China Media Group (CMG) and the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee signed a strategic cooperation agreement on Monday.

Shen Haixiong, president of CMG and Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, jointly signed a memorandum of cooperation on behalf of the two sides in Paris, France. Both agreed to deepen cooperation in the promotion of the Paris Olympics and the production of related programs.

Shen Haixiong (L), president of CMG, and Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, jointly signed a memorandum of cooperation on behalf of the two sides in Paris, France, October 23, 2023. /CMG

According to Shen, as a main broadcaster of the Paris Olympic Games, CMG will put together a 2,000-member team to ensure top-notch quality of production and broadcasting, assisted by cutting edge technology in 5G+4K/8K+AI format. CMG will produce public signals of four sports, including gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, and sport climbing. 

Beautiful and romantic as it has been knowing, the city of Paris will be hosting the Games again on the 100th year mark of the first time it staged the event in 1924, and present to the world with magnificent creativity and spectacular games, which CMG hope to broadcast to global audiences, he added. 

Next year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, for which CMG has kickstarted a series of events to further vitalize people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and to strengthen the ties between the two Olympic cities, Beijing and Paris, said Shen. With the signing of the agreement, he hoped to further deepen cultural exchanges between the two sides in sports, education, film and television, as the cooperation is expected to contribute to the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership.

Estanguet briefed CMG’s visiting tour about preparation of the Games, and expressed gratitude for CMG’s support to the Paris organizing committee. According to Estanguet, they are deeply impressed by the success of both times Beijing hosted the Games in 2008 and 2022, especially when the most recent Winter Games attracted some 2 billion people to watch during the pandemic. There’s much to learn from the Paris side, and people of both sides will be brought together in the spirit of the Olympics toward an everlasting friendship, he added. 

Shen Haixiong (middle L), president of China Media Group, meets with French Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak (middle R) at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, October 23, 2023. /CMG

French Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak met with Shen at the Louvre Museum in Paris. She congratulated him on the cooperation agreement and said she looked forward to a wider collaboration between the French Ministry of Culture and CMG in fields such as TV and film, traditional culture and digital arts. Meanwhile, Shen introduced how media organizations and cultural enterprises of the two countries have explored on the digital front of iconic landmarks in the two cultures, such as the Great Wall and the Louvre Museum.