Louise Duffy ©RapidTVNews | 28-07-2011


China's Xinhua news agency has bagged a prime advertising space by leasing a sign on the LED billboard in New York’s Times Square.

It has taken over the 60-foot high by 40-foot wide space that was leased by HSBC bank for the past 10 years.

Xinhua has had a presence in the US since 1971, and in May moved its North American headquarters from the New York borough of Queens to Times Square. Programming produced at its television studios there will be broadcast back to China. Last year, it launched a 24-hour English-language television network called CNC World.