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Current DateTime: 10:08:58 10 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31765984
Expiration DateTime: 11/10/2009 10:09:04 PM
    • News Corp. vs Google  10 Nov 2009

        CNBC's Julia Boorstin has the details on Rupert Murdoch's new search engine, with Rich Harlgaard, Forbes publisher.

    • Murdoch's Content Conundrum  10 Nov 2009

        Fox's Rupert Murdoch is vowing to protect his online content at all costs, with CNBC's Julia Boorstin and Jim VandeHei, Politico executive editor.

    • Murdoch Snubs Google  10 Nov 2009

        Rupert Murdoch is threatening to yank his content from Google, calling the engine a "content kleptomaniac" and a "parasite" for stealing content from his company's newspapers. Quentin Hardy, of Forbes, and CNBC's Julia Boorstin discuss.

    • "Call of Duty" Debuts With a Bang  10 Nov 2009

        The debut of video game "Call of Duty" could be the biggest debut of any entertainment product ever, reports CNBC's Julia Boorstin. Edward Williams, leisure analyst at BMO Capital Markets, shares his insight.

    • Money-Making Gaming  09 Nov 2009

        The most highly anticipated video game of the year will be released at midnight, with CNBC's Julia Boorstin; Tony Gikas, Piper Jaffray video game analyst; and Lewis Ward, IDC Research Manager.

    • Video Game Assault on Movies  09 Nov 2009

        Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard's latest video game, is already breaking pre-sale records. Matthew Jacob, of Majestic, and CNBC's Julia Boorstin discuss.

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Current DateTime: 10:08:59 10 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31625651

Media Money

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Sep.04
9:23 AM ET
Thursday, 4 Sep 2008
Abu Dhabi Going Hollywood

Dhabiwood
Whip out the red carpet for Big Oil: Abu Dhabi is heading to Tinseltown. Wednesday the Emirate announced big plans to invest $1 billion in movies and new media. An arm of the Abu Dhabi government, the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) created a subsidiary called "image nation abu dhabi" (they used all lower case in their press release) which aims to spend that cool billion over a five year period.

Abu Dhabi has a three part media plan, strategized by CEO of ADMC, Edward Borgerding, a former Disney executive. First, 'imagination' will partner with a couple of independent Hollywood production houses, financing as many as eight films a year, to be distributed through the usual studios. It'll have those production companies, which it'll announce on Monday or Tuesday from the Toronto film festival, set up offices in Abu Dhabi, which will have a number of benefits, one of which will be encouraging them to consider shooting in the Arab nation.

Second, it'll make movies in Abu Dhabi targeting Arab markets; what Americans think of as foreign films that have the potential to cross over to the U.S. And third, the company will produce original content for the web, looking to cash in on this transition to digital distribution.

This investment follows a $1 billion deal Abu Dhabi Media made last September with Warner Bros. to finance both movies and video games. And this seems to fall into a trend of foreign financing flooding into Hollywood studios, filling the void left by the hedge fund industry as they've pulled their financing out. India's Reliance Capital is in talks with Steven Spielberg to put together a $1 billion in financing deal.

And Abu Dhabi and India aren't just looking to turn a profit, they're also looking to raise their profiles and build up their piece of an increasingly global entertainment industry. Having production houses set up offices in Abu Dhabi allows the best of the best train a new generation of Emirates filmmakers, building up the nation's own Abu DhabiWood.

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