China Sees More Int'l Cooperation in Media Industry

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 07, 2002

China Sees More Int'l Cooperation in Media Industry

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Television viewers in Guangdong province, south China can now enjoy foreign programs at home, a sign China has boosted media cooperation with international companies since joining the World Trade Organization.

The on-going 2002 International Council Meeting of the Museum of Television and Radio (MTR) in Beijing has drawn most of the world's media giants like AOL Time Warner, News Corporation and Walt Disney.

"China's media will increase their exchanges and cooperation with the international media now the country has joined the WTO," said Zhao Qizheng, director of the Information Office of the State Council, when welcoming the MTR representatives.

"This occasion is a landmark in China's relationship with the international media," said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., chairman of the MTR Board of Trustees.

"The dialogues," he added, "make this an opportunity to understand how China's future interactions with the world's media may evolve."

One of the meeting's topics for discussion is "the developing media market in China".

Analysts have described China, with its 1.3 billion people, as the last market for the world's media to cultivate, saying that China can also take its voice to the world through its international links.

Under China's current policies, foreign media are not allowed to directly manage China's press and publications. They can set foot in China's media industry, however, through cooperation and joint ventures.

Earlier this year, Time Warner's China Entertainment Television Broadcast Ltd. and News Corporation's Star TV won the go-ahead to air programs in Guangdong province.

In return, China Central Television (CCTV) also broadcast its programs in the United States via Time Warner and News Corporation.

Moreover, a document released by China in 2001 said the country would likely develop internationally competitive multinational media groups in the future.

The CCTV, the biggest TV station in China, has been nurturing the overseas market through share holdings, joint ventures and co-production of TV programs with overseas media.

Though China has the world's largest number of TV stations, exports of its TV programs in 1999 brought only 10 million US dollars.

The MTR, which was founded in the United States in 1975, has formed an international council comprising more than 40 media leaders of 24 countries or regions. Sixty-eight representatives from 17 countries attended the international council meeting in Beijing.

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