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HONG KONG: Asia’s pay-TV market is expected to top 600 million subs by 2016, reaching almost 700 million subscribers by 2020, according to a new report from Media Partners Asia (MPA), with India and Southeast Asia among the key growth markets. The report, which officially launches tomorrow as the MPA’s Asia …

NEW YORK: AMC/Sundance Channel Global has secured additional carriage for Sundance Channel and WE tv in Asia, along with bulking up the channels’ programming slates. In South Korea, Sundance Channel is set for SK broadband as a 24-hour HD linear IPTV service with Korean subtitles. This is the third major …

MUMBAI/BALI: As the Asia Pacific Operators Summit (APOS) kicked off in Bali, Indonesia, today, Media Partners Asia (MPA) released new research on the Indian media market, projecting that pay-TV penetration in the country will rise from 20 percent in 2011 to 50 percent in 2016, reaching 61 percent by 2020. "India’s …

NEW YORK: China’s YOU On Demand has picked up a package of films from the Miramax library to distribute for Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD). Titles such as There Will Be Blood, Chicago, Pulp Fiction and the Scream franchise will be made available on China’s leading national pay-per-view and VOD …

LONDON: Eros International is planning to enter into a definitive agreement to take over B4U Television Network, a global Bollywood service that provides Indian programming across two digital channels. Eros is planning to acquire the 76 percent of B4U that it does not currently own for a cash and share …

SINGAPORE: Ricky Ow has been upped to executive VP of networks for Sony Pictures Television (SPT), after having served as senior VP and general manager of the division. Ow will continue to oversee the networks business across Asia. He will expand his duties by managing SPT’s two new Korean joint …

MUMBAI/HONG KONG: Peter Chernin‘s Asian investment operation, CA Media, has taken a 49-percent stake in Mumbai-based Endemol India, providing the backing for the company’s planned aggressive expansion into the scripted and regional TV arenas, as well as feature films. The strategic alliance reunites CA Media’s India CEO, Rajest Kamat, with Endemol …

NEW DELHI: Al Jazeera English has added 9 million homes to its Indian reach following a carriage deal with Tata Sky, bringing its overall base in the country to more than 25 million homes. “India is a really important country for Al Jazeera, with an outward looking, intelligent audience who are …

SINGAPORE: Celestial Tiger Entertainment has scooped up the exclusive broadcast premieres for three of the top winners from the Hong Kong Film Awards: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Life without Principle and A Simple Life. These movies will run first and exclusively on Celestial Movies in the second half of …

BERLIN: The Da Vinci Learning channel has been added to the Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) platform. The learning-focused channel combines entertainment and education, with a mission "to inform, entertain and inspire." Da Vinci Learning is available to more than 7 million subscribers in over 12 European countries. Topics covered including …