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SINGAPORE, Mar. 4 -- HBO Asia announced Monday it has nearly doubled its subscriber base over the last year, going from 600,000 paying service users in 1994 to 1.1 million in 1995. Last year is the second time the 24-hour movie channel has witnessed 100 percent growth in Asia, the first being in 1994 when the 300,000- strong subscriber base also doubled.
HBO Asia President William Hooks cited as contributing factors to the channel's remarkable growth new licensing deals with large studios, a fiber cable system, and aggressive marketing. The movie channel's Asia division, located in Singapore, recently signed an agreement with Walt Disney studios, giving it exclusive licensing rights to air films for their first time on television. HBO Asia also licenses films on a first-run basis from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and Columbia TriStar. The company, which currently beams its movies into Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries, projects a rosy outlook for 1996. 'With our extraordinary film lineup, and our distribution success, HBO Asia will continue to be the best and the only movie channel of its kind in Asia,' Hooks said. 'We're looking forward to another great year ahead.' HBO Asia launched its programming in Singapore in 1992.