Negotiations for China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to buy into PPTV, China's P2P streaming video platform are drawing to a close and the news is promised, Sina.com.cn reported citing sources on Monday.

But one source close to executives of PPLive Inc. reportedly said the deal may not be clear until the end of August.

Since PPTV's talks with the online video division of Internet portal Sohu.com have stalled, several companies have shown interest in acquiring the video streaming website, including Suning.com, China's largest electronics retailer's e-commerce platform, and Alibaba.

The report on Sina.com.cn said that Alibaba plans to purchase PPTV, citing sources from investment banks, and talks between Alibaba and PPTV have been carried out smoothly. But it is still not clear whether Alibaba is going to purchase PPTV or buy share stakes from the latter.

Rumor also has it that Liu Chunning, former general manager of Tencent's video business, has already joined Alibaba.

PPTV CEO Tao Chuang said in an interview earlier that he hoped the company could develop independently with strategic investment.

It is also speculated that the acquisition is only a move by Softbank, the investor of both Alibaba and PPTV, in order to cash out in the market.

However, the speculation has been dismissed as Alibaba began to expand its market to the multi-screen area. The tech giant launched its TV operating system last week and is going to cooperate with online video provider Wasu Digital Television Media Group on Web-enabled set-top box products.

Analysts say that as video remains an important part of the TV screens market, Alibaba needs a widely-recognized video brand like PPTV.

Compared with the price of $1.9 billion for Baidu to acquire 91 Wireless, the rumored quoted price of PPTV at $500 to $600 million seems not that expensive, which is thought to be another reason of Alibaba's bid, the report said.

Although PPTV's talks with Sohu Video and Suning.com have been halted due to certain reasons, it is still early to say who will be the final buyer since there is still no official announcement about the acquisition.

Both Alibaba and PPTV have declined to comment on the negotiation, Sina said.