Turner tunes in to India Prime Time:Indian Media Sector is all set to Blast off:

Mumbai: Turner Broadcasting System, an arm of entertainment firm Time Warner, has lined up an aggressive growth plan for India. Turner is setting up its own production house for animation movies. It will also launch a television channel in association with Warner Brothers, which will show the latest Hollywood releases and television series. This is the first Turner-Warner collaboration in the world. “We will identify and develop local partners for the animation venture. Initially, we will produce two animation films every year and the first movie will be screened in 2009. For starters, we’ll make these movies in English and may later venture into Hindi and other languages,” said Anshuman Misra, managing director of Turner International India Pvt Ltd. The company, however, will not set up a studio and use its collaborator’s studio to make the movies, said Misra. Turner has also tied up with the Alva brothers to launch a Hindi entertainment channel, which will go on air by 2008 end. The Alvas are the promoters of Miditech, India’s leading production house . “We want to expand beyond kids’ programmes and news channels to general entertainment, including serials and movies,” said Steve Marcopoto, president and managing director of Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific. He, however, declined to reveal the company’s proposed investment in the two ventures, saying it would be in the range of “multi-million dollars”. According to Marcopoto, India accounts for 30 per cent of the company’s revenues in the Asia Pacific. “India is the highest priority market for us and will become our largest market in terms of revenue this year, overtaking Japan,” he said.