Turner’s TNT will make entry into Asian market

Media mogul Ted Turner’s TNT & Cartoon Network will launch a 24-hour cartoon and movie service in Asia in October, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said Monday. The programs will be beamed from China’s Apstar satellite beginning Oct. 6. They will be subtitled and dubbed initially into Chinese and Thai with more languages to be added in later years. The cartoon network will broadcast 14 hours a day. TNT movies will run for the rest of the 24-hour cycle. Turner Broadcasting will coordinate programming and advertising from its base in Hong Kong. TNT & Cartoon is the latest entrant in the increasingly competitive Asian satellite television market, in which Rupert Murdoch’s STAR TV has a strong foothold.

Campbell will acquire Fresh Start bakery unit

Campbell Soup Co. said Monday it will acquire the food service bakery business of Fresh Start Foods Limited Partnership for undisclosed terms. Campbell, the country’s largest soup manufacturer, said the acquisition was aimed at building its global food service business. “This acquisition is important to our international expansion and integrates with our food service and bakery operations,” said David Johnson, Campbell chairman, president and chief executive. Fresh Start, a privately held company based in Brea, Calif., makes sandwich buns and English muffins for quick service restaurants through operations in the United States, Europe and South America. It has annual sales of about $75 million.

Motor Coach merges with Mexican company

Motor Coach Industries International Inc., an Arizona-based bus maker, said Monday it completed its merger into Consorcio G Grupo Dina, making the Mexican company the largest manufacturer of inter-city coaches in North America. The merger marks the first time that a Mexican company has acquired all the outstanding shares of a publicly held U.S. company since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement.