Turner Latin America, VTR to Roll Out CNN Chile

ATLANTA, February 14: Turner
Broadcasting System (TBS) Latin America and Chilean telco VTR, a division of
Liberty Global, will launch CNN Chile, the first 24-hour, pay-TV news network
specifically programmed for the Chilean market.

CNN Chile is scheduled to
debut this year. The channel will be produced and presented by Chileans for
Chileans, and will be broadcast from studios in Santiago. In addition to a
fully staffed local news production center, CNN Chile will have complete access
to CNN Worldwide’s newsgathering resources, including the support of 4,000
journalists based around the globe. CNN Chile will be operated by a locally
based management team, following all of CNN’s journalistic and editorial
guidelines.

TBS Latin America and VTR
are equal partners in CNN Chile, which represents the first joint venture of
its kind in Latin America for both companies.

CNN Worldwide has
partnership channels in other parts of the world, including CNN+ in Spain; CNN
Turk in Turkey; CNNj and CNN.com.jp, both in Japan; and CNN-IBN in India.

“We are happy to be able
to provide Chile with a 24-hour pay-television news channel and add more
plurality to our program offering,” said Mauricio Ramos, the president of VTR
GlobalCom. “There is pent-up demand for this product, and we are pleased to
respond with the high quality and attractive product that CNN, the world’s news
leader, can guarantee.”

Added Juan Carlos Urdaneta,
the president of TBS Latin America, “This is a significant strategic step for
CNN and clearly demonstrates our commitment to Chile, where we already offer
CNN en Español and CNN International. Turner has enjoyed a long and successful
relationship with VTR, and we consider them the ideal partner to help us launch
this important new venture.”

North American outfit
Liberty Global owns 80 percent of VTR and Cristalería Chile owns the remaining
20 percent. VTR is a telecommunications company in Chile that offers a wide
range of products including broadband, cable television and telephony, reaching
more than a million subscribers.

—By Irene Lew