中國央視加大海外傳播力度

China’s state broadcaster CCTV, better known as a conduit for Beijing’s propaganda efforts, is aiming to grow an international network to carry its soap operas and news in Africa, the Middle East and the US.

官方的中國中央電視臺（CCTV，該臺更爲人熟知的是角色是北京方面的宣傳渠道）正力求發展一個國際網絡，使該臺的電視劇和新聞節目傳播至非洲、中東和美國。

China International Communications Co (CICC), the commercial arm of China Central TV, streams Chinese content from CCTV and provincial broadcasters to overseas Chinese audiences — and is now setting its sights at non-Chinese audiences too.

中視國際傳媒有限公司(CICC)是中央電視臺的商業分支機構，該公司負責將該臺和中國省級電視臺製作的中文節目向海外華人觀衆直播。現在該公司也將目光對準了非華人觀衆。

“I want to make that content of CCTV localised, and want people to watch it for 5-10 minutes a week],” said Lu Chunguang, president of CICC. “Just 15 minutes of watching each means hundreds of millions [of viewer watching time].”

中視國際傳媒總經理呂春光表示：“我希望把中央電視臺的節目本地化，希望人們每週會看5到10分鐘中央臺。每人只看15分鐘，這就是上億分鐘（的觀看時間）。”

CICC has already set up a studio in Washington, hired 20 local news readers and begun broadcasting bulletins, initially focused on stock market information.

CICC已經在華盛頓建立一家工作室，聘用20名當地新聞播報員，開始播報新聞簡報，最初將主要關注股市信息。

This builds on a business anchored in the overseas Chinese community. “Chinese like dramas, and we have more than 100,000 TV dramas produced every year,” said Mr Lu, speaking on the sidelines of last month’s Casbaa convention in Macau.

此舉將以紮根於海外華人社區的業務爲基礎。在上月在澳門召開的亞洲有線及衛星電視廣播協會(CASBAA)大會間隙，呂春光表示：“中國人喜歡看戲，我們每年製作的電視劇超過10萬集。”

While Beijing has been ramping up its propaganda efforts overseas in recent years — including broadcasting videos on the South China Sea in New York’s Times Square over summer — analysts saw the move as a more subtle change of communication strategy.

儘管最近幾年中國政府一直在提高對境外的宣傳力度——包括今夏在紐約時代廣場(Times Square)播放有關南中國海(South China Sea)的視頻，但分析人士認爲上述舉動標誌着溝通戰略方面的更細膩變化。

“I think they are downplaying the ideological stuff when it comes to external publicity, they are putting more culture cards on the table,” said Qiao Mu, professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

北京外國語大學(Beijing Foreign Studies University)教授喬木表示：“我認爲在對外宣傳方面，他們正在淡化意識形態。他們正在打更多文化牌。”

“They are hoping overseas viewers can recognise and accept China, adding the economic co-operation and aids, to obtain other countries’ political recognition of China. One can say this is progress compared to their ideological preaching in the past.”

“他們希望海外觀衆能認可和接受中國，再加上經濟上的合作和援助，從而獲得其他國家對中國政治上的認可。可以說，比起過去的意識形態說教，這是一種進步。”

Last year, CICC started digitising its library of archived TV dramas in order to send more entertainment down the tubes.

去年，中視傳媒開始將其電視劇庫存數字化，以便通過各種渠道播放更多娛樂節目。

While many multinationals, from rice cooker manufacturers to luxury brands like LVMH, have been targeting Chinese tourists overseas for several years, immigrant populations have attracted less commercial attention.

儘管從電飯煲製造商到路威銘軒(LVMH)等奢侈品品牌，幾年來許多跨國公司將營銷目標對準了中國的海外遊客，但中國移民人口吸引的商業注意力要少一些。

But Mr Lu says these groups — there are about 1m Chinese in Africa and 500,000 in the Middle East, and Chinese people comprise about 2 per cent of the US population and 2 to 3 per cent in Europe — represent a sizeable business.

不過，呂春光表示這些人羣代表着十分可觀的業務——非洲有大約100萬華人，中東有50萬華人，華人佔美國人口比例約爲2%、佔歐洲人口比例爲2%到3%。

“I bring over 30 networks to Los Angeles and people pay $15 a month to watch 30 TV channels, including some video-on-demand content. It’s very cost-effective: we send our oldest channels to an LA hub, and local system operators pick up our signal.”

“我把逾30個電視網絡帶到了洛杉磯，人們每個月花15美元收看30個電視頻道，其中包括部分視頻點播內容。整個過程的成本效益很好：我們將歷史最悠久的頻道發往洛杉磯一個轉播中心，再由當地系統運營商接收我們的信號。”