Apr. 26 (NBD) -- CMC Inc., China's leading media and entertainment conglomerate, and Discovery, the parent of the American pay television network Discovery Channel, announced Wednesday a partnership to build theme parks and develop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics contents for preschool children in mainland China.

The cooperation came as a result of the rising demand for superior-quality knowledge-related consumption and family-centric entertainment products.  

Li Ruigang (photo provided by the interviewee to NBD)

The "Camp Discovery" park under planning will be the first Discovery theme park around the globe. "It will likely be combined with Discovery's content experience and vacation tourism projects," Li Ruigang, founder and chairman of CMC, told media including NBD on Thursday.

Different from Disneyland and Legoland parks that have successful operational models, the "Camp Discovery" theme park will be designed and developed from the scratch.

"Discovery owns a plethora of IP contents but doesn't have a single theme park of such kind or a mature model in operating such parks," Li noted. "Thus we have to make a fresh design in accordance with characteristics of the IPs and Chinese market." 

This means unprecedented challenges in addition to enormous opportunities. 

According to Li, CMC will lead the efforts in product development while Discovery will have a say in product design and value embodiment. 

He told NBD the development would take a considerable amount of time as many details have to be taken care of. Top brains and professional companies will be hired to work on the design, and a steady and capable team will be built to guarantee sustainable operations of the park.

With regard to the question where the park will be established, Li didn't give NBD a clear answer, but said both first- and second-tier cities have strong development potentials.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn