Celestial Pictures, which owns the Shaw Brothers Film Library, is partnering with Hollywood independent studio Lionsgate, producer of the hit TV series Mad Men, and a United States private equity firm to tap Asia's booming entertainment market.
Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), the three companies' joint venture firm, will mainly operate pay television channels and will be based in Hong Kong. Consumers will be able to subscribe to its six channels through Now TV and Hong Kong Broadband.
Celestial Pictures, a unit of Malaysian satellite operator Astro, owns the copyright to legendary films such as The One-Armed Swordsman, The Empress Dowager, and Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. CTE will license content from Celestial Pictures for its channels, and will also be the exclusive sales agent for all of Lionsgate's content in Southeast Asia and China.
It will combine Celestial Pictures' Chinese and Asian movie channels with three pay-television channels of a joint venture between Lionsgate and US private equity firm Saban Capital in April last year, including the Thrill horror channel.
The six channels will broadcast content mostly made in Asia, making CTE the largest regional pay-television player dedicated to Asian entertainment channels.
'We see Asia as the market with the best opportunities for us in the next few years,' said Adam Chesnoff, president and chief operating officer of Saban Capital.
'If you look on a global basis, Asia really has the fastest growing pay-TV market.' Saban will open an office in Hong Kong next month.
