MUMBAI: A+E Networks has said that it will assume full ownership of AETN All Asia Networks, the Singapore-based company formed as a joint venture with Astro Overseas Limited (AOL) in 2007.

The move comes as A+E networks looks to expand its footprint and launch new brands, including Lifetime.

A+E Networks? portfolio of channel brands, including History, Crime & Investigation Network and BIO, will continue to have carriage in Malaysia and Brunei through agreements with Astro Malaysia, an affiliate of AOL.

In India A+E Networks has JV with Network18 Group which operates History TV18 channel.

"Five years ago when we were exploring options to launch our brands in South East Asia, Astro was the clear choice to be our partner due to their local expertise and their strong record as a Pay-TV leader in the region," said A+E Networks EVP, Enterprises Steve Ronson. "Astro has been and will continue to be a very important partner for us, and we are very pleased to see our relationship evolve and grow."

A+E Networks and AOL will also establish a regional production partnership designed to nurture the production activity across South East Asia. The production partnership will help develop the local talent pool, and to create original content for regional and international audiences.

"As a leading media group in the region, we are happy to continue to our relationship with A+E Networks to develop and create compelling content and help elevate the creative industry in the region through the setting up of the regional production partnership," said AOL SVP Zainir Aminullah.

AETN All Asia Networks? management team will report to A+E Networks Asia Pacific MD Alan Hodges.

"We view Asia as critically important for our international growth, and assuming full ownership of AETN All Asia Networks is a big step," said A+E Networks Executive Vice President, International Sean Cohan. "This new structure will allow us to expand our brand portfolio and grow distribution throughout the region."

AETN All Asia Networks operates and distributes History, History HD, Crime & Investigation Network, and BIO in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Macau, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Palau and Thailand. The group also manages the broadcast of History and History HD in Korea.

The transaction is subject to various conditions and approvals. The parties hope to close the deal by early 2013.

MUMBAI: Heading into the television trade event MipTV, A+E Networks has bolstered its international sales staff with the appointment of Hana Zidek as director, content sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In addition, Joanne Lim has been promoted to Manager, Content Sales, Asia. The announcement was made by A+E Networks MD, international content distribution Marielle Zuccarelli, .

Zidek joins A+E Networks from Lionsgate Entertainment where she managed sales for the Nordics and other territories from the company?s London office. Previous to that, she oversaw program acquisitions for Viasat.

Based in A+E Networks? London office, Zidek will be responsible for managing content sales in the Nordic and Middle East regions, and will report to Jonathan South, Vice President, Content Sales, EMEA.

Based in A+E Networks? Singapore office, Lim will continue to oversee program sales throughout Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She reports to senior director, content sales, Asia Ling Sze Gan. Prior to joining A+E Networks in 2010, Ms. Lim held positions at BBC Worldwide and ITV.

Zuccarelli said, "I am happy to welcome Hana to A+E Networks. We have a seasoned content sales team in place and her background will further strengthen our efforts in the Nordic territories and the Middle East.

"Joanne has proven to be an integral player for us in Asia, and I?m very pleased to announce her promotion. Joanne has played an important role in expanding and strengthening our foothold in the region and will make a significant contribution as we ramp up our efforts to build our presence in Asia."

At MipTV, A+E Networks will offer a program catalogue spanning over 10,000 hours, including over 450 new titles to global broadcasters. Headlining the company?s slate are ?Mankind The Story of All of Us?, ?Seven Days of Sex?, ?Dance Moms?, ?Chris Bohjalian?s Secrets of Eden?, ?10 Things You Don?t Know About?, ?Shipping Wars? and ?Pawn Stars? - the format.

MUMBAI: History TV18, a joint venture between A+E Networks and TV18, is launching its eighth regional-language feed, this time in Urdu.

In another major move, the factual entertainment channel has readied a local show to air for the first time. Titled The
Greatest Indian, the show will be in conjunction with CNN IBN and BBC Worldwide from whom the format rights have been bought. The initiative is on the lines of the greatest Briton where people vote for whom they think is their greatest Indian.

A+E Networks TV18 president Ajay Chacko believes that Urdu is not a small market; 27 million people watch Urdu content.

Indiantelevision.com had reported in January 2012 that the channel was planning to launch two more language feeds.

History TV18 channel has the widest regional language spread. The other language feeds include Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati.

The aim of the local show is to celebrate the idea of India and its diversity. Said IBN18 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai, "We want to find out who people think is the greatest Indian after 1948 since Mahatma
Gandhi. People can compare greats of the past to the present like Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar and Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh. The aim is to have fun, entertaining and informative content.

AETN 18 programming head Ritu Kapur said that pre-production work has started and the initiative will kick off in April. There will be debates and discussions.

?History Har Din? is a social media initiative and a site has been created, historyhardin.in.com, which went live today. People can upload photos and videos where they feel that they have made history.

"History is personal. A woman might feel that she has made history with the birth of her first child, for instance. People can share their stories and experiences. We hope to create vignettes which will air on the
channel. We are doing a lot of social media marketing to push this initiative. We are also using our own channels. We will use themes. For instance when the IPL is on, we could ask people to share their experiences in terms of history being made at the IPL" said Kapur.

The channel?s brand ambassador Salman Khan, who was present at a pres conference here, uploaded a photo of himself on a horse. "People who have a made a big contribution to humanity qualify for being The Greatest Indian like Mother Theresa," he said.

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History TV18 plans to add two language feeds, boost rev

MUMBAI: Factual entertainment channel History TV18 has announced the launch of its Gujarati feed.

History TV18 is the first international channel to launch in Gujarati. With this launch, it is also the only factual entertainment channel to be available in an unprecedented seven languages ? Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi and English.

All the programmes and the fixed programme chart (FPC) schedule will remain identical in all the language feeds.

Viewers using digital platforms will be able to choose their preferred language through the remote control.

A+E Networks TV18 president Ajay Chacko said, ?Our objective is to grow the genre and make it a relatively main stream alternative for viewers in the near future. With this objective in mind, we intend to make the channel available in every Indian language possible and entertain audiences all across India.?

A+E Networks | TV18 JV VP. programming Sudheer KG said, ?As Indian audiences mature and seek out more international content in their own languages, there is no better a time than now to launch our Gujarati feed. The incredible level of aspirations of people speaking that language and a large youth population make it all the more appealing and lucrative. We have taken care to ensure that the translation retains a certain local flavor, making the channel more accessible and relatable."

Gujarat is an important market for factual entertainment after Mumbai and Delhi contributing as much as seven per cent to the genre in 1 Mn+ towns, according to estimates.

History TV18 said it has been a strong player here with the highest viewership in 0.1-1Mn market cluster and also highest time spent per viewer in 1Mn+ market cluster. Through this initiative, the channel hopes to strengthen its position.

MUMBAI: Innovating with its outreach programme, television channel History announced collaboration with the CBSE board in an effort to converse and spread awareness about the monuments of India.

The channel and the board conducted the Heritage Quiz 2011 where over 1000 schools affiliated to it participated. The selection process included a written test followed by three rounds of quizzing ending in a grand finale today at New Delhi. UNESCO also played a part in formulating the questions for the quiz.

Apart from the Heritage Quiz 2011, the channel has also organised events like heritage walks, poster making and short film competitions among other conservation efforts.

A+E Networks | TV 18 president Ajay Chacko said, "Our association with CBSE is two-fold viz. promoting education and conservation of historical monuments. The objective is to promote these two broader concepts through various activities involving students as an integral part of the entire process."

CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said, "We hope that this association between CBSE and History will provide a wider platform to the CBSE to reach out to more and more schools and boost its drive to promote educational innovations, in general, and preserve and protect heritage monuments in the country in particular."

MUMBAI: Crime and Investigation Network, a flagship channel of media content company A+E Networks, has launched in the Middle East with distribution platform OSN.

The launch marks the debut of the channel in the region.

Crime and Investigation Network will be offered as part of OSN?s Platinum Extra HD and Premier Plus HD packages. The channel is programmed and operated in the Middle East by A+E Networks UK, a joint venture between A+E Networks and BSkyB.

The launch in the Middle East marks the third new territory launch for Crime and Investigation Network this year. The channel launched in Spain in January and in the Benelux in June.

The growth of Crime and Investigation Network extends to South East Asia, where subscribers are up 38 per cent since January. Announcements about additional new territory launches are expected by the end of the year.

Crime and Investigation Network is unmatched in the variety of premiere crime programming on offer. The channel will feature a line-up of true crime series and specials such as ?The FBI Files?, ?The First 48? and ?Steven Seagal: Lawman?.

Crime and Investigation Network opens the door to real crime labs, police archives and the justice system, providing viewers with a behind-the-scenes look at criminal investigations, probing unexplained mysteries and examining the lives of infamous murderers and outlaws. As police work to ?crack? some of the world?s most fascinating crimes, viewers witness first-hand how law enforcement agencies utilise detective work and the latest forensic investigation tools to solve cases.

A+E Networks UK MD Tom Davidson said, "We are delighted to enhance our portfolio offering with OSN. Crime and Investigation Network has joined HISTORY on the platform and is now available for the first time to subscribers in the Middle East. Extending our distribution for this channel is a priority for our business and OSN is an ideal partner given their strong emphasis on delivering quality content to their subscribers in the region."

OSN CEO David Butorac said, "We?re delighted to announce the addition of Crime and Investigation Network to OSN, the leading pay-TV network in the Middle East and Africa. We are committed to delivering OSN customers the widest choice of high quality Arabic, Western and Filipino entertainment and we believe that Crime and Investigation Network is a great addition to our 90 channel line-up of premium entertainment."

Crime and Investigation Network is the second A+E Networks brand to launch in the region; History launched in the Middle East in 2002, and is operated by A+E Networks UK.

In the UK, Crime and Investigation Network launched in July 2006. The channel first launched in Australia on FoxTel in 2005, and is now available in 98 territories, reaching over 39 million households.