Mezzo Live HD Channel Furthers Asian Footprint

October 30, 2014 World Screen Top Stories

HONG KONG: The Mezzo Live HD channel, which is dedicated to classical music, opera, dance and jazz, has landed new carriage with platforms in Hong Kong, Mongolia and the Philippines.

This year, the channel will become available to subscribers on TVB Network Vision, Skytel and DDish. Mezzo Live HD features the best classical and jazz concerts, with 100 percent of the programming in HD. More than 80 percent is self-produced from international venues such as Paris' Opera, London's Covent Garden, Milan's Scala or Moscow's Bolshoi. The channel is planning to ramp up its efforts to showcase more localized content in 2015. New partnerships are in the works in Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Mezzo is operated by Lagardère Active.

Jean-René Aucouturier, the senior VP of TV sales and business development at Lagardère Active TV, declared: “We are thrilled to announce our first series of deals in the Asia-Pacific region, only a few months after launching the channel. This shows there is a clear demand said our premium music content, and we certainly hope to carry this momentum forward with a range of new initiatives and deals for 2015."

James Ross, the CEO of Lightning International, the Asia-Pacific representative for Mezzo Live HD, added: “We have had fantastic response to the channel from our partners and operators, and we will shortly be announcing a raft of additional carriage agreements across the region.”