COMPETITION for commercially-minded viewers around the region is hotting up the latest TV battle.
IT was the morning after the pre-launch party and the more adventurous souls were holding their heads. The Asia Business News (ABN) satellite television network in Singapore will be launched next Monday and the 100-strong team had enjoyed a final fling before embarking on the last harrowing, nerve-racking days before going on air.
Then word came through: STAR TV, at one time a potential partner in the pioneering ABN venture, had announced it was starting its own business channel - 24 hours ahead of ABN's launch.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp had managed to sign Reuter's television division, the American NBC network's business service and the London Financial Times' TV network for STAR's Asian News & Business Channel.
But chairman of ABN and vice-president, international at Telecommunications Inc (TCI) Adam Singer has taken a typically pugnacious view. According to Mr Singer, News Corp's investment in STAR TV ''looks like Rupert Murdoch's personal march on Moscow.'' ''Really the jury is still out on the network, whereas we know we have a good product,'' he said.
Mr Singer has no doubts about the success of ABN or its potential to earn money for TCI. The later is the world's largest cable TV operator and has just merged with Bell Atlantic telephone company to become part of a US$60 billion conglomerate.