Everyone's getting in bed together: here are two stories from Pacific Epoch's daily news roundup.

Ex-Bertelsmann Asia President Joins Tom

Tom Group CEO Wang Xuan introduced former Bertelsmann Asia president Ekkehard Rathgeber as the man responsible for the group's publishing business, on an earning's conference call last week. Wang said Tom recruited Ekkehard because he has international background and is familiar with the China market. Ekkehard joined Bertelsmann in 1991 and was responsible for the Bertelsmann books business development in East Asia from 1993 and established a Bertelsmann book club with 1.5 million members. In 2002, Ekkehard became Bertelsmann Asia president, directly responsible for the businesses in China, Korea and Japan. Ekkehard resigned from Bertelsmann in June 2003.

Tsinghua Tongfang Hooks Up With Viacom

DTV player Tsinghua Tongfang will work with global media giant Viacom to enter the media industry. The two parties signed a letter of intent to form a partnership on Saturday. Viacom's Sumner Redstone said that he hopes the partnership will help Viacom to develop in China. Tsinghua Tongfang president Lu Zhicheng said that the cooperation will be a big step in Tsinghua Tongfang's evolution from an IT company to a media company. Lu said Tsinghua Tongfang is already a leading DTV equipment manufacturer and that Tsinghua Tongfang has decided it will develop media content as part of its strategy – the company already has a network TV license that permits it to broadcast educational content. The first manifestation of cooperation between Tsinghua Tongfang and Viacom will probably be Viacom's children's English teaching program broadcast over the Tsinghua Tongfang network.