South Korea - AXN has struck a deal with CU MEDIA to manage and operate AXN in Korea's growing pay-TV market.

AXN said the deal will allow AXN's current programming of Korean subtitled English language shows to be further localized with the addition of Korean content. The partnership with CU MEDIA will also see a huge expansion of AXN's distribution into cable.

AXN entered the Korea market in July 2005 as a foreign retransmission channel. Its growth in Korea has been marked by various milestones in the last five years, including the launch of the AXN channel in HD in Korea; being the first international GE channel to secure carriage on all three IPTV platforms; and signing deals with multiple system operators, CJ Hellovision and On Media, to launch AXN on cable.

Ricky Ow (pictured), senior vice president and general manager of SPE Networks Asia, said the flagship AXN brand has been well-received in Korea, with strong distribution growth achieved over a relatively short span of time.

"I am very excited about this joint venture because this gives us the opportunity to further localize AXN, as well as significantly expand our brand presence and viewership," he said.  

AXN in Korea now has a combined reach of over four million households including Cable and SkyLife (DTH).

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/23911