ID :
27976
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/27976
The shortlink copeid
Hong Kong mogul nearing deal to buy Taiwan media: sources+
TAIPEI, Nov. 1 Kyodo - Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's Next Media Group is nearing a deal to buy
out Taiwan's biggest media conglomerate in a deal set to shake up the island's
media and political landscape, sources say.
Lai is ready to clinch the deal for the China Times Group, a China Times
reporter said.
Next Media Group said Friday it was ''interested in talking with a separate
third party to expand its media operations in Taiwan.'' It did not elaborate.
The China Times Group comprises the China Times, one of the island's four
biggest daily newspapers, and cable news station CTI, among other outlets. The
deal, local media said, is valued at NT$20 billion (US$606 million), citing
anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
Rumors of the deal came just four months after massive lay-offs at the China
Times daily. Some 600 employees were let go in June in a restructuring move to
cope with the paper's financial woes.
Speaking to Kyodo News, a China Times correspondent confirmed the deal, saying
worries abound in the daily over whether lay-offs and mergers will accompany
the sale, which would give Next Media a decisive edge in the local media market
and allow it to further shape public opinion.
Already, Next Media's Apple Daily in Taiwan boasts a daily circulation of
526,000, according to local reports, while the group's Next Magazine is known
as the island's most popular news magazine.
Notorious for its tabloid-style coverage, nudity and gore, the publications
took the local print media market by storm after emerging in 2003. In Hong
Kong, the group's Apple Daily is known for its critical coverage of China.
That editorial stance could clash with those of China Times Group's outlets,
which typically lean toward the positions of the ruling Nationalist Party
(KMT), a China-friendly party that espouses eventual unification with the
mainland.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, with the former since claiming
the self-ruled island as its own and vowing to unify it with the mainland, by
force if necessary.
Ideologically, Taiwan's public appears split between those who lean away from
China and seek to safeguard the island's de facto sovereignty and those who
lean toward China and eventual unification, be it economic or political.
Taiwan's media, for their part, appear similarly split, taking editorial lines
that lean toward one camp or the other as a means to cultivate their audience.
A buy-out of China Times by Next Media could trigger an editorial and
ideological shift in public opinion, with pro-sovereignty media gaining a clear
leg-up on ''China-friendly'' outlets.
==Kyodo
2008-11-01 23:41:02
out Taiwan's biggest media conglomerate in a deal set to shake up the island's
media and political landscape, sources say.
Lai is ready to clinch the deal for the China Times Group, a China Times
reporter said.
Next Media Group said Friday it was ''interested in talking with a separate
third party to expand its media operations in Taiwan.'' It did not elaborate.
The China Times Group comprises the China Times, one of the island's four
biggest daily newspapers, and cable news station CTI, among other outlets. The
deal, local media said, is valued at NT$20 billion (US$606 million), citing
anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
Rumors of the deal came just four months after massive lay-offs at the China
Times daily. Some 600 employees were let go in June in a restructuring move to
cope with the paper's financial woes.
Speaking to Kyodo News, a China Times correspondent confirmed the deal, saying
worries abound in the daily over whether lay-offs and mergers will accompany
the sale, which would give Next Media a decisive edge in the local media market
and allow it to further shape public opinion.
Already, Next Media's Apple Daily in Taiwan boasts a daily circulation of
526,000, according to local reports, while the group's Next Magazine is known
as the island's most popular news magazine.
Notorious for its tabloid-style coverage, nudity and gore, the publications
took the local print media market by storm after emerging in 2003. In Hong
Kong, the group's Apple Daily is known for its critical coverage of China.
That editorial stance could clash with those of China Times Group's outlets,
which typically lean toward the positions of the ruling Nationalist Party
(KMT), a China-friendly party that espouses eventual unification with the
mainland.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, with the former since claiming
the self-ruled island as its own and vowing to unify it with the mainland, by
force if necessary.
Ideologically, Taiwan's public appears split between those who lean away from
China and seek to safeguard the island's de facto sovereignty and those who
lean toward China and eventual unification, be it economic or political.
Taiwan's media, for their part, appear similarly split, taking editorial lines
that lean toward one camp or the other as a means to cultivate their audience.
A buy-out of China Times by Next Media could trigger an editorial and
ideological shift in public opinion, with pro-sovereignty media gaining a clear
leg-up on ''China-friendly'' outlets.
==Kyodo
2008-11-01 23:41:02
