On some fronts at least, China's highly regulated media market is opening up. IMG Worldwide Inc. just signed an
exclusive 20-year joint venture with China Central Television, or CCTV, the world's largest television broadcaster. Beijing-based CCTV-IMG Sports Management Co. will own and produce a series of live sporting events and television/multimedia programming following the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney Co. may soon be able to announce a
far-reaching China deal that includes a theme park in Shanghai plus access to China's movie and TV markets. Disney has been talking about a Chinese theme since 1994. The Wall Street Journal reported that this isn't IMG's first
venture into China, either: In the mid-1990s, IMG set up some sports leagues in China in partnership with the sports federations, but it pulled out of the ventures in 2004 because its local partners wanted too much money.
IMG is entering other Asian markets as well. In an adjective-laden press release, IMG noted that it recently collaborated with the Board of Control for Cricket to create the Indian Premier League. -
Baz HiralalRead about the IMG-CCTV joint ventureGo to the story from the WSJDisney close to China theme park, media deal
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
