India’s Reliance Broadcast Network (RBN) has signed a deal with the US-based CBS network to launch TV channels across south Asia, the company said today. The two companies will first launch English-language entertainment channels and at a later stage explore channels in Hindi and other regional languages, it said in a press statement. “As currently proposed, the joint venture would include certain programming rights across the countries of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan for now,” it said.
RBN and CBS will have equal 50 percent equity interest in the joint venture, but no other figures were available on the deal. “The agreement is subject to customary diligence, negotiation and execution of a definitive documentation, which are presently under way,” it said, adding it planned to complete the process in a month.
(Source: AFP)
on Jun 25th, 2010 at 04:06
What good will this do for cultural diversity in Asian broadcasting? We are going to get more of the US talkshow, entertainment and Hollywood thrash in South Asia. Reliance of course is trying to make money as a broker not as an initiator of a South-North cultural flow.