Beijing is eyeing European media giants for a tie-up to launch its state-run English-language news channel CCTV-9 on the continent in the third quarter.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) has been talking to media companies such as BSkyB of Britain and Vivendi Universal of France.
The 24-hour news information channel at present beams to 1.7 million viewers in the United States and 1.3 million Africans but has yet to be shown on European televisions.
A Sarft official, in Hong Kong to announce the debut of CCTV-9 today, said the European companies would not be given rights such as those granted to AOL Time Warner and News Corp to broadcast channels to mainland viewers.
Sarft hoped to announce a Europe deal in October, the official said.
Last year, AOL received approval to beam its China Entertainment Television channel to cable-television viewers in Guangdong, as did media magnate Rupert Murdoch's Mandarin language channel Xing Kong Wei Shi and associate company Phoenix Satellite Television.