Turner, Warner Brothers to launch channel in India

Turner International today joined hands with Hollywood's leading studio Warner Brothers to launch a news 24-hour English Entertainment channel in India, its top revenue market in Asia Pacific region.

This is the second entertainment channel from the Turner International in March after it launched Hindi 24-hour channel 'Real' earlier this month.

Turner International, which already has a bouque of channels in India -- ZEE Turner, CNN-IBN, Real and HBO -- will position this new offering 'WB' as a new Warner-branded channel for India featuring blockbuster motion pictures and hit television series. It will be available in India from March 15, 2009.

"The channel will showcase programming licensed from Warner Brothers International Television Distribution (WBITD). Together with HBO, WB expands Turner's English entertainment package in India. It will be distributed by Zee-Turner and will be available on both DTH, and Cable and Satellite platforms", Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc President Steve Marcopoto said in a conference.

Warner Brothers International Television Jeffrey R Schlesinger President said, "India is an important growth market. But it will take quite a while for India to be our fastest growth market than it is now."