NBC to base in territory
NBC will locate its regional headquarters in Hong Kong to provide the first global, round-the-clock business news channel in Asia.
The world's largest television broadcaster will introduce two 24-hour business news channels by the middle of this year to serve an audience of more than five million in Asia.
Both NBC's own productions and programmes by Asian media will be broadcast on the new satellite channels.
NBC executive vice-president Tom Rogers believes the move to Hong Kong will take its television network 'just a doorstep' away from China.
The two channels, CNBC Asia and NBC Super Chanel Asia, will be on air in May, with programmes provided in Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi and other Asian languages.
'We want to customise our programmes in terms of language,' Mr Rogers said. 'At the end of the day, we hope we will not be seen as Western but as part of the landscape here in Asia.' NBC will team up with major business programme producers in the region to franchise and beam their productions on the 24-hour channels and also will produce its own programmes for Asian audiences.
'The live 24-hour business news will follow the globe, covering Asian business news and then shift to European and US news when the Asian markets close,' Mr Rogers said.
He believed the venture would break even in five years on revenue from both advertisers and subscribers, following an investment that was higher than similar networks NBC launched in Europe.
A Hong Kong production base would be more cost-effective than other Asian cities, such as Singapore, he said, because the costs of covering regional events could be minimised.
The new bureau will be in Chai Wan with a staff of more than 200.
