A brand new Beijing Radio and Television Station was unveiled on Monday morning, after the merging of Beijing TV Station, Beijing People's Broadcasting Station and the Beijing All Media and Culture Group.

The detailed restructuring plan and name of the new company have not been confirmed, said Zhang Qiang, Beijing TV Station, associate editor-in-chief.

"I never received an official announcement from Beijing TV Station about the restructuring before this ceremony," Li Xiaoyue of the sports channel, told METRO.

Li said her colleagues at Beijing People's Broadcasting Station received the official notice months ago.

"In the new group, the head of Beijing TV Station will be the boss, so technically this restructuring centers on Beijing TV Station," Li said.

"It won't affect my work at all, since my work is related to content. I guess it has more impact on administrative workers," she said.

A staff member from Beijing TV Station suggested around 30 percent of employees could be made redundant.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) proposed the merger in April.

Tian Tao, vice-president of market research company CTR, said this is just the first step.

"The current trend is for the convergence of the Internet, TV and telecom networks, but as yet, media groups are not prepared for this challenge. Many media companies are still defined as 'public service units', which doesn't help them compete in the market."

Tian said telecom companies were better prepared for the coming convergence, while media groups lagged far behind.

"Media groups are trying to catch up with their future competitors by reconstructing first," Tian said.

MIIT and SARFT are trying to decide how telecommunications companies will be linked to the cable TV network and how cable TV will integrate with telecommunications.

In 2009, revenues from broadcasting companies in Beijing reached 10 billion yuan, which came from more than 1,000 companies.

"The reorganization will help to consolidate resources and achieve economies of scale," said Zhao Shi, deputy-minister of SARFT, at the ceremony on Monday morning.

Huang Shengmin, dean of the Advertising College at the Communication University of China, said SARFT is encouraging media companies to peel off their marketable assets, such as program making.

Reconstruction within media companies is nothing new. At the end of 2009, the program production center in China Central Television was transformed into a company; and just a few days ago, China Central Television granted more power to individual channels.

Golden Eagle Broadcasting System, known as the Hunan Broadcasting Station, has launched several reconstructions over for the last few years.

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