International News 24th November

[netsat]

Friends will hit China in '04

China's state broadcaster is set to air WBTV's U.S. situation comedy Friends from '04. China Central TV's CCTV 8 channel will be the Chinese home to the show, which will be called Loyouji or "Old Friend's Story." CCTV is also set to air Warner Bros.' The Fugitive and Sony Picture's The Fifth Element.


Thai cartoon sells in Asia

Thailand's Chaiyo Productions has sold its cartoon Hyper Bot to China, and is close to sealing a deal for it in Japan. The show, which sold to China for Baht10m ($250,000), will air from Apr. '04. It has already appeared on Thailand's Channel 7. Chaiyo will begin production of a second series next year.


PT and PPTV take control of Sport TV

Portuguese pay TV outfit PT Multimedia has bought a 16.6% stake in cable sports channel Sport TV. PT paid state broadcaster RTP Euro16.3m ($19.4m) for the stake, which will lift its ownership of the channel to the 50% level. The remaining 50% is owned by PPTV, part of the Grupo Sportinveste, which also acquired a 16.6% stake from RTP under the same terms. The deal is awaiting regulatory clearance. Sport TV took the opportunity to confirm it has exclusive TV rights to the top national soccer league until the '07-'08 season.


• Portuguese regulator Anacom...

• Portuguese regulator Anacom has repeated its opinion that dominant telco Portugal Telecom should split its telecoms and pay TV operations. However, Anacom chief Alvaro Damasa told press that it would be better if PT undertook the split voluntarily. If PT does not split itself, Anacom will consult sector players before making a decision.


NASN will go free-to-view


NASN will go free-to-view over the Thanksgiving weekend. Viewers with Sky can catch the freeview from 5pm on Friday, November 29th through 6am on Monday December 1st. Programmes currently scheduled to air over the weekend include live college football games, live NHL games, live coverage of the Championship Game of the Preseason NIT Championship.

The channel's CEO, Amory Schwartz, said:

"The Thanksgiving Holiday is the one holiday expatriate Americans miss most, so we want to make sure NASN is there to make every American in the UK feel right at home, with all the sporting action that makes the holiday weekend special."

Programmes currently scheduled to air over the weekend include live college football games, live NHL games, live coverage of the Championship Game of the Preseason NIT Championship. The weekend will also mark the debut of NFL Films programming on the channel.

NTL subsribers will receive the freeview from 5am on Friday through 5am Monday, while Telewest viewers will be able to see the freeview from 6am Friday through 6am Monday.

NASN broadcast from tr.D9S EuroBird 1 - 28,5E on 11,623H (SR=27500, FEC=2/3) in NDS-VideoGuard.