Sony Entertainment Television Asia To Commence Operations in Canada

December 04, 2002

Sony’s premium South Asian pay-TV channel concludes distribution deal with Asian Television Network set to win thousands of new subscribers in 2003.

London, England (4th December 2002) – Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) will commence operations in Canada, it was announced today by Kunal Dasgupta, CEO of Sony Entertainment Television (SET). SET Asia is the international feed for SET, India’s leading cable and satellite television channel.

A distribution agreement has been struck with Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) Canada a leader in the provision of South Asian television services in that territory, that heralds the launch of the award-winning channel early next year.

Dasgupta commented, “We are pleased to have concluded a deal which will bring the quality entertainment we are already renowned for around the world to thousands of South Asians in Canada. We look forward to a fruitful and mutually beneficial partnership with our distributor ATN”

Rajan Singh, Executive Vice-President, SET Asia who will be responsible for setting up and heading operations in Canada said, “During the course of negotiations I have been impressed by the professionalism of ATN under the leadership of their President & CEO Shan Chandrasekar. I am looking forward to developing our relationship further.”

Shan Chandrasekar said “ We are delighted with our partnership with Sony Entertainment Television, a superb organization that is backed by Sony Pictures Television International, which was earlier known as Columbia TriStar International Television. We expect to tier this impressive channel with our current licensed service, subject to regulatory approval, to offer a compelling package of a South Asian bouquet of channels in Canada”.

ATN currently owns and operates four South Asian channels and has been awarded licenses for eight more digital channels. Amongst the new licenses one is in collaboration with Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and the Sports Network (TSN) and the second in collaboration with Vision TV and Radio Nord. ATN is a publicly trading company, quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange as YTN.

Since its launch in the Indian sub-continent in 1995 SET has enjoyed rapid and considerable success leading to the establishment of European, North American and African feeds known as SET Asia. SET and SET Asia are now available in over 100 countries around the world. The channels offer their viewers a distinctive blend of entertainment programmes twenty-four hours a day including news, cricket, soap operas, dramas, sit-coms, concerts and South Asian movies. SET and SET Asia can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.setindia.com/

Asian Television Network International Limited.
Tel: 905-836-6460 Fax: 905-853-5212
Email: atn@AsianTelevision.com

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