China Central Television (CCTV), the national State-run TV broadcaster, is expected to enter the country's lucrative online video market next week, raising concerns that the move may hurt domestic YouTube-like websites that were heavily funded by foreign venture capital, reported China Daily.
CCTV will launch a national Internet TV station next Monday, according to a source from CCTV.com, the online subsidiary of CCTV.
The new website, which reportedly received a 200 million yuan ($29 million) government investment, will provide programming from CCTV, one of China's largest video content makers, and make it available on the Internet.
"If CCTV allows its own video website to stream its contents exclusively, it would have a great impact on websites like Tudou.com and Youku.com," said Edward Yu, CEO of Analysys International, a domestic research firm.
He said CCTV's entry will create an online platform similar to Hulu, a website in the United States that is funded by US networks such as NBC, Fox and ABC that offer commercially-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies.
Youku.com and Tudou.com are the two biggest video-sharing websites in China.
CCTV will also launch a client software that optimizes video streaming for both computer users and mobile users, according to the source.
