Chinese entrepreneur snaps up Yorkshire TV channel
mardi, 18 août 2009
A Chinese businessman has bought the Yorkshire-based satellite TV channel Propeller and plans to use it to broadcast programmes promoting China in Europe.
Ye Maoxi, chairman of Beijing-based advertising company Xiking Group, has acquired Propeller from Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education.
Propeller, broadcast via digital provider Sky on channel 195, is a non-profit channel launched in 2006 with a public-funded investment of £5.2m, including money from Yorkshire Forward.
Mr Ye, who is also chairman of Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, said he saw the takeover as an "exciting opportunity for opening the door to China”.
Propeller's team of broadcast staff will be retained by its new owners although a new senior management team is to be brought in.
Investment is also going to be made to deliver the channel from Immage Studios in Immingham, near Hull.
It is believed the deal is the first time a Chinese company has taken ownership of a TV channel in the UK.
Mr Ye learned Propeller was looking for strategic investment when he visited Britain as part of a business delegation accompanying Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao earlier this year.
The entrepreneur from eastern Wenzhou is understood to want to produce programmes promoting Chinese culture, history, language, food, travel and customs.
Mr Ye said: “Chinese people dream of developing a worldwide awareness of Chinese culture and of enhancing the level of the opening up of China.”
Helen Philpot, managing director at Immage Studios, said: “We have some state of the art facilities here at the Studios, some highly talented staff and the experience of having successfully run a number of TV channels over the past 10 years.
"We are hugely excited by the broadcast possibilities of working with the Chinese team and are looking forward to this international collaboration”.
Sally Joynson, chief executive at Screen Yorkshire, said: “Having an international broadcast operation base itself in the region is further evidence of the quality of professional talent we have and of the public/private partnerships we can build to make Yorkshire and Humber so attractive to external investors.”
Simon Hill, director of business at Yorkshire Forward, said: “This is great news for our region and I am delighted that our foresight in this innovative initiative has now attracted a new investor to our region, safeguarding jobs and creating new opportunities for the channel.
"Mr Ye first found out about Propeller as part of a trade delegation to the UK from China and his investment in Propeller is strong evidence of our region’s growing global reputation in the creative and digital industry.”