Clipper World Yacht Race & Beijing Television Announce Chinese TV package

‍‍UK based Clipper Ventures, organisers of the 40,000 mile Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, has signed its first comprehensive Chinese broadcast deal today with Beijing Television.

Beijing Television (BTV) will follow the Chinese team in the 2015-16, tenth edition of the unique biennial event established by British yachting legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and aimed at complete novices who are trained to take on the world's most challenging oceans under the command of professional skippers.

The Clipper Race already produces generic sports and human adventure programming distributed by BBC Worldwide, but is developing additional territory specific co-production partnerships to focus on individual national teams and participants.

"It is the first time we have embarked upon a co-production of this scale to produce a comprehensive Chinese language documentary series, news, sports and online coverage about the Clipper Race which will focus on the entry from the former Beijing 2008 Olympics sailing city of Qingdao," explained Clipper Ventures Global Business and Communications Director Jonathan Levy.

BTV Documentary Channel Director Mr Chen Dali signed the agreement with Clipper Ventures at the Beijing International Film Festival Documentary Section

"We will not only have our own cameraman aboard the Qingdao yacht for the whole race but we will also have rights to access all the official race footage from a range of fixed and manned cameras on Qingdao and all the other competing boats, in addition to helicopter, on-water and land based cameras."

BTV is available nationally on its satellite channels and on-line as well as a rapidly growing cable/IPTV distribution across China, especially in major urban centres such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, ChangChun, Harbin, Jinan, Chengdu and Kunming, etc.

New innovative services are also being pioneered in China by BTV. They have established Beijing Internet Broadcasting Station Work Base, which incorporates web, IPTV, mobile terminal services and Weibo/Wechat social media platforms.