HONG KONG, December 9: Dow Jones & Co Inc and National Broadcasting Co (NBC) said on Tuesday they would merge the European and Asian operations of cable channel CNBC with Dow Jones' Asia Business News and Europe Business News.

"NBC and Dow Jones have a rich heritage of quality and success, and we believe that we can accomplish great things by working together in a number of meaningful areas," Bob Wright, president and chief executive officer at NBC, said in a joint statement.

NBC is a unit of General Electric Co.

No figures were announced with the deal, which would link television operations in Asia and Europe.

In Asia, CNBC Asia would be merged with Asia Business News (ABN) into a new 50-50 joint venture to be branded CNBC. The new service would be available in early 1998 to nine million Asian households full-time and 30 million households part-time, the statement said.

Paul France, now ABN's chief executive, would become president of the new Asian venture based in Singapore. In Europe, European Business News (EBN) and CNBC Europe would merge to form "CNBC: A Service of NBC and Dow Jones" based in London and available in about 15 million homes full-time and 50 million homes part-time.

Allan Horlick, president of CNBC and NBC Europe, would be named president of the new NBC/Dow Jones European service.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.