Hong Kong’s Cable & Wireless HKT and Rupert MurdochÆs Asiawide satellite television network Star TV have launched a joint venture to provide pay-television and internet services. This is an exciting joint venture to provide entertainment by means of multimedia services, said Murdoch, chairman of Star TV’s parent company News Corp, at a news conference in Hong Kong. It’s really an exciting, breakthrough venture . . . the first time we see the convergence of internet and the Net services with television entertainment, he said.
The still unnamed joint venture, in which C&W HKT will have a 60% stake, will provide digital television, interactive home entertainment and internet services. It will feature local content from C&W HKT’s broadband network and multimedia services as well as Star TV’s Asiawide satellite coverage. Hong Kong consumers will be offered 50 channels of entertainment, news and home shopping along with video-on-demand and high-speed internet services. The service may be extended to ethnic-Chinese communities across Asia, the companies said.
C&W HKT chairman Linus Cheung Wing-lam said the new company will seek a dual listing in Hong Kong and on Nasdaq. The joint venture is a perfect marriage to leverage C&W HKT’s broadband technology, interactive television and internet services, and Star TV’s satellite television content, expertise in media, programming and broadcasting technology, Cheung said.
C&W HKT will inject its internet access and interactive television services along with its Chinese portal, Netvigator.com, into the joint venture. Star TV will provide its DTV platform, which includes an Electronic Program Guide and an extensive line-up of programming.
The partners plan to extend access to Chinese communities in major markets across the Asian region when regulations permit. The new company will be in direct competition with Richard LiÆs Pacific Cyberworks which is planning to bring broadband internet access and multimedia services to cable TV subscribers around Asia. Li sold Star TV to Murdoch five years ago.
