HONG KONG (AP) — Hollywood
independent studio Lionsgate and U.S. media investment firm Saban Capital said
Thursday they’re teaming up with a Malaysian-owned company in a pay TV joint
venture to tap the expanding Asian entertainment market.
Lionsgate, Saban and Malaysia
film and TV company Celestial Pictures said the new venture, Celestial Tiger
Entertainment, will get a “significant capital investment” from Saban. The
amount wasn’t disclosed.
The new company will be
headquartered in Hong Kong. It will offer three pay TV channels from Tiger Gate
Entertainment, an existing Asian partnership set up by Lionsgate-Saban in 2010.
Celestial Pictures will contribute three Chinese-language pay TV channels.
Celestial Tiger also plans to
expand by adding new channels or buying other operators. It will also be the
sole sales agent for Lionsgate movies and TV shows in Southeast Asia and China.
The joint venture is the latest
in a string of partnerships with Asian entertainment companies formed recently
by Hollywood studios looking for growth in Asia, where a burgeoning middle
class is driving demand.
Earlier this year, Relativity
Media and Legendary Entertainment announced partnerships with Chinese
companies.
The Asia-Pacific region is
already the world’s biggest pay TV market, with 57 percent of global
subscriptions, which were forecast to exceed 745 million in 2011, according to
an ABI Research report earlier this year.
Lionsgate productions include
the hit TV series “Mad Men” and recent films such as “Margin Call” and “The
Expendables.”
Media mogul Haim Saban’s Saban
Capital is best known for licensing the Power Rangers from Japan in the 1990s.
Hong Kong-based Celestial
Pictures is owned by Malaysian pay-television operator Astro Holdings.
KELVIN CHAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Business & Investment Opportunities
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