The soft diplomacy service is expected to announce the landmark agreement on Thursday, with an official signing in Shanghai slated for May 4, nine days before the Abbott government's first budget.

The deal follows Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to China last week, but will now put pressure on the government to rethink its plans to withdraw the Australia Network's funding.

Veteran media buyer Harold Mitchell said the deal showed ''an incredible acceptance by China of Australia'' after the failure of US companies News Corporation and Google to break into the market.

''This is one of the most important breakthroughs in communications between our countries. No one else has been able to do it,'' Mr Mitchell said. ''It is one of the greatest ways we can way continue on with the Prime Minister's very successful visit to China last week.''

Britain's BBC World Service and America's CNN International are the only Western broadcasters with landing rights in China. But their rights limit broadcast to certain international hotels and diplomatic compounds. Australia Network has secured rights through Shanghai Media Group, China's second biggest media company, to host ABC and other Australian content on a web portal that anyone in China can access.

Chinese broadcast partners will be able to buy the content to run on televisions around the country. Content includes programs such as Q&A, which was hosted in China last week, as well as other Australian news programs and Australian entertainment such as Home & Away and Bananas in Pyjamas.

The deal will also enable Chinese media companies to sell content to the ABC and other Australian media groups. The arrangement allows the ABC to establish a base in Shanghai with official approval to represent and sell media content across China, enter into international co-productions and generate international sponsorship and promotional opportunities.

Lynley Marshall, chief executive of ABC International, said: ''Importantly, the agreement will provide opportunities for promotion of Australian business, tourism, entertainment, culture and education and can include video content from [the] Australia Network.''

Alex Oliver, research fellow at the Lowy Institute said the deal sounded ''a very good thing'' for Australia, the ABC and the Australia Network ''if it continues to exist''. She declined to comment on criticism of the network's content.

In February, Mr Abbott accused the ABC of being unpatriotic in its coverage of the Edward Snowden leaks and asylum seeker abuse claims. ''I think it dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everyone's side but its own and I think it is a problem,'' he said.

Sun Wei, executive director of the Shanghai Media Group's International Channel Shanghai, said: ''Ground-breaking international broadcasts such as Q&A, which was produced as a collaboration between Australian and Chinese television crews, pave the way for bigger and better international media co-operation and cultural connections in the future.''