CRI brings Chinese dramas and films to New Zealand TV

China Radio International signs an agreement with Channel 37 of New Zealand on February 17, 2017, bringing popular TV dramas and films dubbed in English to New Zealand audience. [Photo: CRI]

China Radio International has officially signed an agreement with Channel 37 of New Zealand to bring the New Zealand audience popular Chinese TV dramas and films dubbed in English through the China Theatre Program, initiated by CRI in 2015.

CRI’s Director-general Wang Gengnian attended the signing ceremony in Auckland on Friday.

This also marks the first time Chinese TV dramas will land in Oceania.

The TV dramas that have been prepared for New Zealand are all representative of the true life of ordinary Chinese. The first to be aired soon will be “Romance of Our Parents”, with five episodes each week. Channel 37 is a national digital platform created by the New Zealand government.

China Theatre is a platform CRI has created for the broadcast of selected Chinese movies and TV dramas that are dubbed into foreign languages. In Sep 2015, CRI and the Egypt Broadcast Union inaugurated the China Theatre program on Egypt’s national TV network. The TV dramas dubbed in Arabic and aired in Egypt were so favored by the local viewers that their ratings broke one record after another.

So far CRI has signed China Theatre agreements with national TV networks of 23 countries, including Brazil, Egypt, Burundi, Nepal, Mongolia, New Zealand, Serbia and Russia.