Mainland Internet venture swamped
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is claiming quick success in its first joint-venture project with the People's Daily.
The People's Daily News (PDN) said its ChinaByte service, a Chinese-character Web site, had been accessed by Internet users about 100,000 times daily since its January 15 launch.
PDN general manager, Bruce Dover, said the Internet traffic was more than they bargained for. 'We're having trouble handling the requests through the server,' he said.
The US$2.5 million Web site, detailing trade and product developments by software publishers and computer manufacturers, would draw its first corporate advertisers on April 1, Mr Dover said.
'We estimate about 70 per cent of people accessing the service are from mainland China,' Mr Dover said.
The ChinaByte service is the first mainland project launched by News Corp since it signed a $5.4 million joint-venture agreement to develop hi-tech information services with People's Daily.
State planners say China will have up to a million Internet users by the turn of the century.
