After sealing a joint venture deal with Miditech’s Alva Brothers for television channels, Turner International India is now chalking out aggressive growth strategies for India.
MUMBAI: After sealing a joint venture deal with Miditech’s Alva Brothers for television channels, Turner International India is now chalking out aggressive growth strategies for India.
Turner will independently launch its animation theatrical business in the country and is also planning a Hollywood-centric entertainment channel in partnership with Warner Bros.
For its animation business, Turner will establish a new “multi-million dollar business unit” to develop and produce animation films to be released primarily in the Indian market and expand its current output of live-action television series.
Steve Marcopoto, president, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific and Anshuman Mishra - MD South Asia said in a press conference on Thursday that this was Turner’s first maiden venture of its kind internationally.
“This is a natural progression to our expertise in kids’ television through Cartoon Network and POGO. Our animation production unit will be set up in Mumbai and will target producing about two full-length animated movies in a year and the first movie will be released in 2009,” he said. Marcopoto did not rule out a possibility of co-productions with either Warner Bros or local animation studios for these films.
Meanwhile, the Turner-Warner Bros television partnership is also touted to be the “first-of-its-kinds” and aims to bring “best of Hollywood entertainment to TV sets in India, targeting the growing audience of discerning urban viewers.”
Mishra refuted media reports and speculation about Turner’s launching a world cinema channel as “untrue.”
“We might look into it at a later stage when the category matures. But it’s not on the agenda right now,” he said.
The Turner-Warner Bros partnership will leverage Warner Bros library of content - one of the largest in Hollywood - and Turner’s distribution muscle in India. Turner, currently, has distribution partnership with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), called Zee Turner Ltd and offers a large bouquet of channels. Both the initiatives - the TV channel and the animation production unit - are part of Turner’s India strategy, wherein it is “investing more than any other market in Asia.”
Marcopoto said, “India is one of our highest priority markets in the world and the highest in Asia. By the end of this fiscal, India will surpass Japan as our largest market in Asia.”
c_arcopol@dnaindia.net
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