ITN’s footage sales business ITN Source continues its expansion in China having sold 500 minutes of content to the country’s largest television broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV). It is the fourth deal brokered for ITN by IPCN, the Anglo-Chinese media company created by Mick Desmond and Rebecca Yang.

To mark the launch of the Shanghai EXPO 2010, CCTV is producing 200 x 8 minute films entitled The Legend of EXPO. Through the use of ITN Source footage, the programming will trace the history of EXPO featuring film dating as far back as the 1939 World’s fair in New York to present day. The shows will be broadcast daily before the 10pm news on the biggest channel in the country CCTV-1, from 12 April right through to the end of the Shanghai Expo on 31 October.

Asha Oberoi, Managing Director of ITN Source said: “This is a significant content deal for ITN Source and we’re delighted to be working with China’s largest broadcaster.

“International growth is a key priority for ITN Source and our content spans all continents and has real relevance in the global marketplace. We’re looking forward to building our relationship with CCTV and expanding our content offering into other areas of their business.”

Miss Yang Xu, General Manager of IPCN added: “We are thrilled to broker the deal for ITN with CCTV; the cooperation will significantly increase the publicity of ITN Source business in the Chinese media industry, which potentially opens up tremendous opportunities.”

Through IPCN, ITN has a number of other deals in place in the Chinese market. For ITN Source this includes providing footage to FLTRP, the country’s biggest foreign language education publisher and Shanghai Media Group.  ITN Productions also produces a daily programme called Cool Edition for ICS, the biggest English speaking channel in China. The programme attracts 11 million viewers every night.