Advanced Television

iConcerts China deals

October 5, 2010

From Colin Mann in Cannes

In line with its aims of becoming one of the world’s first global 360 degree live music brands, Swiss-based iConcerts has brokered a distribution and co-production deal with China DTV Production Company Limited, a division of CCTV (China Central Television).

The multi-faceted collaboration starting this Autumn, will see China DTV Production’s digital music channel broadcast an iConcerts branded programming block in prime-time to over 60 million households. As part of the process, China DTV Production will further syndicate the iConcerts branded block to its affiliate networks, setting the stage for the unprecedented distribution of international artist concerts in mainland China.

As part of the deal, iConcerts and China DTV Production have also agreed to co-produce a series of concerts featuring a mix of international and local Chinese artists, in the spirit of a joint ‘East meets West’ vision.

To further ensure the cross-platform distribution of its live music offerings, iConcerts has also entered into a partnership agreement with CIBN (China Information Broadcast Network) to launch www.iConcerts.cn, a Chinese version of the company’s on-demand site in November 2010.

Etienne Mirlesse, CEO of iConcert parent company Transmedia said that China presented great growth opportunities. The two deals mark iConcert’s first foray into Continental China, where its brand was officially recognised by the Chinese Patent office earlier this year.

Already deployed as a 360 degree digital channel in Europe and the Middle East, iConcerts has actively been pursuing its cross-platform strategy, launching its HDTV channel on Measat-3D, and striking distribution agreements in Asia with Echostar Dish HD service in Taiwan, as well as VOD partnerships with WOW TV (Singapore), SK Broadband (Korea) and Reliance Big TV. Localised versions of the iConcerts (www.iConcerts.com) online content store will also launch later on in the year in Japanese and Korean.

Categories: Articles, Content, Rights