Dan Milmo
Media

Wednesday December 19, 2001

Rupert Murdoch's decade-long courtship of the Chinese government has paid off - his Star TV company has clinched a deal to run an entertainment channel in the affluent Guangdong province.

In a mutually beneficial arrangement, Mr Murdoch and the Chinese state will broadcast each other's channels in China and the US.

Star TV, effectively the Asian arm of Mr Murdoch's News Corporation empire, will broadcast movies, sport and drama in Mandarin Chinese to about 100m homes in the province, which borders Hong Kong.

In exchange, News Corp's Fox Network will beam the Chinese government's CCTV9 channel into homes on the west coast of the US.

CCTV9 is fronted by English-speaking presenters, who introduce programmes on Chinese cookery, culture and travel.

Critics claim the venture is a mouthpiece for Chinese government propaganda.

In October, China granted similar rights to the US media giant, AOL Time Warner, the Chinese-language channel, CETV, and Phoenix satellite television, 38% of which is owned by News Corp.

News of Star TV's negotiations with Chinese officials first broke in September.

James Murdoch, Rupert's youngest son and the chief executive of the satellite broadcaster, welcomed the agreement.

"We are excited about this landmark agreement, which represents a milestone for Star's development in China," he said.

Ding Guangen, the head of the Communist party's publicity department, hinted at more deals to come.

"The agreement is a good start for our cooperation, which will be further developed in steps," he said.

Zhao Huayong, the president of CCTV, said the deal would cover the key cities in a financially prosperous province.

"From April 1, CCTV-9 will formally downlink to concerned networks in the area of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"At the same time, a comprehensive Chinese entertainment channel will be downlinked to the concerned networks in the areas of Zhaoqing and Guangzhou," Mr Huayong said.

The Chinese government has been keen to gain access to the US broadcast market in the hope of improving its image and building political and economic relations.

James Murdoch said Star's content would not be vetted before broadcast but added the broadcaster would be "sensitive" to concerns about its programming.

"It's incumbent on us as broadcasters to be sensitive to any market in which we operate," he said.

Before today's deal, Star TV could only broadcast in hotels and foreign residence compounds.

However, a steady charm offensive by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp executives has won over the Chinese officials.

Mr Murdoch's wooing of the Chinese regime attracted strong criticism after he dropped the BBC from Star broadcasts and News Corp's Harper Collins publishing division dumped a planned book by Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong.

The Chinese market has been a target for Mr Murdoch ever since he bought Star TV in 1993. He considers the untapped market to be a potential goldmine.