ITV

Tag: Alexander Brown

  • CNBC Asia Pacific promotes Gregg Creevey

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNBC Asia Pacific has announced the promotion of Gregg Creevey to senior VP, sales and marketing.     

    Creevey joined CNBC a year ago as senior VP, distribution and channel strategy. In his expanded role, he will oversee ad sales, network and programming distribution, business development and marketing functions of the network. He will be directly responsible for all of the network’s revenue-generating sources including advertising sales, subscription and network development.

    Creevey has over 17 years of experience in the Asia Pacific broadcast industry. Prior to joining CNBC, he was one of the longest standing and most experienced executives at Turner Broadcasting. CNBC Asia Pacific president and CEO Alexander Brown said, “This is an extremely well-deserved promotion. When Gregg joined us last year, we were banking on his experience to drive our distribution business to another level. He has done that and much more. Gregg’s position in our industry in Asia is unparalleled, and this appointment represents an opportunity for the other divisions of our company to benefit from Gregg’s leadership and his vast experience in our business.”
        
          

  • MGM Channel launches in Thailand on UBC

    MGM Channel launches in Thailand on UBC

    MUMBAI: Further accelerating its presence throughout Asia, MGM Networks, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has launched the MGM Channel to subscribers in Thailand via UBC.

    “In just over a year, we have seen tremendous growth throughout Asia. The MGM Channel has quickly achieved the status of ‘must-have’ channel for cable and satellite operators throughout the region. Through UBC, we will bring the MGM Channel directly to consumers across this key and growing market. We anticipate a very warm reception from Thai viewers,” said MGM Networks executive vice president Bruce Tuchman.

    The MGM Channel became available this month as part of UBC’s Silver and Platinum Packages. MGM and UBC also plan to introduce Thai subtitling to the channel in the near future.

    “This is a superb opportunity for UBC to add value to its silver and platinum packages with MGM Channel Asia’s content of well-loved films. For us, this deal signifies a positive move towards the South East Asia and Greater China markets,” said CNBC Asia Pacific president & CEO Alexander Brown.

    The agreement with UBC is the most recent in a lengthy series of distribution deals forged by MGM Networks across Asia over the past year. Among other Asian operations, MGM Networks has a strategic alliance in the Greater China and South East Asia market with CNBC Asia Pacific, which assists MGM in the operation and distribution of a dedicated MGM channel in the region. The UBC deal will be part of this regional alliance. It follows announcements of the MGM Channel’s launch in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.

    “UBC is committed to providing the best-quality programs to widen knowledge of the world and bring entertainment variety to our customers,” said UBC director marketing and sales Ongard Prapakamol.” The MGM Channel is an outstanding addition to our new package offerings. We are confident that Thai viewers will be entertained by the variety of movies available on the MGM Channel.”

    Separately, MGM Networks holds interests in MGM-branded and other channels reaching scores of countries and territories worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, these interests include two branded channels in Korea and one in New Zealand.

    In addition, branded MGM Channels reach millions of subscribers across Europe, Latin America and Africa. Among MGM Networks’ latest channel launches are The MGM Channel in Spain, which premiered in summer 2004, and a Russian-language version of the MGM Channel that debuted in Russia last fall.

  • CNBC Asia Pacific promotes heads of operations and news programming

    CNBC Asia Pacific promotes heads of operations and news programming

    MUMBAI: CNBC Asia Pacific has promoted Peter Juno to senior vice president and director of operations and Cynthia Owens to senior vice president, news programming. Both Juno and Owens previously held the vice president title in their respective roles.

    Juno will be in charge of CNBC Asia Pacific’s operations and engineering requirements and will be based in the business news network’s headquarters in Singapore. He will also be responsible for the overall strategic planning, development and implementation with regard to operational new technologies. Juno will also coordinate the operational requirements between CNBC Asia Pacific and CNBC networks in the US and Europe. His responsibilities include ensuring operational and budget efficiency within the network’s news bureaus in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

    Juno joined Asia Business News in 1993 and has been with the station through the merger with CNBC. He was part of the negotiation team in talks between Dow Jones and NBC, the parent companies of ABN and CNBC, prior to the merger.

    Prior to his work at Asia Business News and CNBC Asia Pacific, he was with TVNZ/Avalon Studios in New Zealand in various production and technical roles.

    Owens, on the other hand, leads CNBC Asia Pacific’s news programming division and is responsible for CNBC Asia Pacific’s news production and presentation, programming format development and newsgathering techniques. She will be based in CNBC’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

    She has been credited for launching the business news unit for ABC News in New York, organising and coordinating business reporting for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and for her contribution to other ABC News programmes.

    Owens has also worked for Dow Jones & Company as executive producer for Wall Street Journal Television in New York and as deputy news director for WBIS. A print reporter for several years, she has also worked with The Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong and Bangkok, and at Knight Ridder with their Financial News arm in Tokyo as congressional correspondent in Washington DC and as a business reporter in Chicago.

    Before rejoining CNBC Asia Pacific, she was vice president of professional channels for iVillage, the largest women’s web portal based in New York.

    CNBC Asia Pacific president and CEO Alexander Brown said, “Both Peter and Cynthia have played very significant roles in the growth of the network. Given that we produce 10 hours of live programming every business day, we take pride in the quality, accuracy and presentation of our news output. The number of awards and accolades that our anchors and programmes have received over the years is testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff. These two individuals have led the charge in their respective areas, and their promotions are a reflection of their efforts.”

  • CNBC new show ‘CNBC Tonight’ to debut 16 February

    CNBC new show ‘CNBC Tonight’ to debut 16 February

    MUMBAI: CNBC is launching a new prime time show titled CNBC Tonight which will launch on 16 February. The show will deliver an unrivalled wrap-up of the business day in Asia and a look ahead to the next day’s headlines in an unbeatable format, claims the channel. The two-hour programme will combine the best mix of Asian and global news headlines, corporate news and personal finance. Other than this it will also feature upscale lifestyle features on travel, health, food and leisure.

    Produced every weekday live from CNBC Asia Pacific’s studios across the region, CNBC Tonight will be co-hosted by May Lee and Teymoor Nabili.

    While, CNBC Tonight will retain the best of CNBC’s evening programming, it will also introduce several new segments. The daily segments will have ‘Top News at the Top of the Hour’ which will feature the top headlines from the world of business and financial markets and the stories that have an impact on Asia. Another segment called ‘e’ will focus on the emerging trends and the big names behind technology headlines by Keith Liu, who will also review the best new gadgets.

    Asian Wall Street Journal will tap into the region-wide pool of journalists and editors from print affiliate The Asian Wall Street Journal for analysis of the day’s top business and political stories and will also offer a preview of the headlines in the next day’s paper. Paper Chase will look into at what’s dominating media coverage in various Asian countries and Global Stock Patrol will be a live roundup of global markets by CNBC’s correspondents in the US, Europe and Asia. China Focus will have Cheng Lei of China Business Network providing daily insight into the market-moving deals and events in China, and what they mean for the economy, investors and consumers.

    The weekly and occasional segments include – Get Away (a travel guide), To Your Health (on health and fitness), Portfolio Tracker (puts 12 fund managers in the hot seat), What’s The Word (uncovers the mysteries in the world of business) and Business 101 (expert answers to viewers’ business questions).

    CNBC Asia Pacific news programming senior vice president Cynthia Owens said, “Viewers told us they wanted one show every evening to give them all of the Asian business news of the day and a look ahead. We’ve taken the best of CNBC to create a new evening show. CNBC Tonight features a team that will wrap up the business day, give viewers unrivalled coverage of the region and the world.”

    CNBC Asia Pacific president and CEO Alexander Brown said, “We are committed to continuously meeting the needs of our viewers and ensuring that our content stays head and shoulders above the competition. CNBC Tonight will bring together some of CNBC’s strongest anchors, producers and guests and the channel’s most popular segments in one evening programme.”

  • MGM Channel to launch in Taiwan and Malaysia

    MGM Channel to launch in Taiwan and Malaysia

    MUMBAI: The MGM Channel has been launched in Taiwan. It will also launch in Malaysia in the coming months.

    The MGM channel launched a year ago in Hong Kong for the Greater China and South East Asia market. In India MGM had a JV with Zee for an English movie channel. However after MGM was acquired by Sony earlier this year Zee MGM was renamed Zee Movie Zone.

    The MGM Channel is produced and distributed in the region by MGM Networks through a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific. In Taiwan, The MGM Channel can now be seen via cable operator Taiwan Broadband Communications.

    CNBC Asia Pacific CEO Alexander Brown added, “CNBC Asia Pacific could not be happier about our strategic alliance with MGM and the success we are having in the marketplace. It is gratifying to see that
    the marriage of our two organisations’ complementary commercial strengths and creative capabilities have been so well-received in the region.”

  • Kuala Lumpur to host 2005 CNBC Business Leader awards

    Kuala Lumpur to host 2005 CNBC Business Leader awards

    MUMBAI: CNBC Asia Pacific will be staging its 4th Asia Business Leader Awards (ABLA) 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
    The announcement followed a meeting between Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and CNBC Asia Pacific president & CEO Alexander Brown, at Malaysia’s Federal Government Administrative capital of Putrajaya on Tuesday, a company release says.
    The Asia Business Leader Awards aims to recognise Asia’s outstanding CEOs who have demonstrated superior leadership skills in managing highly successful businesses in their respective countries or in Asia. ABLA has a three-phase judging process, based on a combination of criteria including financial performance, leadership, creativity and innovation, and social responsibility. The judges comprise journalists, retired business leaders/CEOs or professionals with Asia experience, Asian corporate strategists, academics and international management thinkers. They evaluate candidates on their ability to create success in creating short-term advantage, long-term value, enhancing their competitive edge, and the demonstration of leadership in the business community.
    Each event usually takes place over two days, and incorporates an awards presentation ceremony and gala dinner presided by high-level guests-of-honour, business leaders’ summit and a CEOs’ golf challenge.
    “Malaysia’s economy is one of the most vibrant in Southeast Asia… Hosting the next ABLA in Malaysia represents an extension of CNBC Asia’s commitment to the business community residing there,” Brown is quoted in the release as saying.

     

  • CNBC Asia Pacific makes anchor appointments

    CNBC Asia Pacific makes anchor appointments

    MUMBAI: CNBC Asia Pacific recently announced a couple of anchor appointments. They are May Lee and Sabrina Kang

    Prior to CNBC, Lee was with Disney’s ABC News in Los Angeles as a news correspondent and anchor. In the past Lee has also anchored for CNN in Hong Kong and has been a correspondent for CNN in Tokyo.

    CNBC Asia Pacific president and CEO Alexander Brown added, “May is a tremendous hire for CNBC. To have such a well-known and experienced journalist among our ranks is a testament to the quality of the coverage CNBC provides day in and day out.”

    Kang meanwhile was recently the business reporter for Kron-TV in San Francisco. Headquartered in Singapore, CNBC Asia Pacific claims availability in more than 29 million homes across the region.

  • FIPB turns down TV 18 proposal

    NEW DELHI: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), on recommendation of the information and broadcasting ministry, has turned down a proposal from Television Eighteen Ltd. to offload 15 per cent equity stake to CNBC Asia in a subsidiary that uplinks the CNBC TV 18 business channel from India.
    Contacted by indiantelevision.com, a senior I&B ministry official said that since the uplinking subsidiary, iNews.com, had not sought its permission for uplinking from India, it recommended to the FIPB not to consider the proposal of foreign investment.
    “There are several issues on which clarity is lacking, including the fact that in the parent company of iNews (TV 18) there is foreign portfolio investment amounting to about 10 per cent,” the I&B official explained the ground on which it had not given the TV 18 proposal a no-objection, a mandatory procedure that is followed by the FIPB.
    TV 18 CEO Haresh Chawla told indiantelevision.com today evening, “Well we are still optimistic about the fact that the doubts of the government would be cleared and we would clarify the points raised by the I&B ministry.”
    The I&B ministrys stand is that since there are certain doubts on the issue, the whole matter would amount to non-compliance of the uplinking norms announced by the government in March.
    According to the uplinking guidelines, news channel desirous of uplinking from India cannot have more than 26 per cent foreign holding in the company. 
    As an another safety measure — learning from the experience of Star News — the government had also stipulated that one single Indian entity ought to hold a majority shareholding of 51 per cent in the news venture. On this count too the government is not clear as the shareholding of the promoters of TV 18 is said to be less than 51 per cent. 
    The I&B ministry official, however, added that once TV 18 comes forward seeking permission, the proposal could be taken up for review. 
    In an official statement sent to indiantelevision.com, TV 18 said that in reaction to a “negative response” to the application in connection with the recent restructuring of CNBC-TV18, the parties concerned “shall study the grounds on which the FIPB has disallowed the application, and shall reserve their right to submit further clarifications to the government to strengthen their case for the induction of this equity.”
    The statement, quoting Television Eighteen India Ltd. MD Raghav Bahl, said : “We shall work closely with CNBC Asia Pacific in making suitable representations to the government of India to review their decision. While we do so, the operations of CNBC-TV18, the 24-hour business channel owned and operated by TV18, shall continue as before.”
    Alexander Brown, president and CEO of CNBC Asia Pacific in the statement said : “We are committed to the Indian marketplace, and to our partnership with TV18. We will review the situation with TV18 in order to determine the best way ahead, and look forward to a successful conclusion of this matter.”

  • Former Asia ESPN-Star Sports chief Sandy Brown joins multimedia firm Virtual Spectator

    Former Asia ESPN-Star Sports chief Sandy Brown joins multimedia firm Virtual Spectator

    Alexander Brown, who led ESPN and ESPN-Star Sports’ efforts in Asia, has been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Virtual Spectator, a New Zealand-based company that uses proprietary software and three dimensional (3D) animation to create personal viewing experiences for television and Internet sports coverage.

    Brown will manage the worldwide day-to-day business operations of Virtual Spectator as well as develop strategic initiatives for the company. He will be based at Virtual Spectator’s new offices in New York, which are to become the company’s global headquarters. Product research, development and production will continue to be based in New Zealand.

    Brown recently was named one of the ten “power brokers” in Asian sports by “Sport Business”.