The China Central Television (CCTV) station is expected to earn more than 500 million yuan (US$65 million) from commercials on the eve of the Lunar New Year on Saturday, although some audience felt disappointed at the programs.

The annual gala for the Spring Festival celebration started in 1987. Since then it has been the most popular TV event attracting a major part of 1.3 billion Chinese audience on the Lunar New Year's Eve.

This year, the auction of midnight ad attracted the highest bid of 10 million yuan. And the bid for the eight-o'clock ad for the performances to start reached 5.75 million yuan.

Cross-talks and stand-up routings were among the programs that drew most audience since 2000. However, audience expressed their disappointment at the invariable boring pattern and old faces of actors and actresses.

Across the country, the celebration parties on Hunan's provincial television station and Shanghai's Dragon TV entertained the audience a lot during the holiday, with a powerful lineup of popular actors and actresses, like the "Super Girl" winners, and other champions of show programs. They also avoided the time clash with CCTV, arranging programs on the day before or after the New Year's Eve.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2007)