Chinese TV network in deal with Triangle and Stratos Television

A Beijing-based educational television station has selected Triangle and Stratos television channels for programme exchanges.

Jim Blackman, the founder and chief executive of Triangle and Stratos, met Madame Kang Ning, president of China Education Television (CETV) at AUT University in Auckland on February 24 to discuss how the two channels will cooperate.

Triangle and Stratos already screens Chongqing TV news from Mainland China and a variety of documentaries, but Mr Blackman says there is a demand from the channels’ viewers for more material from the Mainland that helps “cross the cultural divide” and contains either English language or subtitles as well as Mandarin.

“That’s a vital role in the development of New Zealand’s multicultural environment and one that Triangle and Stratos have been playing a leadership role in for some years now,” Mr Blackman says.

Mr Blackman and Madame Kang were joined by Chinese Consul Tom Gao, cultural adviser Jim He and AUT’s Director for International Relations and Development Chris Hawley and Associate Professor David Robie from the School of Communications Studies. AUT is interested in the development of the link between CETV and Triangle and Stratos.

Madame Kang says with the shift of many workers back to the countryside due to the effects of the global economic slowdown, one of the key needs was to have educational material on farming.