CHINA TV TO GET DISNEY CARTOONS

In a major move into a relatively untapped market, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will make their debuts on Chinese television in a weekly half-hour cartoon series on the China Central Television Network.

Officials of Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. announced the deal at a news conference in Peking on Thursday.

“This marks the first time a major U.S. studio has been invited to broadcast a TV show of this magnitude on Chinese television,” said Michael Eisner, Disney’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Disney’s Buena Vista International subsidiary has licensed the state-owned Chinese network to air 104 episodes of the “Mickey and Donald” cartoon series over two years.

In exchange for the shows, Disney will receive two minutes of advertising time per half hour, which it hopes to sell to major international companies interested in marketing goods in China.

Disney’s president, Frank Wells, said the company hopes to use the TV show as a springboard for “development of a number of profitable and interrelated businesses.

“We are exploring the potential for motion picture distribution and moving forward to establish the Chinese manufacture and distribution of Disney-character merchandise, publications and other consumer products,” he said.

Eisner said he expects that the series will create a significant demand for such Disney products as clothing, toys, gifts, books and magazines.

Disney officials declined to put a dollar value on the TV advertising time or on the eventual demand for Disney goods that may be created in the vast Chinese market.

Previously, CBS received commercial air time in exchange for letting Chinese television air a collage of documentaries and features.

The Chinese network is translating and dubbing the Disney cartoons into the Mandarin language.