Phoenix sets up venture in Guangdong
1 March 2003
Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings has set up a joint venture with Guangdong Television Broadcasting Development Centre to sell advertising and programming to Chinese broadcasters, AP news agency reported from Hong Kong. Financial details were not announced but the company's vice president for international affairs said that the deal would allow Phoenix to collect advertising revenue from mainland China.
Broadcasts by Phoenix, which is 37 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation television subsidiary STAR, have been available in Guangdong since 1996 and last year the Chinese authorities granted formal approval for broadcasts of its 24-hour news channel to limited locations nationwide. However until now, Phoenix and other foreign networks allowed to broadcast in China have been unable to collect advertising revenue, as local operators have run their own advertisements during their shows and taken the revenue for themselves.
