Belt and Road Media Community launched in Beijing

The Belt and Road Media Community that consists of 41 media companies from 29 countries was launched on Aug 26 in Beijing, to strengthen the cooperation in film and television globally.

To go with China's Belt and Road Initiative, China Central Television and China International Television Corporation proposed to build the Belt and Road Media Community in May during the Arab Festival for Radio and Television, and invited TV media, TV makers, video websites and social media of countries along the Belt and Road to participate.

Xue Jijun, chairman of the China International Television Corporation, said that the development of the community will be in three phases. At the beginning, they will mainly exchange TV programs, and then they may start to cooperate with each other to co-produce film and TV programs, and co-produce commercial operation of channels and slots. But in the future, the aim is to build a cross-region media and to strengthen the members' brands and international influence.

The 41 members now include media from Britain, France, Italy, Russia, the United States, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa among others. More media are expected to join later, and it is expected to be a biggest cross-media cooperation platform in the future.

Tang Shiding, vice-chairman of the China International Television Corporation, said that the community has already set up a system of broadcasting some programs together, and in October they will broadcast together the first groups of programs. Ten TV shows from China, such as the A Bite of China 2, will be broadcast on TV stations and online media in more than 20 countries.