IN THE NEWS

MGM Gold service to be launched in India later this year
Finally it is happening. The much-talked about movie channel, MGM Gold service is being launched later this year in India. And the people who are bringing this channel to the country are Modi Entertainment Network (MEN) which recently signed an agreement with MGM Gold Networks (Asia). As per the agreement Modi Enterntainment will be distributing the channel within India and Nepal. The contract entered into for a period of five years gives Modi Entertainment the exclusive right to distribute MGM Gold to cable systems.

Lalit Modi, president, Modi Entertainment Group says, “Entertainment in India is still synonymous with movies and the MGM lion is a well recognised symbol among a large number of cinema buffs in our country.” MEN has a viewer base of 8 million viewers which it has acquired by being the exclusive Indian distributor and subscriber management services provider for ESPN since its launch in October 1995. Says Steve Smith, President and GM, MGM Gold, “Our challenge is to appeal to the tastes of the Indian viewer, thereby capitalising on the enormous potential that Modi offers us in gaining subscribers and subsequently, advertising revenues.'' As for the plans of localising the channel, he commented, “We will launch in India on a separate feed - one which will be entirely devoted to the Indian market. Currently, the extent to which that feed will contain local Hindi language programming is still being researched and determined.”

A joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) and Encore Media Group (EMG), MGM Gold combines the vast film library of MGM with the leader in cable operations. With its array of contemporary Hollywood hits and classics, comedy, romance, animated features etc, MGM Gold may well take on STAR Movies in India.

TV 18 becomes the local franchisee of CNBC
Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18) has been appointed the sole local franchisee of CNBC, the 24-hour business news channel formed after the merger of ABN and CNBC. Besides producing all the India-based programmes for the India feed of the channel TV18 will also be involved in marketing the channel to advertisers and viewers in the country. Raghav Bahl, MD, TV18 says, “TV18 is looking upon the CNBC opportunity as a terrific challenge after making a success of ABNI, the TV18 team is excited at the prospect of taking CNBC to even greater heights.”