asia.
This marks the debut of the Pan-Asian linear branded channel, which is modeled after Warner Bros.’ highly successful Warner Channel in Latin America and follows the launch last year of WB India. Developed, programmed and scheduled by Warner Bros. International Branded Services, WarnerTV is distributed exclusively in the region by HBO Asia. The two companies will be announcing additional carriage agreements in the coming months.
“Singapore is a key market for us in the WarnerTV Asia Pacific rollout strategy, and we are tremendously excited to have the progressive and forward-looking StarHub as our foundation partner here,” said Dudley-Smith.
“StarHub warmly welcomes WarnerTV onto our pay TV platform, and we thank HBO, our longstanding partner, for working closely with us to make this possible. We are certain our customers will be delighted with the double treats – one, to be able to enjoy the quality entertainment on Warner TV, and two, to do that at little or no additional cost since the channel will be added to our Entertainment Basic Upsize group,” said Kathleen Syron, StarHub’s Head of Content.
“HBO Asia is honoured that long-term partner StarHub has become Asia’s first operator to carry WarnerTV and thus delivering premium content to all subscribers from 1 April 2010,” said Spink. “HBO Asia strongly believes that StarHub will be the first of many operators to take advantage of the unique and exclusive relationship HBO has with WarnerTV.”
The programming on WarnerTV includes an unprecedented mix of hit television comedy, drama, crime/mystery and sci-fi/action series, as well as blockbuster movies. Boasting more than 1,000 hours of programming with more than 1,200 episodes of TV shows and films, WarnerTV will also present 15 primetime series debuts in 2010, with 100% of them Pan-Asian premieres. Two of the series – “Dark Blue,” from Jerry Bruckheimer Television (“Cold Case,” “Without a Trace”), and “Southland,” from John Wells Productions (“ER,” “The West Wing”) – will have their exclusive first-run Asian premieres on WarnerTV.
Television series to be featured on WarnerTV include:
• “The Mentalist”: The hit one-hour drama starring Emmy® and Golden Globe Award nominee Simon Baker was the #1 new series of the 2008–09 U.S. television season among Total Viewers
• “Gossip Girl”: The stylish, trendsetting one-hour drama from the executive producers of “The O.C.” and “Chuck” was recently renewed for a fourth season in the U.S.
• “Fringe”: The one-hour sci-fi drama from J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” “Star Trek”) was the #1 new series of the 2008–09 U.S. television season among Adults 18–49 and recently received an early pickup for a third season in the U.S.
• “Two and a Half Men”: The Emmy®-nominated half-hour series starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer is the #1 comedy on U.S. television among Total Viewers
• “ER”: The long-running global hit medical drama from Emmy® Award–winning producer John Wells, best-selling author Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television
• “Dark Blue”: The one-hour drama from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer (the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, the “CSI” series) starring Golden Globe winner and Emmy® nominee Dylan McDermott (“The Practice”) will return for a second season in the U.S. later in 2010
• “Southland”: This fast-moving drama from John Wells, the Emmy® Award–winning producer of “The West Wing” and “ER,” is a raw and authentic look at the police unit in Los Angeles
Feature films on the channel include:
• The pictures in the global hit “Harry Potter” franchise, which have collectively grossed more than $5.4 billion at the box office around the world
• “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”: The worldwide blockbuster from writer/director Peter Jackson was nominated for 13 Academy Awards®
• “Troy”: The epic action-drama starring two-time Oscar® nominee Brad Pitt
• “Batman Begins”: Christian Bale stars as the Caped Crusader as writer/director Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”) reintroduces the “Batman” legend to a new generation of moviegoers
• “Wedding Crashers”: The comedy hit starring Vince Vaughn (“Couples Retreat”) and Owen Wilson (the “Night at the Museum” movies)
The introduction of the WarnerTV linear channel continues Warner Bros. International Branded Services’ global strategy of launching branded programming services showcasing content produced and distributed by the Studio. It is anticipated that the rollout of WarnerTV throughout Asia will bring the total number of the Studio’s linear channels and video-on-demand branded services to more than 30 in over 60 countries around the world.
About WarnerTV
Warner Bros. International Branded Services launches both linear and video-on-demand branded programming services around the world. The WarnerTV on-demand services offer around-the-clock, on-demand access to Warner Bros. Entertainment programming and have previously launched on Top Up TV, Tiscali TV, Virgin Media and BT Vision in the U.K.; FASTWEB in Italy; Maxdome in Germany; Telekom Austria in Austria; Ziggo in the Netherlands; vod.onet.pl in Poland; Free in France and USEN Corporation’s GyaO in Japan. Additionally, Warner Bros. International Branded Services operates the highly successful linear Warner Channel throughout Latin America and debuted WB India in 2009.
About HBO Asia
Singapore-based HBO Asia is able to bring the best of Hollywood to Asia first because of its exclusive licensing deals with major Hollywood studios - Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. In addition to the proprietary and award-winning HBO Original programs that are produced exclusively for HBO viewers, HBO Asia works with a large number of major independent production companies to secure exclusive rights to a host of quality movies. HBO Asia offers five commercial-free subscription movie channels – HBO®, HBO SIGNATURESM, HBO FAMILYSM, HBO HITSSM and MAXSM (a refresh of CINEMAXSM) – as well as a subscription video-on-demand service, HBO ON DEMANDSM and HBO HDSM, the first regional movie channel to broadcast in high definition in Asia, in selected markets. HBO Asia is a joint venture of HBO (a Time Warner company) and Paramount. Log on to www.hboasia.com for more information. # # #