* Aiming to list new media, LED units as soon as early 2011
* Interested in secondary listing on planned int'l board
* Expects to maintain or match current growth rates
* Says News Corp approached it about partnering in China
By Doug Young
TIANJIN, China, Sept 14 (Reuters) - China-focused broadcaster Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd aims to list two of its fast-growing units as soon as early next year, with an eye on its own secondary listing in China to capitalise on its strong name recognition there, its chairman said on Tuesday.
The company would like to list its new media division, most likely in New York, and could list its LED outdoor advertising unit on China's year-old Nasdaq-style enterprise board ChiNext, at around the same time, Chairman Liu Changle told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum in China.
He added that Hong Kong-listed Phoenix would like to make its own secondary listing by offering China Depositary Receipts for a planned international board that would likely be set up in Shanghai by the local stock exchange.
"Phoenix has entered a high-speed stable stage in its development," said Liu, a former military affairs reporter with a background in broadcasting. "We think we'll have some good numbers to show at our 15th birthday in March 2011."
A TOUGH MARKET
Phoenix, whose major stakeholders include China Mobile Ltd, China's dominant mobile carrier, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, is one of a handful of foreign broadcasters trying to break into the tough China market, where Beijing likes to keep a tight rein on information.
Time Warner Inc has largely ceded control of its CETV station to a Hong Kong partner, and News Corp made headlines last month when it sold a controlling stake in its China channels to a local partner after years of frustration in the market.
Liu said News Corp, which holds 17 percent of Phoenix shares, actually approached his company about a deal involving its Xing Kong China channels, but Phoenix ultimately declined because Xing Kong was too similar to its own offerings.
Unlike the foreign players who have struggled, Phoenix has gained a steady national following for its Chinese-language programming and news, known as a relatively independent voice in a country where news is highly censored and taboo subjects such as Tibetan independence or the Falun Gong spiritual movement are largely kept off the air.
Liu estimated his company's traditional TV stations now reach about 20 percent of the Chinese population, as it expands slowly in the highly regulated market.
Phoenix reported that profit in the first half of the year rose 73 percent to HK$190 million, as revenue jumped 61 percent to HK$1.1 billion on China's recovering ad market.
"I think we can at least maintain these growth rates," said Liu.
In the first six months of the year, revenue from TV accounted for 67 percent of the company's total, while revenue from new media accounted for 22 percent.
Liu said the ratio of two-thirds of revenue from traditional TV advertising and one-third from other sources contrasts with a previous ratio that saw it get more than 90 percent of its revenue from traditional broadcasting.
"This is a very regular ratio for a media company," he said of the latest balance. "It shows we're becoming a more diversified media company."
Phoenix's actual revenue from new media operations for the period for the first half totalled HK$245 million, a near 10-fold increase from the HK$29 million a year earlier.
Founded in 2005, Beijing-based Phoenix New Media received a $25 million investment last November from a group including units of Intel Corp and Bertelsmann.
Liu said Phoenix expected to have a war chest of about $200 million by year end, which it plans to use in part to help it grow through acquisitions. He declined to give a timetable or size for any deals, which the company has generally shied away from up until now. (Editing by Chris Lewis)