Tokyo – NHK Enterprises (NEP) and CCTV-8, the drama channel of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, have closed a licensing deal that will take three NHK drama series to China with the contract signed by Tetsuo Hiraga, NEP Senior Managing Director and Han Jianqun, CCTV-8 Deputy Controller at NEP’s Tokyo headquarters.

CCTV-8, launched in 1996 as an art and culture channel, extended its reach throughout China in 1999 became an all-drama channel and began broadcasting around the clock in 2010. Focusing on dramas produced in China, CCTV-8 stepped up its acquisition of high-quality foreign content with this deal as the first of its kind.

The three drama series, Angel’s Share, Divorced Under One Roof, and Cat Street, each tells a tale about contemporary Japanese youngsters and families in five or six episodes.

NEP’s Tetsuo Hiraga said: “We are very excited about this deal, which we achieved two years after we started boosting our marketing efforts in China. I hope the deal with CCTV-8 marks the beginning of a resurgence in the popularity and presence of Japanese drama in China.”