China Media Monitor Headlines Archives

CCTV's Finance Channel (CCTV 2) plans to improve its reportage of economic conditions in the Pearl River Delta by cooperating with local media agencies such as Shenzhen Economic Daily and Shenzhen Broadcasting Group. The channel has also increased the number of staff at its Shenzhen studio. The move is part of an ongoing strategy to revamp the channel and attract more viewers. CCTV re-launched the channel on August 24. Since then, it has increased its target, white collar audience numbers by 40%.

Mainland lawyer Lang Lixin has threatened to launch a lawsuit against Voole Online Cinema unless the company stops offering viewers 406 films from Sony Pictures Entertainment and CAV Warner Home Entertainment. Lang alleges Voole has violated Chinese law by webcasting films that have not been licensed for online distribution by the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV.

Voole is a user-pays online video site that offers subscribers high-quality, legitimate content in cooperation with content producers such as Sony and CAV Warner.

The Bank of Beijing will provide the August First Film Studio a RMB500 million (US$73.21 million) loan, under a recently inked strategic cooperative agreement. The August First Film Studio, a subsidiary of the People's Liberation Army, will use the loan to produce and distribute films and TV dramas, and construct cinemas.

Around 192 million Chinese use their mobile phones to access the Internet, according to a new report from China Business. With the number of Internet mobile phone users expected to grow as 3G technology develops, the newspaper predicts a promising future market for the mobile phone Internet business.

CCTV.com, the New Media arm of state-run national broadcaster CCTV, launched two interactive video sites on November 13 - xiyou.cctv.com and bugu.cctv.com. The Xiyou site offers SNS and video sharing functions, while the Bugu site focuses on direct broadcasting, according to a report on donews.com. CCTV.com plans to release three more online channels in early December: news, entertainment and sports.