A Look At Major Online Sports Channels in China
Over the past few years, China’s online sports networks experienced ups and downs. After a boom between 2014 and 2016, 2017 saw a decline in both investment and number of new networks. However, boosted by the 2018 World Cup, investors seem to have regained interest in this area. Currently, major players in the sports sector include iQiyi Sports, Tencent Sports, Alibaba, and Suning. iQiyi Sports is a newly founded joint venture between iQiyi and Super Sports Media. The network has completed its Series A round of financing, securing a total of RMB 850 million in investment. Alibaba’s sports division also completed a Series A round of financing this year, securing a total investment of RMB 1.2 billion. In addition, Alibaba’s video site Youku acquired the World Cup streaming rights this summer. Tencent and Suning are another two big players, owning libraries of rights to distribute sports content in China. Suning owns video streaming site PPTV. However, its subscription revenue is not enough to cover its acquisition costs, which led the company to collaborate with Alibaba. This July, Suning’s sports division completed its Series A round of financing led by Alibaba and Goldman Sachs. Read more on TMT Post
‘The Great Buddha +’ Picked as Taiwan’s Foreign-language Oscar Entry
Recently, Taiwan selected 2017 drama film The Great Buddha + as its Oscar entry for the foreign-language film category. The film is directed by Huang Hsing-yao and poetically tells a story of poverty. The film won five awards at the 54th Golden Horse Awards and has been released in North America. In addition to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan have also announced their entries. South Korea picked Lee Chang-dong’s Burning and Japan picked Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters. China submitted Wolf Warrior 2 last year but hasn’t announced this year’s entry yet. Read more on Mtime
‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and Other Hayao Miyazaki Movies to Be Imported Into China
Hayao Miyazaki’s acclaimed animated film My Neighbor Totoro, which was released 30 years ago, will likely be released in China this year as part of its 30th anniversary celebration. Currently, Studio Ghibli is in talks with Chinese distributors regarding the importation of My Neighbor Totoro and other Hayao Miyazaki movies, according to sources familiar with the matter. In order for My Neighbor Totoro to be played at modern cinemas, Studio Ghibli restored the movie and transformed its format into digital. The restored version was re-released in North America in 2014 and then in the U.K. in 2015. Read more on Mtime
