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State-controlled China Movie Channel is planning to launch a Netflix-style subscription and transactional video-on-demand service, with a mix of local and Hollywood movie content.
The Chinese service will be launched through a tie-up between M1905, China Movie Channel’s wholly owned web business, and Jiaflix, a venture set up to help bridge the gap between the Chinese and international film communities.
M1905 will provide a raft of Chinese content, while Jiaflix will license content from North American and European producers, with US studio Paramount already signed up under a multi-year deal.
M1905 sub-licenses domestic Chinese films to a number of video websites in China, and this month started working with China Mobile and China Telecom’s mobile video service, licensing VoD content to 3G mobile subscribers. M1905′s own movie-dedicated website already claims more than 16 million page views and four million unique visitors daily.
Jiaflix was formed by former Paramount Pictures president and Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Sid Ganis, alongside Marc Ganis, president of US sports advisory business Sportscorp, and China-based entrepreneur and investor Kenneth Huang.
“This new venture will bring the best that Hollywood has to offer to viewers in China. It represents a great opportunity to enhance cultural cooperation between our two nations,” said Marc Ganis.
