MGM sizzles with E. European channels

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The MGM lion is roaring back, especially as far as Eastern Europe is concerned. Sept 3 saw the studio launch a cluster of new channels, adding to its existing coverage across the region.

MGM already has channels carried to millions of subscriber homes across the former USSR, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria. These new deals extend MGM’s reach to some of the remaining corners of the region. Bruce Tuchman, EVP/MGM Networks, made the announcement.

“We are thrilled to announce the further expansion of our presence in Eastern Europe with the recent launches of The MGM Channel into the new markets of Serbia, Albania and Macedonia,” stated Tuchman. “We’ve lined up well over a dozen major cable and satellite operators across these three countries, and are excited to have these new clients join the ranks of the vast base of top notch platforms that carry The MGM Channel across Eastern Europe. While only a few markets in this region now remain untapped for us, we are very excited about the prospects for continued rapid subscriber growth across these burgeoning multichannel television landscapes, as well as our future expansion opportunities.”

The MGM Channel in Serbia has launched across numerous platforms in the country, including major cable operators such as Kopernikus Technology and K.D.S. Novi Sud, as well as the IPTV platform of the county’s dominant telephone company, Telekom Serbia.

In Serbia, The MGM Channel will also be broadcast with Serbian subtitles utilizing the country’s Cyrillic alphabet. Taking advantage of recent advances in subtitling technology that allow for both cost and technologically effective deployment, The MGM Channel was the first international cable/satellite channel to bring local audiences subtitling in the local Cyrillic script.

In Albania, the country’s largest multichannel platform, Digitalb, launched The MGM Channel last month on the Digitalb DTH service, while in Macedonia, the country’s largest cable operator, Cabletel, has also recently launched The MGM Channel. Plans to launch The MGM Channel on additional platforms and systems across the entire region are currently in progress.

The MGM Channel’s launch across Serbia, Albania and Macedonia are further milestones in MGM Networks rapid expansion drive across Central and Eastern Europe.

Starting with the launch in late 2004 of a 100%-owned Russian language service on leading Russian DTH platform, NTV Plus, MGM branded channels have launched across the former eastern block, including debuts in 2006 of locally versioned channels now reaching several million subscribers across Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania (through a joint venture with Liberty Global’s chellomedia division), as well as a High Definition version of The MGM Channel in Poland through a partnership with leading Polish media company, ITI. These developments were followed up last year with the launch by MGM Networks of a wholly-owned local language version of The MGM Channel in Bulgaria.

In addition, MGM Channels are available in scores of countries across Western Europe, Latin America, the Mid-East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Rim, and continue to expand aggressively along with their sister channels in Central and Eastern Europe.

MGM ownership is currently as follows: Providence Equity Partners (29%), Texas Pacific Group (21%), Sony Corporation of America (20%), Comcast (20%), DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) and Quadrangle Group (3%).


Source:RapidTVNews