Watch international (foreign language) TV programs in Shanghai?

Believe it or not, China has thousands of TV stations, national / provincial and local. While Shanghai local cable TV network offers around 60 channels, with over 10 CCTV channels, one “Satellite TV Station” from each province and some Shanghai local channels like Dragon TV, Shanghai TV Stations and Oriental TV Stations. Nationally only two channels are broadcasted in English: CCTV-4 and CCTV-9. There are no international channels in this cable TV package ( in fact it’s the only package available). Subscription to all these channels costs RMB150 a year. Some good hotels and apartment buildings offer their residences int’l channels via independent dish systems, most likely the channels are HBO Asia, Star Movies, CNN, BBC World, DW-TV, NHK, TV5, Star Sports, ESPN, maybe more channels like AXN and NGC. It’s different from place to place. You can ask the property owner or your agent what channels are you going to have and how much you should pay before you move in.