Surf Wiki
Save to docs
arts/film

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Phoenix Television

Chinese state-owned television network

Summary

Chinese state-owned television network

FieldValue
namePhoenix Media Investment (Holdings) Limited
image_captionHeadquarters in Shenzhen
native_name鳳凰衛視投資（控股）有限公司
native_name_langzh-Hant
logoPhoenix Chinese.svg
logo_size150px
imageFenghuangweishizongbu.jpg
typePublic; State-owned enterprise
traded_as
key_peopleLiu Changle (Founder; former chairman and chief executive officer),
Chui Keung (Deputy chief executive officer, Chief Compliance Officer),
Liu Shuang (Chief Operating Officer of Phoenix Satellite TV, CEO of Phoenix New Media)
industryBroadcasting
productsTelevision content, Television programming
parentBauhinia Culture
foundation
locationShenzhen, Guangdong, China
Tai Po, Hong Kong
homepage

the Chinese-language television broadcaster indirectly owned by the government of the People's Republic of China

Chui Keung (Deputy chief executive officer, Chief Compliance Officer), Liu Shuang (Chief Operating Officer of Phoenix Satellite TV, CEO of Phoenix New Media) Tai Po, Hong Kong Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment Channel Phoenix North America Chinese Channel Phoenix Movies Channel Phoenix Hong Kong Channel

Phoenix Television is a majority state-owned television network that operates Mandarin and Cantonese-language channels serving mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and other regions with significant Chinese-speaking audiences. It is headquartered in Shenzhen and Hong Kong and is also registered in the Cayman Islands.

The network was founded by Liu Changle (劉長樂), who previously served as an officer and political instructor in the People's Liberation Army with the 40th Group Army. Following the Cultural Revolution, Liu worked as a journalist for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled China National Radio and maintained close ties with the CCP leadership. He is also a standing member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Phoenix Television identifies itself as a Hong Kong media organisation, but it holds a non-domestic television programme services licence in Hong Kong. The majority of its customers and non-current assets are located in mainland China. Its largest shareholder is Bauhinia Culture, a company wholly owned by the Chinese government. Freedom House characterises Phoenix Television as pro-Beijing, while Stephen McDonell of BBC News noted that it is "sometimes more liberal than its mainland counterparts".

The company's head offices are located in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and Tai Po, Hong Kong, with correspondent offices in Beijing and Shanghai. The Shenzhen office produces about half of its television output.

History

Phoenix Television originated as a joint venture between Star TV in Hong Kong, a private company in China, and China Central Television.

The Phoenix Chinese Channel was launched on 31 March 1996, replacing Star Chinese Channel in Hong Kong and mainland China. Broadcasts in Singapore began on 1 December 1996 via the Singapore Cable Vision network. In its early years, the Phoenix Chinese Channel also carried Mandarin-dubbed American series during primetime hours, including The X-Files and Baywatch.

Phoenix CNE began broadcasting in Europe, while the Phoenix North America Chinese Channel launched for audiences across the Americas. In 2005, a California-based broadcast and engineering director for the network, Tai Wang Mak, was arrested for conspiring with his brother, Chi Mak, to act as an intelligence agent for China. He was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2008.

On 28 March 2011, Phoenix Television launched the Phoenix Hong Kong Channel, which broadcasts exclusively in Cantonese.

On 31 March 2011, Phoenix InfoNews Channel was recognised with a Peabody Award for its "Report on a New Generation of Migrant Workers in China".

In 2011, Phoenix New Media partnered with the BBC to distribute the broadcaster's programmes on its digital media platforms. In 2012, it entered into a similar agreement with the National Film Board of Canada, under which 130 animated shorts and documentary films were made available digitally in China.

In October 2013, 21st Century Fox sold its 12.15% stake in Phoenix Television (held through Star) to TPG Capital for HK$1.66 billion (US$213 million).

In February 2016, Phoenix Television broadcast forced confessions of kidnapped Hong Kong booksellers.

In June 2020, the FCC ordered XEWW-AM, owned by Phoenix Television, to cease broadcasting in the United States.

The Taiwanese government designated Phoenix Television as a Chinese government-funded company in April 2022 and required it to cease operations in Taiwan.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Phoenix Television reporter was among the few foreign journalists to embed with the Russian military.

Corporate governance

Ownership

At its launch, Star TV and a private company in China each held 45% of Phoenix Television, while state broadcaster China Central Television owned the remaining 10%.

The shares held by the original News Corporation (and later 21st Century Fox) through Star were gradually reduced over the years. In October 2013, 21st Century Fox sold its remaining stake to TPG Capital.

According to the company's 2018 annual report, its ownership structure was as follows:

NameSharesPercentageNote
Today's Asia Limited1,854,000,00037.13%Wholly owned by Liu Changle.
Extra Step Investments Limited983,000,00019.69%A company owned by China Mobile Hong Kong, which is a part of state-owned China Mobile.
TPG China Media, L.P.607,000,00012.16%Part of TPG Capital, beneficially controlled by David Bonderman and James Coulter.
China Wise International Limited412,000,0008.25%Owned by Bank of China, which is controlled by Central Huijin Investment, a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, which reports to the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

In April 2021, Liu Changle sold most of his shares to the state-owned publisher Bauhinia Culture and Shun Tak Holdings.

Management

Liu Changle (劉長樂), founder and CEO of Phoenix Television, previously worked as a journalist for the Chinese Communist Party-controlled China National Radio following the Cultural Revolution. By the 1990s, he had become one of China's wealthiest individuals and maintained strong connections to the Beijing leadership.

Shuang Liu (刘爽) was appointed chief operating officer (COO) of Phoenix Television on 17 February 2014. He also serves as CEO of Phoenix New Media Ltd (NYSE: FENG), a Chinese digital media company.

Chung Pong, a former director of Phoenix Television news, testified under oath that the network's programming was "subject to the dictates of the leadership of the Central Communist Propaganda Department, Central Communist Overseas Propaganda Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

References

References

  1. (2011-05-06). "Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China: The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China". [[Emerald Group Publishing]].
  2. Pan, Philip P.. (2005-09-19). "Making Waves, Carefully, on the Air in China". [[The Washington Post]].
  3. "Liu Changle".
  4. (2020-04-07). "'Do you work for China?': Trump confronts Hong Kong-based reporter during coronavirus briefing".
  5. "Non-domestic Television Programme Service".
  6. "Annual Results Announcement for the Year Ended 31 December 2019".
  7. (2021-09-22). "打造文化旗舰！紫荆文化集团在深圳发布多个重磅文化项目".
  8. [[Stephen McDonell]]. (2016-05-16). "Cultural Revolution: No desire to dwell on the past". [[BBC News]].
  9. (26 March 2010). "Half of Phoenix Television programs are produced in Shenzhen". ifeng.com.
  10. (23 February 1996). "Star TV, Chinese Firm Reportedly in Joint Venture". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  11. 张林. (2016). "凤凰卫视这些年". 现代出版社.
  12. (30 November 1996). "X-Files in Chinese on cable TV". The Straits Times.
  13. Grier, Peter. (2005-11-30). "Spy case patterns the Chinese style of espionage". [[Christian Science Monitor]].
  14. Bill Gertz (18 September 2006),[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/18/20060918-124646-8530r/ ENEMIES] {{Webarchive. link. (3 May 2014 ''[[The Washington Times]]'')
  15. Josh Gerstein (22 April 2008), [http://www.nysun.com/national/chinese-spy-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison/75108/ Chinese Spy Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison] {{Webarchive. link. (3 May 2014 ''[[The New York Sun]]'')
  16. "凤凰卫视将开播香港台 以广东话进行广播".
  17. (31 March 2011). "Complete list of 2011 Peabody Awards".
  18. Kushigemachi, Todd. (12 June 2012). "Canucks find first TV niche in China". [[Variety (magazine).
  19. Tan, Clement "[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tpg-phoenix/tpg-pays-murdoch-unit-214-million-for-chinese-media-company-stake-idUSBRE99I01Z20131019 TPG pays Murdoch unit $214 million for Chinese media company stake] {{Webarchive. link. (22 December 2017 " [[Reuters]] 19 October 2013)
  20. Joshua, Fellman "[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-18/tpg-china-media-buys-remaining-fox-stake-in-phoenix-satellite-tv TPG China Media Buys Remaining Fox Stake in Phoenix Satellite TV] {{Webarchive. link. (2 January 2019 " [[Bloomberg L.P.]] 18 October 2013)
  21. Frater, Patrick "[https://variety.com/2013/biz/asia/21st-century-fox-sells-phoenix-stake-1200753463/ 21st Century Fox Sells Phoenix Stake] {{Webarchive. link. (2 January 2019 " ''[[Variety (magazine)). Variety]]'' 22 October 2013
  22. (16 June 2016). "HK bookseller: TV confession 'forced'". [[BBC News]].
  23. Zheping, Huang. (1 August 2016). "China is using Hong Kong's media to broadcast its smear campaigns". [[Quartz (website).
  24. Cook, Sarah. (4 May 2017). "Chinese Government Influence on the U.S. Media Landscape". [[United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission]].
  25. Shepardson, David. (22 June 2020). "FCC orders radio station in Mexico to halt broadcast of Chinese programs to U.S.". [[Reuters]].
  26. (7 April 2022). "Phoenix TV faces closure in Taiwan". Taipei Times.
  27. Carey, Alexis. (16 March 2022). "Chinese reporter Lu Yuguang only foreign journalist working from Russia's 'frontline'". [[news.com.au]].
  28. "[https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131018005627/en/TPG-Acquire-21st-Century-Fox%E2%80%99s-Stake-Phoenix TPG to Acquire 21st Century Fox's Stake in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited] {{Webarchive. link. (2 January 2019" (press release). [[TPG Capital]]; [[21st Century Fox]]. [[Business Wire]]. 18 October 2013)
  29. (2018). "Annual Report".
  30. Ng, Eric. (2021-04-18). "Phoenix founder Liu sells shares to Beijing-backed publisher, Pansy Ho firm".
  31. (May 10, 2021). "Publishing, Media Takeovers Part of China's Two-Pronged Grip on Hong Kong". [[Radio Free Asia]].
  32. "凤凰新媒体 Phoenix New Media - Investor Relations - Company News".
  33. (17 April 2020). "CCP reporter who told Trump he was from Taiwan faces stiff fine".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

phoenix-television companies-listed-on-the-hong-kong-stock-exchange television-stations-in-hong-kong cable-television-in-hong-kong television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1996 government-owned-companies-of-china chinese-propaganda-organisations state-media
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Phoenix Television — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report