The importance of China as a global growth market for Sports TV services was highlighted during the August 24 international industry summit in Beijing, which was hosted by the State Administration for Radio Film and Television (SARFT) and organized by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and media partner CCTV-5.
The audience of more than 400 international and China-based sports broadcasting executives was dominated by discussion of the potential for the Asian sports TV market and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was now less than two years away.
"Our biggest advantage is that we have between 300 to 400 million TV sets and one billion viewers in China," said CCTV network vice president Sun Yu Sheng. "Meanwhile, I can assure you that China will have five dedicated Olympic TV channels as well as a channel for high definition TV for 2008, allowing us to screen some 3,800 hours of Olympic programming."
In the run up to the Olympics, Beijing Olympic Broadcasting COO Ma Guo Li said China was "in a very important time right now. But the true outcome of the Beijing Olympics won't be felt until long afterwards. Then we will see what we have achieved and how it will change China's sports TV industry forever."