Media giant Viacom should see revenue growth of more than 20 percent in China this year--a slow but steady gain in a tough market, reports the
South China Morning Post. The owner of MTV and
Nickelodeon is bringing tens of millions of dollars each year into the country, according to Nigel Robbins, president of MTV Networks Asia-Pacific. But that is just a small fraction of the company's
$2.4 billion in total revenue in the first quarter of this year. "We have a healthy business here," says Robbins. "By no means are we faltering." Viacom and other media conglomerates like News Corp.,
Time Warner, and Walt Disney are moving cautiously in China, where media "is traditionally viewed as more a propaganda tool than entertainment," the story states--and the government has been reluctant
to let in much foreign influence. However, Robbins says that a Shanghai television station broadcasting shows produced by a China-based Viacom joint venture would have to look outside to purely
Chinese production houses for all its prime-time shows starting later this year.
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