Officials deny reports 'red' channel in trouble

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Officials in Chongqing have denied Beijing Daily report claiming that the Chongqing satellite TV channel has run into problems after it was turned from a commercial channel into a public TV one in March 2010.

Rumors that began on a microblog and were then picked up by the Beijing Daily said that Chongqing Municipal Broadcasting and Television Station (CMBTS), to which Chongqing satellite TV channel is affiliated, had cut 20 percent of its staff and reduced wages by 15 percent in order to fund the channel.

The report also said that the absence of entertainment shows had resulted in large audience rating drops for the channel.

Chen Xiushen, director of the editor-in-chief's office at the station, CMBTS, told the Global Times Thursday that the news about staff cut is untrue.

A worker at the station confirmed to the Global Times on condition of anonymity that their wages had not been reduced and he had not heard of any colleagues being fired.

While most channels fill their primetime slots with entertainment programs, the Chongqing channel now dedicates that space to programs promoting "red culture."

The channel intended to become the first "red" satellite channel in China to honor the Communist Party of China (CPC). Nearly two months later, the channel stopped airing advertisements.

In January when the sessions of the city's people's congress and political consultative body were in process, Huang Qifan, the mayor of Chongqing, held up Japan's NHK as examples to emulate, the Beijing Daily reported Thursday.

Before January 2010, the channel earned 300 million yuan (US$46 million) annually from its advertisements. After it became a public channel, the Chongqing municipal government subsidized it to the tune of 150 million yuan (US$23 million) while the remainder came from 11 other commercial channels also affiliated to CMBTS.

Huang Shengmin, the dean of the Advertising School at the Communication University of China, said that Chongqing satellite TV channel had not been doing well in terms of audience ratings in the past few years.

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