E! to launch Asian version of flagship news show

HONG KONG - One of America's best-known entertainment news shows is launching an Asian edition.

Los Angeles-based E! Entertainment Television will launch a weekly half-hour edition in Asia combining both Hollywood and regional entertainment news in the second quarter of 2010, the international media arm of U.S. Internet and cable TV operator Comcast Corp. said in a statement sent Tuesday.

"E! News Asia" is part of a new push for localized content in Asia, the Hong Kong office of Comcast International Media Group said.

E! Entertainment Television has already launched local editions of "E! News" in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Latin America. The company will also add subtitles to more of its shows that air in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, the statement said.

"The Asia-Pacific region is one of the global media industry's most exciting areas of growth. ... The expansion of our activities to include local production is the next stage of our business' evolution as viewership reaches critical mass," Christine Fellowes, the Asia-Pacific managing director for Comcast International, said in the statement.

E! programming is seen in more than 120 countries, reaching 600 million homes, according to Comcast.

(This version CORRECTS in graf 3 to "Hong Kong office of" Comcast International Media Group, instead of "Hong Kong-based")