Seoul, 22 October 2009 CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, in Asia Pacific announced a strategic partnership with SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) today.
CNBC and SBS plan to jointly launch a new 24-hour Korean business news channel, branded SBS-CNBC, in January 2010.
SBS is the only private nationwide terrestrial broadcasting company out of three in South Korea. It also has a portfolio of highly successful Pay TV channels including: SBS Golf, SBS Plus (Drama and Entertainment), SBS Sports and E! Entertainment Channel Korea.
"CNBC is always looking for new opportunities to provide our affluent, highly educated audience with fast, accurate, actionable and unbiased business news," said Satpal Brainch, President and Managing Director, CNBC Asia Pacific. "We are excited about our partnership with SBS. It will continue to further our strategy of localizing our content throughout Asia Pacific."
SBS-CNBC will focus on Korea's daily business news, complemented with international coverage from CNBC bureaus around the world.
"CNBC is the world leader in business news and information. Our partnership allows us to tap into their expertise in business and financial news, enhancing the quality of content delivered to our premier audiences in Korea," said Kee Seong KIM, President, of this new venture.
"This new channel will not only provide Korean viewers with premium global and local business news, but it will further our ability to take the Korean business story to the international community," Brainch continued. "Our partnership with SBS reinforces our commitment to the region by being First in Business Worldwide. We look forward to this long-term strategic partnership."
CONTACT INFORMATION:
CNBC Asia Pacific
Valerie Martinez
+65 6326 1123
valerie.martinez@cnbcasia.com
SBS(Seoul Broadcasting System)
Paul Lim
+82-2113-5425
paulim@sbs.co.kr
About CNBC Asia Pacific
CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, provides fast, accurate, unbiased, actionable business and financial news to over 340 millions households worldwide. CNBC in Asia Pacific is uniquely positioned to speak to viewers from across the region. Headquartered in Singapore, the network provides nine and a half hours of live Asia-produced programming, which is complemented with coverage of live market action from Europe and the US. CNBC Asia Pacific's channels, which include CNBC Asia, CNBC-TV18 (India), CNBC Pakistan, Nikkei-CNBC (Japan) are available in more than 21 countries across the Asia Pacific region. CNBC also has a strategic alliance with Shanghai Media Group, which wholly owns a subsidiary, China Business Network. The channels are distributed via satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks, as well as broadband. CNBC content is also distributed on the 3G platform through selective markets. For more information, please visit us at http://asia.cnbc.com
About SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System)
SBS, the only private-owned nationwide terrestrial television in South Korea, was established in 1990 and has successfully implemented its position as the "Innovator of the Media Industry" of the nation. In 2008, in order to respond to the media paradigm shift in Korea, the company was transformed to the holdings company system. This new governance system efficiently orchestrates terrestrial channel, pay channel, content production and content distribution, strengthening the competitiveness of the contents and responsibility in management.
As the pioneering network to initiate the HD broadcast in Korea, SBS has maintained the highest level of ratings in various genres such as news, dramas, shows and sports since the foundation. As a way to strengthen the competitiveness of sports broadcast, SBS acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights for Olympics Games and World Cup. SBS has strategic partnership with NTV (Japan), BTV (China), SMEG (China), TF1 (France), TVB (Hong Kong), GTV (Taiwan) and HTV (Vietnam) and operates international bureaus in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris and Cairo.
Besides the terrestrial channel SBS Media Group operates SBS Plus (Drama / Entertainment), SBS Golf, SBS Sports and E! Entertainment Channel Korea, each recognized as the leader of its genre.
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.sbs.co.kr& http://global.sbs.co.kr
About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 340 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. The network's Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC news bureaus worldwide. Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing http://www.cnbc.com.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://nbcumv.com/cnbc/.