Hence beginning 1 July 2003, Turner will be the exclusive advertising sales agent for Zee''s English entertainment and lifestyle channels Zee MGM, Zee English and Trendz.

According to the agreement between the two, Turner will use its in-house resources in India and globally to promote the channels to advertisers in India and abroad and work with clients and agencies to increase advertising revenues on the channels.

Turner now has a greater variety to offer to its advertisers with the new channels as they add general entertainment, movies and fashion to Turner''s existing line-up of entertainment and news provided through Cartoon Network and CNN.

Says Zee Telefilms director Dev Naganand: "Turner has the required expertise in advertising and sales of English channels. Zee''s properties, which are gaining in popularity and appeal, will benefit from this association."

Says Turner International India managing director Anshuman Misra: "We are pleased to leverage our sales expertise to expand our partnership with Zee. With the additional channels we have expanded our portfolio with which we can come up with more innovative packages for advertisers to target consumers in a broader demographic spectrum."

In December 2001, the two had formed a joint venture to manage distribution and marketing of the bouquet of channels of both Zee and Turner networks as well as third party channels in South Asia.

Zee holds 74-per cent equity while Turner holds 26-per cent share in the joint venture, which is based in New Delhi.