Phoenix Satellite Television Thursday announced that two of its channels have aroused tremendous interest among Chinese communities in the San Francisco Bay Area since they were carried by Comcast Cable system earlier this year.
  
The Phoenix programmings, North America Chinese Channel and InfoNews Channel, are part of the six-channel package called Dragon Pack, specifically catering to local Chinese-speaking communities, Phoenix TV and Comcast officials said.
  
They added that the inclusion of Phoenix TV into the Comcast package is conducive to meeting the need of Chinese communities for high quality Chinese television programming, and will also help promote better understanding of Chinese culture and cultural exchanges between Chinese and mainstream Americans.
  
Xiaoyong Wu, CEO of Phoenix TV (U.S.) Inc., said his company's objective has always been to bring all the Chinese across the world together through television.
  
"Most Chinese feel that they can associate themselves with our channel, because we really care about issues concerning China and Chinese, and we report on the issues in an objective and timely way," said Wu.
  
Phoenix U.S. service has become the most influential Chinese-language TV service in the United States, Canada and South America, with more than 200,000 subscribers in the areas, since its launch in 2000, he said.
  
With its new partnership with Comcast in the San Francisco area, Phoenix TV now could provide its programmings to customers through local cable systems in all the three U.S. metropolitan areas with relatively large Chinese communities, including Los Angeles and New York.
  
Lorena Hernandez, Comcast's Bay Area director of communications, said the Dragon Pack, which combines most-loved programs for Chinese coming from China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, is the ideal program package sought after by the cable service provider for a long time.
  
The package is part of Comcast's on-going commitment to customers to bring value by expanding its already extensive diverse programming line-up, as well as part of its commitment to helping the area's diverse population to reach for their communities around the world, she said.
  
Comcast is the biggest cable television and communications service provider in the Bay Area, with more than 24 million cable customers, 12 million high-speed Internet customers and 3 million voice customers.
  
The company is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content. 
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2007)