Chongqing Satellite Television (CQTV), a “red channel,” based in Chongqing city, and famous for broadcasting revolutionary movies and Communist cultural programs that remind the audience of the Mao Zengdong era before the 1970s, will no longer have any commercial ads and will receive government sponsorship.
“If Capitalist countries, when propagandizing their mission and providing social services, can assure a TV channel free from commercials, why can’t we?” asked the city mayor, Huang Qifan, referring to Japan’s NHK and the UK’s BBC.
CQTV’s 2010 advertising revenue was 300 million yuan (US$45.8 million). To make up for the loss, the city government will cover half and have 11 other local TV channels and the Chongqing Broadcasting Group cover the other half.
Source: China News Service, March 4, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/03-04/2885625.shtml