|
MUMBAI:
Nine Network has struck the largest US output deal in local
broadcast history and will use it to dilute rival channel
Ten's long-standing stranglehold on the young TV audience
with a new youth-focused digital channel later this year.
The channel has renewed its output deal with Warner Bros,
held since 1992, in a deal that starts when the current contract
expires in 2011 and could be worth up to $ 500 million in
its five-year term.
Nine
CEO David Gyngell told the media that the new channel would
enable to offer advertisers access to both the broader audience
and a younger audience.
Gyngell said that Nine would initially sell advertising on the new channel
as a secondary product, meaning advertisers must first buy ads on Nine before
they could buy the same on the new channel.
"We will have hundreds
of thousands of hours (of programmes) which will help us launch the second channel,"
he averred.
"And while it's not ideal from a shareholder's point of
view, from an opportunity point of view we feel the best place to target advertisers
is the younger demographic, so we will be launching a younger-focused entertainment
channel," he added.
Apart
from TV programmes, Nine's parent company PBL Media (owned
by private equity group CVC Asia Pacific) has also secured
the online and mobile rights of the content that enables its
50 per cent-owned Ninemsn to enlarge its online catch-up TV
service.
He said this enabled Nine to target advertisers such as Pizza
Hut and Coke, which often preferred younger audiences. The
news came as last week Nine was placed third in the TV ratings.
Nine scored only 25.2 per cent of the national audience, while
Seven won the week with 27 per cent and Ten's hit programmes
Masterchef and Talkin' 'Bout My Generation
pushed it into second place with 25.8 per cent of viewers.
Also
Read:
MBC
extends output deal with Warner Bros
Time
Warner firms form new media alliance with Adobe
| 
