Televisa Expands Into China

MEXICO
CITY, June 5: Mexico’s Televisa has expanded its influence in China by inking a
deal with the Chinese government to make localized versions of its telenovelas
and other programs such as the reality show Dancing for a Dream.

Since 2000,
the company has dubbed four telenovelas into Mandarin for broadcast in China,
where they have been hits. Currently Televisa’s telenovelas are dubbed into
more than 50 languages, including Romanian and Korean. Televisa also said that
it has begun cable transmissions in Mexico of China's government-run channel
CCTV.

"Although
entering the Chinese market is a big challenge, Televisa has established an
excellent relationship with the main players to open the doors," said Jose
Bastón, the
corporate VP of television at Grupo Televisa. "We are offering a product
that China doesn't have. The Chinese viewers have a similar demographic to the
Mexicans. The difference is there are 1.3 billion of them instead of 100
million."

Added Yin
Hengmin, the Chinese ambassador to Mexico: "Mexican soap operas deal with
issues like the family, power and social problems, which the Chinese people can
relate to.”