China Broadcasting Network wins fourth TV licence
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China Broadcasting Network wins fourth TV licence

The Chinese Government has awarded the fourth TV licence to China Broadcasting Network (CBN) in a surprise move.

The Chinese Government has awarded a TV licence to China Broadcasting Network (CBN) in a surprise move which breaks up the group at the top referred to as 'the big three.' 

This development makes CBN the country's fourth telecom service operator after China Mobile, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) decided to award "A basic telecoms service operating licence" to CBN. The licence means that the TV company will compete with China's three operators. however, it is very unlikely that CBN, which is controlled by the Ministry of Finance, will move into mobile services. 

It is assumed that CBN will instead focus on internet TV programming, competing directly against the mobile operator's streaming video services.However, the limited growth potential for mobile phones and network infrastructure, and CBN's capital constraints mean that the move will have limited or no impact on the incumbents.

CBN is expected to spend 20 billion yuan ($3.08 billion) on telecoms in 2016. 




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