ITV

Tag: CETV

  • China Education TV uses SkyStream for video delivery solutions

    China Education TV uses SkyStream for video delivery solutions

    MUMBAI: China Education Television (CETV) is expanding its video content distribution, rural Internet service and distance-learning programs to remote areas, using the media platforms, provided by California-based IP video delivery solutions provider, SkyStream.

    CETV will extend broadband distance learning across the nation using the SkyStream Source Media Router (SMR-26) IP encapsulation solution for broadcasting the educational content at the uplink and Edge Media Receiver and Router (EMR) to receive and distribute the content to its end destination.

    CETV is extending its rural educational service starting in the Gobi Desert as part of its new “village-to-village” program. In the next few years, CETV plans to roll out Internet and video services to more than 5,000 rural villages.CETV will also offer video-on-demand and other video services to 25 remote areas via satellite, where broadband services are not currently available, states an official release.

    SkyStream’s SMR will provide digital broadcasting capabilities and transmit the educational content to the EMRs located in the remote sites over CETV’s DVB satellite network. In addition to equipment, SkyStream will provide CETV with direct support and training to schedule and reliably distribute the educational programs to multiple CETV village sites, the release adds.

  • Star TV Taiwan GM moves to CETV as CEO

    Star TV Taiwan GM moves to CETV as CEO

    MUMBAI: Star TV’s general manager in Taiwan, Ivan Yuan Chih Yeh has moved to China Entertainment Television (CETV) Broadcast Limited this week as its chief executive officer.

    Yeh’s appointment follows that of Starr Zhou, a veteran from Hunan Economic Television who recently joined CETV as Channel Controller, responsible for day-to-day operations. Yeh, who has over 18 years broadcast experience, was general manager, News Corp’s Star TV in Taiwan. During his time there, from 2001-2004, he oversaw five of Star channel’s operations, turning them around and making them profitable, says an official release.

    CETV is a subsidiary of TOM Group and is owned 36 per cent by Time Warner. It is a 24-hour Mandarin channel providing high quality, innovative entertainment to mainland China. CETV was the first foreign channel to be granted landing rights in the Guangdong area and reaches over 2.3 million households in the Pearl River Delta and transmits via the Asia Sat 3S Satellite and from China’s central platform, to 23 million households across mainland China, says the release.

    As CEO, Yeh will bring strategic vision and provide leadership in helping CETV achieve its goal of expanding coverage and distribution within the China and building CETV into one of the leading satellite channels. He will also be responsible for planning and business development, focusing on overall programming direction, distribution, marketing and sales. He will also be active on the international front, exploring alliances and establishing tie-ups with other strategic partners.

    Before joining Star, Yeh was a central figure in the Taiwan radio sector joining Feng-Ming Broadcasting Co. Ltd in 1986, after which he founded Kiss Radio (Kaohsiung Interactive Super Station) in Southern Taiwan in 1993 and GoldFM Network in 1998. Yeh currently holds directorships in these two radio stations and is also the chairman of GoldFM Network, says the release.

  • TVS, Chua to produce a reality series on Asia Travel

    TVS, Chua to produce a reality series on Asia Travel

    MUMBAI: Travelogues make an interesting television watch and who should know it better than CETV. The Hong Kong based TV station’s Incredible Hong Kong has been doing well off late.

    CETV CEO Robert Chua has inked a deal to extend his travel/reality showIncredible Hong Kong by partnering with Florida-based television syndication company (TVS) for a 13-part series entitled Incredible Asia.

    The series is scheduled to be shot in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries.

    The series follows the tourists, who will be experiencing some of those countries’ most obscure attractions and customs, says a media report.

    Speaking about the series, TVS’s Bob Yde offers, ” The series provides its audience with an opportunity to capture the reactions of real people, who are exploring new cultures and exotic locations for the first time. Plans call for similar series to originate in other interesting and exotic locations worldwide.”

  • TOM, Turner Broadcasting form strategic partnership for CETV

    HONG KONG: The TOM Group and Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc., a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, announced a strategic collaboration related to China Entertainment Television Broadcast Ltd. (CETV), the 24-hour Mandarin-language television channel. China is one of the world’s largest TV markets. It enjoys an estimated penetration of 94 per cent, or over 300 million households, of which approximately 100 million households have access to cable or satellite TV.
     According to a press release, as per the agreement, TOM will issue approximately 21 million new TOM shares, priced at HK$ 2.535 each and acquire approximately 64 per cent equity interest in CETV to become the majority shareholder. AOL Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting will continue to hold the remaining 36 per cent stake in CETV. Upon completion of the transaction, TOM will assume the management rights of CETV.
    Under the terms of this agreement, TOM has committed to assume all funding obligations for CETV businesses up to a total of US$30 million over a period of 30 months. The schedule of funding will be devised according to the new business plan of CETV under TOM’s management.
    The release adds that the agreement also gives TBSAP the option to re-acquire some or all of TOM’s shares in CETV exercisable until 2010. In the unlikely event TBSAP exercises only part of the call option, TOM will then have the option to either retain some of CETV’s shares, or put the entire shareholding back to TBSAP.
    The agreement also states that TOM will undertake the overall management of CETV including, business development, programme production, advertising sales and marketing, and operations. TBSAP will manage CETV’s programming standards and will maintain the existing reciprocal cable carriage arrangements with CCTV-9. TBSAP and TOM will work together to expand cable carriage of CETV in China, and explore programming and content opportunities within AOL Time Warner.
    The release claims that CETV was the first foreign TV channel to be granted cable television landing rights in China through a reciprocal carriage agreement with China Central Television (CCTV) in October 2001. The agreement authorised CETV to be distributed via cable systems in Guangdong province, and allowed English channel CCTV-9 to be carried on selected Time Warner Cable systems in the United States.
    In 2003, CETV also expanded its cable distribution from Guangdong Provincial Cable Network to include Guangzhou Cable and Shenzhen Cable Networks, bringing its total cable distribution to 2.2 million households, as per the official statement. In April 2003, CETV further extended its reach nationwide when it gained approval to broadcast via China’s central satellite platform (Sinosat).
    The TOM Group chief executive officer and executive director Sing Wang described the investment as an important step forward for TOM. “CETV is TOM’s first TV broadcasting operation in our media portfolio. It will be a core part of our growing integrated media and entertainment platform and it provides us with a valuable foothold in the huge but tightly regulated China television market. We are especially pleased to become partners with AOL Time Warner, whose ongoing involvement will be an important high-value factor in taking CETV’s business from strength to strength,” he was quoted as adding in the release.
    TBSAP also welcomed the partnership. “We are delighted that the next step in the evolution of CETV is this strategic partnership with TOM, because they share a common positive view on the future of Chinese media and are extremely well positioned in this area,” said TBSAP president and MD Steve Marcopoto. “With CETV’s weekly reach, distribution growth across China and program ratings now surpassing its closest competitors, the channel is poised to be driven to new heights by TOM’s proven local expertise and impressive media assets.”
    TV also captures the largest portion of advertising spending in China, accounting for over 40 per cent of the total market in 2002. Both TBSAP and TOM are confident that CETV can leverage TOM’s strong combination of its advertising sales network and resources to drive overall revenue growth. Content synergies with TOM’s other media assets will also result in new programming initiatives for CETV.

  • Robert Chua’s game show ‘Everybody Wins’ raises charity money

    Robert Chua’s game show ‘Everybody Wins’ raises charity money

    HONG KONG: The pioneer of terrestrial television in Hong Kong in 1967 Robert Chua shows no signs of slowing down. The television producer’s game show Everybody Wins which airs in Singapore on Mediacorp channel 8 has raised over a quarter of a million Singapore dollars for charity.
     

    The show has logged more than 50,000 viewers calls donating five Singapore dollars per call – for a total of over a quarter million dollars. The proceeds have gone towards the local National Kidney Foundation (NKF). The viewer interactive segment invites home audiences to participate at the nominal per-call fee.

    The show also airs in Shanghai every night on Oriental TV. At last month’s MIP-TV conference and exhibition in Cannes, Chua launched a special format for the show that Robert Chua Productions is representing for worldwide television.

    Chua’s other major accomplishments include the launch of China Entertainment Television Broadcast Ltd (CETV) in 1995. This was acquired by AOL Time Warner last year. Chua is a shareholder and remains as chairman of the programming service.

    He served as one of the first executive producers at Hong Kong’s TVB – the market’s first terrestrial TV station. He introduced the concept of live programmes into the territory with shows such as Enjoy Yourself Tonight. He was also the brains behind the country’s first pageant for women.

  • CETV secures limited China broadcast rights

    CETV secures limited China broadcast rights

    MUMBAI: AOL Time Warner has announced that its Mandarin-language China Entertainment Television Broadcast (CETV) channel has won a limited nationwide broadcast licence.
     

    CETV will be distributed from China’s central satellite platform via Sino Satellite. CETV, which was earlier limited to about one million households in southern China, will now also be available on additional cable TV systems in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, doubling its penetration in those two cities to more than two million homes.

    Besides CETV, 30 foreign channels earlier won approval to broadcast to three-star or higher-rated hotels, foreign compounds and other select areas in the mainland.

    CETV sees this as a chance for an increase in viewership of programmes. AOL said CETV’s advertising revenues had increased 470 per cent year-on-year from the fourth quarter of 2001. Of course this hardly means anything since the base from which these projections have been made are pretty small.

    It is one of the four channels that have both landing rights in southern China and hotels and other specified venues. The others are Xingkong Weishi, Phoenix Chinese and the Movie channels. These are all directly or indirectly controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

  • Star wins landing rights for Mandarin channel in China

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s Star Group has won nationwide landing rights for Xing Kong Wei Shi, its Mandarin-language entertainment channel.
    With this , it joins the league of 29 other broadcasters having similar rights. These include Bloomberg TV, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Sun Media, Now and TVB 8 of Hong Kong.
    According to a release, Star, which is wholly owned by News Corp, is the only foreign broadcaster to have both landing rights in Guangdong and nationwide hotels.
    AOL Time Warner, on the other hand is still awaiting approval to air CETV throughout the country, the report adds.
    Star Group, has signed an agreement with China International Television Corp which will enable its Xing Kong Wei Shi channel to be available nationally in China’s hotels which have a three-star rating and above, as well as compounds where overseas Chinese reside.

     

  • Murdoch wins clearance for Star TV China expansion

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch may be having problems getting clearance for his Star News and DTH projects in India but in China he appears to be making major gains. Relative to the context of the media closet house that China is, it needs noting, which is not really saying much.
    The media tycoon’s Star TV has won approval for a big expansion in China, which brings Murdoch another step closer to achieving his ambition of broadcasting Chinese-language programmes across the Communist state.
    Star TV has been given permission to beam Xingkong Weishi, its Mandarin language entertainment channel, to all hotels above three stars and into residential compounds where foreigners and overseas Chinese live, the Financial Times has reported. News Corp has said it plans to invest well over $100 million in the channel over the next three to four years.
    The channel is currently restricted to a tiny area in the southern province of Guangdong, where its satellite signals are piped by a local cable TV company to about 1 million viewers. It will now be able to reach about 500,000 hotel rooms as well as foreign communities, including 250,000 Taiwanese living in and around Shanghai, China’s biggest city and commercial hub.
    The approval signals acceptance by Beijing of the programmes that Star has tailor-made for Xingkong Weishi since it was launched in March last year.
    Star TV was the first foreign television company to win the rights to broadcast into China, along with AOL Time Warner, which also gained permission to launch a channel in a limited area in Guangdong.
    The FT report says it is not clear whether AOL Time Warner, with its 24-hour Mandarin language entertainment channel CETV, has also won approval for a nationwide “footprint”.
    Murdoch has stayed the course on his China vision for over a decade now despite an excruciatingly slow opening up on the part of Beijing of its airwaves. To curry favour with the authorities in China, Murdoch was willing to drop a BBC news channel’s satellite delivery into China. He also vetoed News Corp’s plans to publish a book by Chris Patten, the last colonial governor of Hong Kong, who irked China’s top officials in the run-up of the handover of Hong Kong to China with his strong espousal of democratic principles. It’s another matter of course that Patten’s discovery of the virtues democracy for the colonial outpost smacked of political opportunism, coming as it did at the fag end of Britain’s rule there.
    It is the same dogged patience Murdoch has shown in his dealings with China that in all probability will see his Star News as well as DTH plans ultimately taking off in India.

  • SpeedCast launches NetTV today

    SpeedCast launches NetTV today

    Leading broadband enabler SpeedCast launched NetTV today. The online multimedia service will serve the Pan-Asian region.

    NetTV will offer subscribers more than 20 channels of streaming multimedia programs. The network delivers streaming multimedia content directly into ISP networks, solving the hassles of Internet congestion. NetTV brings content closer than ever before to the end-user, to enable subscribers to enjoy high quality streaming audio and video content directly from their PCs.

    NetTV’s browser combines video and audio content and offers data and search functions. There are four viewing modes: minimal, compact, standard and full screen display interfaces. NetTV will enable ISPs increase subscriber base, as well as generate new revenue streams. ISPs that have formed partnerships with Speedcast, have a wide selection of premium audio and video content that they can choose from the NetTV package.

    NetTV is available for ISPs within the AsiaSat 3S satellite footprint that covers the entire Asia-Pacific region. The coverage area extends from Russia to New Zealand, Japan to India and Egypt. Based in Hong Kong, SpeedCast, which provides satellite based services throughout Asia, delivers the latest news, business, entertainment, lifestyle, cultural and sports content directly into ISP networks throughout Asia and the Middle East.

    Deutsche Welle, Eurosportnews, Radio Free Virgin, Hownew’s CCTV-4 channel, CETV and Asian News International (ANI) are the latest companies to partner SpeedCast. Its other partners include Bloomberg Television, Fashion TV and Channel NewsAsia. NetTV is the latest step in the company’s bid to become the leading broadband Internet and multimedia service provider.

    SpeedCast claims that NetTV has successfully aggregated world-class content providers to deliver branded audio, video and data content to qualified ISPs throughout the Asia Pacific and Middle East.

  • AOL Time Warner gets first foreign cable carriage rights in China

    AOL Time Warner gets first foreign cable carriage rights in China

    AOL Time Warner’s China Entertainment TV (CETV) has become the first foreign TV channel to be granted cable carriage rights in mainland China. According to the agreement with the People’s Republic of China, CETV, a 24-hour Mandarin language information and entertainment channel, will be distributed to cable TV subscribers in the southern region of China from January 2002. As part of the agreement, CCTV-9, the English-language news and information channel of the China Central Television network (China’s national broadcaster) will be carried on select Time Warner Cable systems – the first time a CCTV network will be carried on a 24-hour basis on any US cable system.

    Gerald M Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner, said the reciprocal nature of the agreement means that American audiences will gain a greater understanding of Chinese culture as well as an appreciation of the immense intellect, artistry and creativity of the Chinese people.

    Following AOL Time Warner’s acquisition of the channel in June 2000, CETV was re-launched in February 2001. Reaching 80 million households in Asia via AsiaSat 3S, the channel airs a combination of original Chinese CO-productions as well as specially selected programming derived from AOL Time Warner resources, a company release says.