Launching RT TV in China Pointless as Sputnik Cited in Country - Editor-in-Chief

Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said there was no point in launching a Chinese branch of the TV channel because Sputnik is already successfully operating in China and has high citation rates, in an interview with the RNS information agency.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Simonyan, who spoke to the RNS agency, developing TV channels in Chinese is pointless because television is expensive and full-fledged broadcasting by a foreign channel in China is not allowed under the local legislation.

"If we launch a channel in Chinese, it will be a waste of money. In China, we are successfully developing the Sputnik project on the Internet, our Sputnik Chinese newswire has high citation rate. That is what we are doing in China," Simonyan said.

Sputnik is a news agency and a radio with multimedia information hubs in dozens of countries. It includes websites in over 30 languages, analogous and digital radio broadcasting, mobile apps and pages in social networks. The agency’s English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese news feeds are updated on a 24-hour basis.

RT operates a number of cable and satellite television channels in a number of languages and is directed at a foreign audience. The channels provide 24-hour news coverage and air documentaries, talk shows and debates.