Latin American Expansion for Time Warner

NEW YORK: Chilean free-to-air broadcaster Chilevisión is being acquired by Time Warner from Bancard Inversiones, owned by the country’s president, Sebastian Piñera.

Chile’s leading network will now be operated by Turner Broadcasting System Latin America, which is run by Juan Carlos Urdaneta as president. The local management team will remain in place to run the channel. The deal is pending regulatory approval.

Louise Sams, president of Turner Broadcasting System International, commented, "Chilevisión is an extremely well-run channel that has posted consistently strong ratings; audience and advertising share; and profitability. With this acquisition, our company enters the local broadcast market as a marquee player; furthers our leadership position across Latin America; and expands the growing Turner portfolio of international networks and businesses around the world."

Chilevisión’s executive director, Jaime de Aguirre, added, "We appreciate the commitment and support of Bancard and the role it has played in the growth and development of our channel in the last five years. We are excited about the new era that begins with the arrival of Turner Broadcasting. We believe that being part of a global company with the characteristics of Turner Broadcasting will bring new growth and development opportunities not only for our channel, but most importantly for its people, who ultimately are the ones that will continue to deliver more and better television to our audiences."