Television
November 4, 2009
WarnerTV To Launch Throughout Asia In 2010
(November 4, 2009 - Hong Kong and Burbank, CA) – WarnerTV, a new general entertainment television channel featuring a slate of high-quality Warner Bros. Entertainment programming specifically selected for Asian audiences, is coming to Asia in 2010. The distribution of the channel will be handled exclusively by HBO Asia. 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.
WarnerTV will feature hit television series such as “The Mentalist,” starring Simon Baker; “The Big Bang Theory,” starring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco; “Fringe,” from J.J. Abrams; and the trend-setting “Gossip Girl.” Additionally, WarnerTV will present the Asian television premieres of “Dark Blue,” starring Dylan McDermott and from Jerry Bruckheimer Television, as well as “Southland,” from Emmy® Award–winning producer John Wells (“ER”).
“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,” said Malcolm Dudley-Smith.
HBO will handle distribution exclusively for WarnerTV throughout Asia. HBO Asia is currently in discussions with various cable operators across Asia, and WarnerTV is targeted to debut in the first quarter of 2010.
“WarnerTV is a fresh and exciting addition to our channel lineup. As a basic service featuring the very best of hit television series, it is the perfect complement to our premium bouquet,” said Jonathan Spink. “We believe WarnerTV will spark exceptionally high demand from both operators and viewers, and we look forward to the launch next year.”
“Our new service for Asia, WarnerTV, will feature an unprecedented mix of hit television series and theatrical motion pictures from the Studio,” said Greg Drebin, Senior Vice President–Programming and Marketing, Warner Bros. International Branded Services. “Never before has there been a single source for viewers in Asia to experience Warner Bros. Entertainment’s long-standing tradition as the world’s preeminent storytellers.”
The launch of WarnerTV continues the company’s strategy of launching branded programming services around the globe, featuring content produced and distributed by the Studio. Like the highly successful Warner Channel Latin America, WarnerTV in Asia will be a 24-hour linear offering. In addition to these linear channels, subscription- and advertiser-supported video-on-demand (AVOD and SVOD) branded services have launched under the WarnerTV banner throughout the world. WarnerTV has debuted on Top Up TV, Tiscali, Virgin Media and BT in the U.K.; FASTWEB in Italy; Maxdome in Germany; OnDemandDeutschland in Austria; USEN Corporation’s GyaO in Japan; Free in France; and Ziggo in the Netherlands.
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. # # #