Singapore's MediaCorp and Hong Kong-based ad sales company CosMedia Group have formed a joint venture - CosMediaCorp Ltd - to distribute television programming produced by Chinese state-owned enterprise, China Great Wall Art and & Culture Centre.

China Great Wall - a member of the China Radio, Film and Television Group - plans to produce between 200 and 300 hours of drama next year for both domestic and international markets.

Antony Chan, CEO of Cosmedia in Beijing, said: There is a rapidly growing interest in Chinese programming overseas. Cosmedia's experience in the Greater China region will work well with MediaCorp's pan-Asian strategy to answer this demand.'

China Great Wall is involved in the production and distribution of films and TV programming, production of variety shows and artist training. It operates a nightly TV drama block - Er Tiao Drama Theatre - which started broadcasting throughout mainland China on October 7.

MediaCorp is one of Asia's leading TV content providers, producing up to 1,800 hours of programming a year in four languages - English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.