Govt to Nat’l Cable Firm: Be Profitable 政府对国家广电公司的安排：商业化

By newsdoug on September 28, 2011

New broadband player continues taking shape There’s an interesting report in the domestic media on the ongoing consolidation of China’s fragmented cable TV sector, which seems to indicate that not only is this campaign moving forward on schedule but also that the government is determined to make the new national giant a commercially viable company. The report says that the NDRC, China’s state planner, has rejected a plan from the state agency overseeing the consolidation and asked it to submit a new one. (English article) The major issue is cost: the original plan by the agency overseeing the consolidation called for the government to allocate 1 trillion yuan, or about $150 billion, to complete the project. The NDRC said that price tag was too high, and that rather than becoming a government-controlled entity as the original plan proposed, the new company, to be called China Radio & Television Network, should be a commercially-oriented state-owned enterprise. This sounds to me like the latest signal that central planners intend for this new company to be a serious commercial provider of wire-based broadband services in China, competing directly with the nation’s other major telcos, namely China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) in providing such services. Considering that this new company will already have wired networks into the homes and offices of hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers and businesses, this new company, which will already supply basic cable TV services to most homes, will have all the infrastructure and customer contacts it needs in place to quickly become an important new player in the market alongside the 3 major telcos. Of course, the consolidation could still run into trouble and a new, effective management structure will have to be created for this project to be a success. But if that happens, I would look for this new major broadband company to take shape and earn profits as early as late next year, with a possible an IPO as soon as 2013 to help it raise the capital it needs to become an important new player.

Bottom line: China’s plan to create a new national broadband company from its regional cable TV firms appears to be moving forward, with the state intent on making a commercially strong player.

中国媒体近日发表了一篇有意思的报道，透露了广电网络整合的最新进展。报道表明整合正按照日程持续进行，并预示政府决定将这个广电网络这个巨头商业化运作。该报道称，发改委拒绝了之前提交的整合计划，并要求广电方面制定新的计划。拒绝前一计划的主要原因还是费用问题。广电方面要求政府拨款1万亿元来完成整合，但发改委认为费用过于高昂，并且不认同广电提出的国家级有线电视网络公司“中国广播电视网络公司”的事业编国企方案，而是属意纯公司化运作的国有大型文化企业方案。在我看来，这就像是一个最新的信号，表明发改委希望中国广电网络“中国广播电视网络公司”能成为一个商业化的有线网络运营商，直接和提供类似服务的中移动 (0941.HK; CHL.N)、中联通(0762.HK; CHU.N)和中电信(0728.HK; CHA.N)三大运营商竞争。考虑到广电的有线网络已经在成千上万的家庭和办公室入户，为海量的个人用户和企业客户提供基本的有线电视服务，广电在地方上将拥有基础设施和用户之便，成为市场上和三大运营商比肩的新巨头。当然，广电整合仍然可能遇到未知的问题，能否建立一个高效的管理体系将成为成败的关键。一旦整合成功，我预测这个新的宽带公司将最早在明年底就盈利，可能在2013年公开募股，以集资和三大运营商抗衡。

一句话：中国计划将区域有线电视提供商整合为一家大企业，同时希望这家公司成为市场上新的强力参与者。 (翻译：网易）