World Briefs
GERMANY
Bertelsmann will float two subsids
Bertelsmann is planning to float 20% of its online book and CD shop Bertelsmann Online and of its Internet portal Lycos Europe in May.
Bertelsmann topper Thomas Middelhoff hinted last year that more of Bertelsmann's Internet subsidiaries would be floated.
Last year the company went public with multimedia agency Pixelpark and online book retailer BarnesandNoble.com, in which it owns a 50% stake. Bertelsmann owns 100% of BOL and 25% of Lycos.
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Funder MBP eyes IPO
Tax funds operator MBP has expanded its horizons, drawing in international partners and setting its sights on an initial public offering.
The lineup of partners includes Munich-based producer Indigo, German video operator VCL Film & Medien, Australian sales company Beyond and U.K. producer Jonescompany. Each is set to take a 2.5%-5% stake in MBP Film, which will tap into MBP's funds to finance projects.
LATIN AMERICA
Web gets U.S. distrib
Weather Channel Latam is getting its first U.S. distribution on DirecTV.
The satcaster will add the Spanish-lingo channel to its lineup on DirecTV Para Todos, a bilingual service that is currently available in 10 U.S. markets with large Hispanic populations.
BRAZIL
Cisneros adds Brazil
Cisneros Television Group has added Brazil to the territory of veep of affil sales Elisabet Blanco.
Previously, Blanco was handling just the southern cone countries of Latin America. Based out of CTG's Buenos Aires office, she is responsible for the distrib of channels Infinito, Much Music Latin America, Locomotion, HTV and Playboy TV Latam.
INDIA
Industry sets TV ban
The Tamil-language film industry in South India has declared that new movies may not be shown on TV channels until five years after their theatrical release.
Troika, the Producers Council, Distributors Assn. and Exhibitors Assn. made the decision; TV webs are trying to find a way around the prohibition.
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Net targets local aud
Broadcast Worldwide has joined the race to capture the regional Gujarati-speaking audience.
The web is part of a four-channel bouquet offered by Broadcast Worldwide owner Rathikant Basu, who left Rupert Murdoch's Star TV India recently to begin his own venture.
The newly appointed CEO of the Gujarati channel, Mallika Sarabhai, hopes to launch the digital channel by June.
