China Allows News Corp Direct Broadcast Access to Guangdong

China News Digest, 22 October 2001

[CND, 10/22/01] Chinese goverment has granted permission to Phoenix Chinese Channel, a Chinese-language channel operated by News Corporation's subsidiary STAR Group Limited, to broadcast directly to Chinese television audiences, AFP reported citing a statement by STAR.

STAR will be able to broadcast into the Pearl River Delta region of southern Guangdong province.

In additional, STAR's Chairman and CEO James Murdoch confirmed that it was in discussions with China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and China International Television Corporation for another channel to broadcast directly into Guangdong province.

International broadcasters have tried for years to gain access to the Chinese market, but have so far been banned from direct broadcast into China, except in upscale tourists hotels or residential compounds for foreigners. (Ray ZHANG)