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To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (1770)	8/5/2001 4:18:27 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Respond to of 2248

Media & Marketing: I-Cable Will Carry News Corp. Channels, As Star Group Shifts Hong Kong Strategy August 3, 2001 By MATT POTTINGER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL HONG KONG -- The top provider of pay television in Hong Kong, i-Cable Communications Ltd., has struck a deal to carry channels owned by News Corp., an agreement expected to draw subscribers to the cable provider and to generate millions of dollars in sales for News Corp.'s Asian unit. I-Cable will be allowed to carry five channels from News Corp.'s Star Group Ltd., the companies said. The most prized channel for i-Cable is ESPN STAR Sports, which airs wildly popular English Premier League soccer matches. ESPN STAR sports is a 50-50 joint venture between Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN Inc. and Star. I-Cable, owned by conglomerate Wharf Holdings Ltd., saw its stock shoot up 6% to 4.08 Hong Kong dollars (52 U.S. cents) on the Hong Kong stock exchange in anticipation of the deal, which was announced after the market closed. The stock has slipped from a 12-month peak of HK$5.15 in May, partly on fears the company will lose market share as competing providers of pay TV begin operations in the city. Since the end of last year, however, the stock is up 24%; the benchmark Hang Seng Index is down 17% in the same period. "This is good news for them, but how good depends on the price," said Andrew Collier, media analyst for Bear Stearns Asia Ltd. The press release didn't mention financial details, but one person close to the agreement said it would be worth millions of U.S. dollars to Star over the contract's three-year life. The agreement also marks a strategic shift in the Hong Kong market for Star. Instead of trying to set up its own pay-TV network, it will sell its programs to other companies. Star, which is headed by James Murdoch, the second son of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, took steps to enter Hong Kong's pay-TV market in 1999, laying the foundation for a joint venture with fixed-line phone provider Cable & Wireless HKT. But the joint venture was scrapped the following year after HKT was bought by Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. With new pay-TV providers now preparing to start service, Star decided the market was becoming too congested. "In the near term, we thought it would be much better for us to sell Star's programming," James Murdoch said. Other channels included in the deal are STAR Sports, STAR Movies International and Phoenix InfoNews Channel -- a Chinese-language financial-news channel owned by Phoenix Satellite Television Holding Co., which is about 38% owned by News Corp. The deal also renews i-Cable's right to broadcast the National Geographic Channel, which it already carries. The statement said the deal is nonexclusive, suggesting News Corp. will have the right to sell its programs to other pay-TV providers in the city. Write to Matt Pottinger at matt.pottinger@awsj.com1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URL for this Article: interactive.wsj.com Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) mailto:matt.pottinger@awsj.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printing, distribution, and use of this material is governed by your Subscription Agreement and copyright laws. For information about subscribing, go to wsj.com Used with permission of wsj.com