Filming Industry News
- Shanghai Media plans English news channel
Date: 20-Sep-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
SHANGHAI Media Group, China's second-largest media group by revenue, plans to launch a 24-hour English TV news channel in China this year as it seeks to expand to reach a global audience.
Shanghai Media has been in talks with regulators in charge of the media and culture sectors for at least one year and is likely to win approval for launching the new channel by the end of the year, government and industry sources familiar with the situation said.
Shanghai Media's plan has already won strong support from the Shanghai Municipal Government, which owns the firm, and is now subject to approval from top regulators in Beijing, they said.
If successful, it would become China's second 24-hour TV channel to be broadcast nationwide and completely in English.
China Central Television, Shanghai Media's bigger rival, now operates an international channel in English which targets a foreign audience.
Shanghai Media also aims to broadcast the planned English news channel to several foreign countries in Asia, Europe and North America through satellite transmission or cooperation with local broadcasters, the sources said.
'Shanghai Media has been lobbying the Central Government very hard and now they feel very hopeful, partly because Shanghai will host the World Expo soon,'said one of the sources.
'Shanghai needs an English-language TV channel to serve the increasing number of expatriates living and working in the city and you can imagine how many foreigners will travel to Shanghai during the World Expo in 2010,'the source added.
The English news channel is also expected to bring in advertising revenue from global brands that want to reach an English-speaking audience, the sources said.
Shanghai Media currently operates about 20 television and radio channels, including 24-hour Chinese-language news and entertainment broadcaster Dragon TV.
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