Chinese company gets licence for 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?' TV show

HONG KONG (AP) - Who wants to be a millionaire? Potentially hundreds of millions do in China. Dutch company 2waytraffic, which holds the rights to the popular TV quiz show, "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" said Thursday that it has licensed a Chinese company to produce a local edition of the program.

The deal marks the show's exposure to the world's largest potential viewership: China has about 1.3 billion people - 20 per cent of the global total.

China Media Company will produce and air at least 104 episodes of the show nationally starting in May, 2waytraffic said in statement on its website.

It won't be the first time the show has aired in the Chinese-speaking world, however.

Hong Kong's ATV station launched a local version of the show several years ago, although it was broadcast in the southern Chinese dialect of Cantonese. The mainland Chinese edition likely will use Mandarin, the country's national language.

© The Canadian Press, 2007