MUMBAI: Nimbus Sport, the media rights holder of Asia Cup, has signed international distribution deals with broadcasters in key cricket markets for the tournament.

Neo Cricket is televising the event in the Indian Sub Continent, US, Canada, UAE, Singapore, North Africa, Philippines and Hong Kong. Zee will air the event in the UK and Europe while Willow TV has done a deal for US and Canada.

Pan-African sportscaster Super Sport is airing the event in South Africa. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the event is being telecast on PTC and BTV respectively while Carlton has bagged the rights for Sri Lanka. Setanta Australia has got the rights for that market.

On the advertising front, Standard Chartered, Jaypee Cements, Daikin, Indian Oil and Bangladesh Tourism have signed up as the five Official Partners. This is in addition to Micromax which renewed its title sponsorship of the tournament.

MUMBAI: WWE and Baltijos TV (BTV) have announced a television distribution deal that will bring WWE?s flagship weekly television programme, WWE Raw, to Lithuania.

Under this new agreement, a one-hour international version of WWE Raw will be available immediately in one million Lithuanian households every Friday. The WWE Raw franchise mixes in-ring action and compelling storylines featuring WWE Superstars like John Cena, CM Punk and The Miz that have become global icons.

In the US, WWE Raw is the longest running weekly episodic programme and is consistently among the top five most-watched, regularly scheduled entertainment programmes on cable television.

BTV CEO Liutauras Elkimavicius said, "This new agreement with BTV significantly bolsters WWE?s presence across the Baltic region,? said senior vice president & managing director of WWE International, Dominic Hayes. ?WWE Raw airing on a free-to-air network enables WWE to expand our brand and build strong business relationships throughout Lithuania.?

MUMBAI: English GEC Star World has announced that for the first time it will air an international show before its global launch.

?Missing?, an espionage drama, kicks off on 12 March at 9 pm. The series will launch simultaneously on both Star World and Star Movies.

The show stars Ashley Judd, Sean Bean and Cliff Curtis.

The show revolves around Becca Winstone, played by Judd, who is in search of her missing son. It soon becomes clear that this isn?t any ordinary woman, but a former CIA agent who will stop at nothing to bring her son home alive. There are exotic locations and thrilling twists in ?Missing?.

Star India GM, senior VP, English channels Saurabh Yagnik said, "It has been our constant endeavor to bring new Hollywood shows to India to match their date and time in the US. As leaders in the category, we are proud to host the world television premiere of Hollywood?s biggest show Missing in India, four days before the US. This initiative is bound to reaffirm our commitment to our viewers and boost Star World?s perception as the ultimate destination for fresh Hollywood shows."

The broadcaster is using the digital medium for marketing activities.

MUMBAI: Fox International Channels and the RCN Television Group (RCN), headquartered in Colombia, jointly announced the formation of a joint venture which will launch MundoFox, a new Spanish-language television network catering to the US Hispanic market.

The network, scheduled to launch during the Fall season of 2012 in Hispanic homes nationwide, will aim to bring a similar sensibility as the Fox Network to Latino audiences.

Fox International Channels president, CEO Hernan Lopez said, "Our partnership with RCN is a key step in the launch of MundoFox. There is an increasing demand for quality Spanish-language content in the U.S. from both viewers and advertisers. FOX saw similar dynamics in play 25 years ago when it launched the Fox network, and it would be a missed opportunity not to provide an alternative for the 50+ million Latino viewers who currently have limited options in Spanish-language broadcast television. Our partnership with RCN will help us do this and we aim do it in a big way."

RCN CEO Gabriel Reyes said, "RCN has provided the main Hispanic networks in the US with much of their prime-time content for over two decades. We now plan to maximize our capabilities and bring an increasing variety of fresh and innovative productions directly to Spanish-speaking viewers. I am certain that Fox is the best partner to make this a successful network".

Fox International Channels operates 350 channels in 35 countries, and has had success with a consortium of three cable networks targeting the U.S. Hispanic consumer: FOX Deportes, Utilisima and NatGeo Mundo.

RCN is one of the largest producers and exporters of Spanish-language television in the world and operates cable channels throughout the Americas.

Content for the network will come from several sources, including:

1. RCN Television. Past successes have been the original ?Ugly Betty?, called ?Betty La Fea?, the only Spanish-Language series to have inspired a mainstream US network drama; and ?El Capo?, an action-packed prime time daily series.

2. Fox International Channels ? over the last several years, Fox has produced weekly dramas for prime time that combine US-style, character-driven story-telling and visuals with Latino sensibility. Additionally, it has produced gripping factual series and a wide array of lifestyle shows.

3. Fox Deportes ? the sports brand for the U.S. Hispanic market, with US Spanish-language rights to the UFC, as well as various soccer tournaments, including Copa Santander Libertadores, Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana, and European tournaments. Some of these events will be broadcast on MundoFox.

4. Shine Group ? a producer of unscripted and scripted programming worldwide (including formats ?The Biggest Loser?, ?MasterChef? and ?One Born Every Minute? and international dramas including ?Merlin? and ?The Hour, will be producing their first original Spanish language content for MundoFox.

5. NTN24 ? RCN?s international channel that offers Spanish-language news, analysis, opinion, sports and entertainment news programs from a uniquely Latin point of view. NTN24 also produces online, English language content with an emphasis on news from the Americas.

6. Third-party Suppliers ? Additionally, MundoFox will license and/or commission original programmes and movies from a variety of third party producers, both from the English-language world as well as Spanish.

Although distribution is currently being established, MundoFox has plans to be carried on stations covering 75 per cent of US households. The network currently has several affiliate deals being finalised in top Hispanic markets across the US.