‘Ip Man’ premieres on TVB International Channels

Martial arts television drama Ip Man, has become the first mainland Chinese drama to get an overseas release prior to a wide domestic broadcast.   

Ip Man stars Kevin Cheng as the titular Wing Chun master, best known for being the teacher of Bruce Lee. After successful portrayal of the martial arts legend in the 2008 film, also titled Ip Man, the grandmaster became a subject for many commercially successful films, bringing Ip Man into popular culture.

The drama first premiered through mainland China’s Qilu TV, a local channel in Shandong, and was a ratings success. For eight days in a row, the drama was the number one most-watched program in Shandong, jaynestars.com reports.

Hong Kong’s TVB secured the overseas broadcast rights in early 2012. The show’s first episode was aired in early March, through a variety of TVB International’s overseas cable affiliates, including Singapore’s Starhub VV Drama channel, Malaysia’s Astro Wah Lai Toi, Europe’s The Chinese Channel, United States’ TVB USA, Canada’s Fairchild TV and Talent Vision TV, Australia’s TVBJ, and New Zealand’s WTV.