NEW YORK, Dec. 9 -- Dow Jones & Co. and NBC, the television network unit of General Electric Corp. say (Tuesday) they have entered into a global business alliance to form new television and internet operations around the world. Bob Wright, president and CEO of NBC said 'both of our companies are committed to international growth, and know well the challenges of developing television in key global marketplaces. 'Simply put, by combining our strengths in journalism and capitalizing on the immediacy and reach of television, we will deliver the most dynamic business news reporting in the world,' Wright said. In the U.S., CNBC and Dow Jones will team up to provide business news programming on CNBC. Internationally, NBC and Dow Jones will launch business information channels under the CNBC banner in Asia and Europe by merging their existing television services into regional services. By combining the assets of these two companies, the NBC-Dow Jones service will have a presence in two key Asian business centers, headquartered in Singapore. CNBC's production facilities in Hong Kong will close. NBC said Microsoft Corp. will join in a three way alliance with the business television interests of GE Capital and Dow Jones & Co. to provide an interactive business news services. The interactive agreement is part of the deal to combine the business television interests of NBC and Dow Jones in Europe and Asia while sharing resources in the U.S. In interactive services, the existing MSNBC Internet site, created in partnership by Microsoft and NBC, will include highlights cut from the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
Dow Jones will also take an ownership interest in MSNBC Business Video, NBC said. The merger of the channels will see GE Capital's CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia operations combined with Dow Jones' European Business News (EBN) and Asian Business News (ABN). NBC's and Dow Jones' structures in Europe and Asia will be unaffected, NBC said. Both Dow Jones and NBC noted they will incur charges to 1997 fourth quarter earnings as part of the restructuring of their current European and Asian operations. Beginning in 1998, the effect of the agreements will be to substantially reduce NBC's and Dow Jones' shares of the operating losses at these operations. ---
Copyright 1997 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
