Intertainer Asia delivering big gains
Asian operation redeveloping systems
Intertainer suspended its domestic service last week to focus on antitrust lawsuits against rival Movielink and three U.S. studios (Daily Variety, Oct. 18). Intertainer Asia has separate deals with the majors and while it has licensed Intertainer technology, the Asian operation has redeveloped its own systems.
The U.S. company has a 15% stake in Intertainer Asia, whose major shareholders include L.A. and Australian-based Coote/Hayes Prods., Singapore's YTC and Aussie's Macquarie Bank.
'Excellent' relationship
"At Intertainer Asia, we enjoy an excellent relationship with the studios, having supply agreements with AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal and MGM/UA," said exec chairman Greg Coote. "We are in active negotiations with Sony, Fox, Paramount and Disney to support our rollouts."
Intertainer Asia is delivering movies and music on PCCW's NOW.com service in Hong Kong and it launches next month in Singapore. Coote would not reveal exact numbers but said the buy-through rate in Hong Kong is growing 30% month-on-month driven by Universal's and MGM/UA's product: WB films are being added now.
"We are in mature discussions to roll out in New Zealand with Telecom NZ, in Taiwan with Chunghwa Telecom, in Australia with TransACT and several other Asian carriers," said Andrew Yap, CEO and executive vice chairman. "We can't comment on the lawsuit, but I can say that the dynamics of the U.S. broadcast market are more congested and complicated than our territories."
