(LEAD) SK Telecom teams up with Walt Disney for broadcast venture

(ATTN: ADDS chairman remarks and more info from para 3)
By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. agreed
with a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. Wednesday to set up a joint broadcasting
venture here this year, the local company said.
SK Telecom said it will own a 51 percent stake in the new venture, to be formed
before July, with Disney Channel International holding the remaining stake. The
broadcast service will start in early 2011, it said.
The company added that the forthcoming venture marks Disney's first joint venture
to broadcast content overseas. The U.S. company operates Disney channels around
the world but has never set up a local venture to do so.
"We are interested in growing businesses in all countries around the world that
we are able to do," Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, told Yonhap
News Agency during an interview in Seoul.
"In most instances, we are able to and have done that just on our own. What is
important for us as a company though, is that we are very respectful for local
regulations and local customs in particular countries we go in," he said.
Foreign companies are not allowed to directly own a broadcasting channel in South
Korea. Disney will be able to offer locally produced content or programs dubbed
in the Korean language once they launch Disney-branded channels here. The move is
subject to approval from the Korea Communications Commission, the nation's
broadcasting and telecom regulator.
SK Telecom is seeking to offer the service through a digital cable channel,
Internet protocol TV and other platforms, it said in a statement.
The joint venture will bring together the creative expertise of Disney with the
technological expertise of SK Telecom, the chairman of Disney International said.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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