China Media Monitor Headlines Archives

Macau's NewSky Satellite TV has recently signed a strategic cooperative agreement with Guangdong Hua Zhi Jie Film and Drama Production Co., Ltd to purchase 6,000 hours of programs. NewSky was launched in May 2010 and covers 46 countries and regions, including Japan, Singapore, India and Australia. Hua Zhi Jie distributes and dubs foreign films. The company also operates a cinema chain in USA.

Qiyi.com, online video subsidiary of China's largest search engine, Baidu, has announced recently that it has established strategic partnerships with five Chinese satellite TV channels, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Dragon Satellite TV. Under the partnership Qiyi will launch a “satellite drama zone” to promote dramas from these TV channels. Launched in April 2010, Qiyi holds films, documentaries, animations and variety shows and helped Dragon TV conduct the preliminary selection for China’s Got Talent (Zhongguo Daren Xiu).

Sohu's online game subsidiary Changyou has announced it will acquire Jingmao, an in-cinema ad agency located in Shanghai. Strategic cooperation between both sides will follow the acquisition. One of the cooperation projects refers to advertisements placed on Sohu's video channel being carried into cinemas, which provides Sohu's video advertisers more promotional options. Jingmao has ad distribution rights in more than 200 high end cinemas from the Jinyi and Stellar cinema chains. China is seeing cinema screens increase rapidly.

The latest series of Walter Disney’s animation film Winnie the Pooh launched on the pay channel of online video website Tudou from June 1. Audiences can watch the film for 24 hours after paying RMB15 (US$2.32) on Tudou. The online show will last to September 14, after which the animation will start to screen in China's cinemas. It is the first time for a film to show earlier than in cinemas in China. Tudou's Chief Editor Zu Chen said the online video industry has been quite popular in China and a significant number of viewers have accepted pay-to-watch. 

Portal Tencent has announced it will produce an animation film based on the children's social networking website Roco Kingdom set up by Tencent jointly with UYoung and Toonmax Media, producers of McDull and Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf respectively. Tencent will also develop magazines, dolls and other spin-off products. It launched the social networking site in July 2010 targeting kids aged from 7 to 14 and attracted over 60 million to register by the end of first quarter this year. The entertainment strategy became clear when Tencent invested in Huayi Brothers.