MUMBAI: The television industry was in a new golden age, said Warner Bros. Television Group president Bruce Rosenblum.

The best platform for launching a new show is broadcast television. "You want your comedies on CBS on Monday and your promos inside the highest-rated shows. The more we can draw people to broadcast TV the better it is for our studio business," said Rosenblum, while speaking at the television technology and trade event Nab in Las Vegas.

The TV business has never been better. "Revenue from international has improved dramatically. The domestic broadcast, cable and syndication businesses are at a high point and there are new buyers in the market like Netflix and Hulu that are boosting the value of their libraries and new productions," he said.

International markets are playing a key role in reducing deficits between the cost of producing shows and the licence fees paid by the networks. "Even in a global financial crisis, we have had five years of meaningful increases to the point where the revenue from international more than covers the production costs of our entire sales of 26 shows".

Rosenblum estimates that more than 85 per cent of Time Warner?s profitability comes from Turner, HBO and the studio?s TV Group. Warner Bros. gets roughly half of its profits from TV. "Anything we can do to preserve that ecosystem and keep the consumer in an authenticated environment helps us," he averred.

He also said that social media is playing a bigger role in marketing efforts. "I haven?t seen Facebook and Twitter having an impact yet on what gets selected. Where Facebook and Twitter can help is when you have shows that are on bubble. Several shows have gotten renewed because networks were aware of how much chatter was out there."

MUMBAI: China?s Mei Tian Mei Yu (Mei Tian) and H& R Century TV (H&R), in conjunction with Metan Development Group (Metan), Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) and the creative team behind ?Gossip Girl?, have joined to develop a modern new teen drama series (30x60min) set in China.

Instrumental in bringing the parties together, Metan, a company founded by international TV veterans Marty Pompadur and Larry Namer, together with WBITVP, will provide development and roductionconsultation on the project, which is poised to launch a new era of the modern drama series in China.

H&R president Zhong Junyan said, "As one of the leading film and drama production companies in China today, we?re excited to be working with such an amazing team of international TV professionals. With its keen understanding of global production, Metan has joined together with Warner Bros. International Television Production, creating an extraordinary consultant team to help Mei Tain and H&R forge a newv form of drama series in China."

Metan?s president, CEO Larry Namer said, "Metan is pleased to be involved with this exciting collaboration, underscoring our ability to once again create positive connections between Hollywood with China. We believe that bringing together such a talented team will result in one of the biggest and best drama series ever seen in China, as the country enters this new age of TV production."

Warner Bros. International Television Production senior VP, creative, format development and sales Andrew Zein said, "We are delighted to be working with Mei Tan and H&R to bring this new series to one of the most vibrant and exciting countries on the planet, China".

Set to debut to Mandarin-speaking audiences in November 2012, the series is about the lives of the students of the prestigious Shanghai International University, the school of choice of the rich and powerful. One?s social status reaches a new level once admitted into the school. Each week, the main characters? trust, love and friendship are tested, with all the behind-the-scenes tales recorded in a blog. In the beginning, they are confused and lost; however over time, they discover who they really are and eventually find the right path to pursue their dreams.

Production is set to begin in June and a nationwide casting search will begin later this month. Chinese actress Yang Mi will have a recurring role on the series.