SHANGHAI • China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing's largest and most important TV network, said it will launch a new global media platform at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day to help rebrand China overseas.

The new multilingual media cluster will have six TV channels, a video newsletter agency and a new media agency, and will see the original CCTV News channel renamed to China Global Television Network, (CGTN) the network said on its website on Friday night.

CGTN currently has production centres in Washington, DC, and Nairobi. A Europe production centre is also in development, according to the network.

China has been extending its global influence with "soft power" tactics such as launching new English language media and auditioning international public relations firms to tailor its branding strategy.

President Xi Jinping said in February last year that state media must tell China's story to the world better and become internationally influential, adding that onshore portals must follow the party line and promote "positive propaganda as the main theme".

REUTERS