Major new broadcast agreement for environmental programming in China

Beijing, October 28: Chinese viewers in over 100 million homes will be able to tune into the award-winning Earth Report TV series on global environmental issues in 2003.

TVE's distribution partner in China, the Beijing Earthview Education and Research Centre, has just signed a new agreement with China Education Television CETV-1 channel to supply 104 Earth Report programmes.

"We want to say thank you to TVE and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and all the backers of the Earth Report series for giving us the opportunity to broadcast these programmes to the Chinese people," said Mr. Xu Jinpei, Programme Editor-in-Chief of CETV-1.

Mr. Geping Qu, Director of Environment and Resource Committee of the China National People's Congress, congratulated CETV-1 for opening up this special environment education TV series for the Chinese public in 2003. He added: "China needs to learn lessons and success of other countries in the environment and resource conservation. Earth Report is the most suitable educational programme to meet this urgent need from China."

The programmes, drawn from TVE's Earth Report series and versioned into Chinese by Earthview, will start airing on CETV-1 from January 2003. There will be two episodes of Earth Reports in six time slots every week.

This broadcast arrangement will bring the world's foremost series on environment and sustainable development to the world's largest television audience. CETV-1, beamed by satellite, covers all parts of China and reaches Chinese speakers in most Southeast Asian countries. Over 85 per cent of provincial and city cable TV stations in China are relaying the programmes of CETV-1, allowing this series to reach more than 100 million families in China.

"We are delighted that this new agreement will bring Earth Reports to Chinese television audiences once again. When Earth Report went off the air last year, we received many queries from concerned viewers and broadcasters." said Dr Li Hao, Director of Earthview.

"The Earth Report series comprises stories from all over the world, which are very relevant to China's sustainable development. We expect that broadcasting of Earth Report series on CETV-1 will greatly impact public education and decision-making in China", said Dr. Li.

"TVE is pleasd to see Earthview, one of its indigenous Chinese partners, make this happen," says founding Director of TVE Robert Lamb. "It is the guiding principle of the TVE Board-sanctioned Video Resource Centre policy to see more responsibility taken up by our national partners in the developing world."

Earthview now manages the largest collection of environment related television programmes in China. Over the past five years, more than 250 international programmes have been versioned into Chinese.

TVE has been producing Earth Report since 1996. After a first broadcast on BBC World - now available in more than 200 million homes in over 170 countries - the series is offered on a non-profit basis to terrestrial, cable and satellite channels throughout the developing world. Under a European Commission and UNDP/Global Environment Facility supported project, over 60 Earth Report programmes will be offered to TV stations in Spanish, Portuguese and English to Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The news from China will be a great boost to our upcoming fifth Regional Workshop of the Asia Pacific Video Resource Centre Network, to be held in Singapore in mid November," said Nalaka Gunawardene, head of TVE's Asia Pacific Programme. "Many Earth Reports are filmed in the Asia Pacific region, and now, one of our most active partners has negotiated this major agreement to distribute the programmes to a significant part of this region's television viewers."