China's Blue Ocean Network (BON), a non-state English-language TV network which provides China-focused programs to overseas audiences, aims to promote China's soft power as well as cash in on the increasing need of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and the outside world, the two founders of this network said.

This independent 24/7 news and entertainment network began to air last September and now has two satellite channels covering Asia and North America, and several cable TV channels in major US cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Its cooperating cable TV operators include Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Fois.

Differing from other Chinese media organizations, BON has no government financing. All of its capital is from the private sector, said Gu Yifan, co-founder and chairman of BON, at a news brief yesterday in Beijing.

BON's capital comes from CDH Venture Partners, with the initial investment surpassing tens of millions of US dollars.

Its programs cover news, business, culture and tourism. Although the contents are all from and about China, most of BON's journalists and producers are Westerners so the programs can be more suited to its target audiences.

BON said it expects revenues to come from advertising, cable TV fees and media services. Enterprises that want to establish brands internationally are the network's target clients. It already has clients such as home appliance maker TCL and the Shaanxi Provincial Tourism Administration.

Zhuge Hongyun, co-founder and CEO of BON, said that after the US and Canada markets, the network will expand to Africa and South America and finally become a global brand. The company plans to go public in five years.

BON is not the first venture of its kind. In 2006 merchant Wang Weisheng bought a state-owned television station in the United Arab Emirates and re-launched it to disseminate business information about China. And in 2009 businessman Ye Maoxi bought a British satellite TV station, Propeller, which, besides regular program, now promotes cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the UK and China.