The Carver group penetrates Chinese delta region.
News Corp's China deal
19dec02
RUPERT Murdoch's The News Corporation Ltd signed an agreement with a
state-owned Chinese provincial broadcaster to jointly finance and produce
television programs in the world's fastest growing media market.
The deal between News Corp's Star Group and the Hunan Broadcasting Group
was signed in Changsha, Hunan province today, News Corp said in a statement.
"The agreement further broadens and deepens our development in China," said
James Murdoch, Star chairman and chief executive.
"We are very excited to be partnering with Hunan TV, one of China's most
innovative and dynamic broadcast groups."
The Hunan group, listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, operates eight
television channels, including the nationally broadcast Hunan Satellite TV.
"To team up with Star is our first strategic step to strengthen our
cooperation with the outside world," Wei Wenbin, chairman of the Hunan
group, said.
Wei also jointly serves as the head of the Hunan Radio, Film and Television
Administration, the government body that oversees the media in the province.
The deal was expected to give Star a foothold into China's fast-paced
television production market, while providing Western capital, know-how and
production techniques to the Hunan broadcaster, News Corp officials in
Beijing said.
No other details, including the financial specifics, were revealed.
News Corp became the first international broadcaster to beam programs
directly to Chinese television audiences in October when Star Group's
partially-owned Phoenix Chinese Channel began transmitting into the Pearl
River Delta region of southern Guangdong province.
At the beginning of the year Star got the green light to begin broadcasting
a 24-hour Mandarin-language general entertainment channel into Guangdong
province.
The deals were reciprocal, with News Corp's US-based Fox Network agreeing
to air several English-language programs of China Central Television in the
United States.
US media giant AOL Time Warner also reached agreement last October allowing
its CETV cable network in parts of southern China in return for
transmitting CCTV-9 in the US.
Star has been broadcasting several free-to-air channels around the Asian
region, including Chinese and English-language entertainment, sports and
film channels.
International broadcasters have fought for years to gain access to the
Chinese market of 1.3 billion television viewers, but had been formally
banned apart from limited broadcasts to upscale tourist hotels and
foreigners' residential compounds.
However, much of China's willingness to allow the foreign broadcasts into
China stems from the wealth of satellite dishes throughout China that have
been receiving foreign broadcasts for years.
Even Star's Phoenix entertainment station, originally restricted to
Guangdong province, has found its way onto other provincial cable networks
nationwide.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5710305%255E1702,00.html
