CNBC and SBS to Launch 24 hour Korean Business News Channel

CNBC in Asia Pacific announced a strategic partnership with SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) today. CNBC and SBS plan to jointly launch a new 24-hour Korean business news channel, branded SBS-CNBC, in January 2010.

SBS is the only private nationwide terrestrial broadcasting company out of three in South Korea. It also has a portfolio of highly successful Pay TV channels including: SBS Golf, SBS Plus (Drama and Entertainment), SBS Sports and E! Entertainment Channel Korea.

“CNBC is always looking for new opportunities to provide our affluent, highly educated audience with fast, accurate, actionable and unbiased business news,” said Satpal Brainch, President and Managing Director, CNBC Asia Pacific. “We are excited about our partnership with SBS. It will continue to further our strategy of localizing our content throughout Asia Pacific.”

SBS-CNBC will focus on Korea’s daily business news, complemented with international coverage from CNBC bureaus around the world.

”CNBC is the world leader in business news and information. Our partnership allows us to tap into their expertise in business and financial news, enhancing the quality of content delivered to our premier audiences in Korea,” said Kee Seong KIM, President, of this new venture.

“This new channel will not only provide Korean viewers with premium global and local business news, but it will further our ability to take the Korean business story to the international community,” Brainch continued. ”Our partnership with SBS reinforces our commitment to the region by being First in Business Worldwide. We look forward to this long-term strategic partnership.”

SBS, the only private-owned nationwide terrestrial television in South Korea, was established in 1990 and has successfully implemented its position as the “Innovator of the Media Industry” of the nation. In 2008, in order to respond to the media paradigm shift in Korea, the company was transformed to the holdings company system. This new governance system efficiently orchestrates terrestrial channel, pay channel, content production and content distribution, strengthening the competitiveness of the contents and responsibility in management.

SBS has strategic partnership with NTV (Japan), BTV (China), SMEG (China), TF1 (France), TVB (Hong Kong), GTV (Taiwan) and HTV (Vietnam) and operates international bureaus in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris and Cairo.