State-owned enterprise China Movie Channel will launch an online streaming video service similar to Netflix (NFLX.NASDAQ) in the fourth quarter, potentially opening broad new swathes of the mainland viewing audience to US television and film, Reuters reported. The company’s backers said it has already signed an agreement to use content from Paramount Pictures, and is in talks with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and other studios. The project will be a joint venture with Jiaflix Enterprises, whose backers include a former Columbia Pictures chairman. China Movie Channel current service, called M1905.com, offers roughly 6,000 Chinese-language movies and will be converted into the new service. Like US-based Netflix, the service will be based on a flat fee subscription, although newer films will be available for individual purchase. Hollywood has so far enjoyed only limited access to China due to strict quotas for the number of foreign films allowed in theaters.
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