China's animated TV output jumps

China's output of animated TV series reached 261,444 minutes in 2011, up 18 %from a year earlier, signalling the country's effort in boosting its cultural sector. Overall, 469 TV drama programs went into production last year, yielding 14,939 episodes, up 7 %from 2010, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. Meanwhile, the country produced 558 feature movies, 131 educational, documentary, cartoon and other kinds of movies in 2011. Cable television subscribers amounted to 201.52 million, while that of digital television hit 114.55 million, the NBS said. By the end of 2011, nationwide radio broadcast coverage was 97.1 %of the population, and that of television had reached 97.8 percent. As the second largest economy in the world, China has been working to improve its cultural soft power. Last week, a consortium of Chinese companies agreed to set up a joint venture with the U.S.-based DreamWorks Animation, with agendas to make a sequel of blockbuster movie Kung Fu Panda 3 later this year. The sixth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that convened last October called for deepening reforms in the culture sector, accelerating its development and making it a pillar industry in the country's economy.