"It won't be broadcast live. The launching unit doesn't want it to be broadcast live," said an official in the manager's office of the state-run China Central Television Station's Channel 9, an English channel.

"It's the same for all the CCTV channels," said the official, who declined to be identified. "It's been decided. This decision won't change."

The official added: "There will still be a broadcast, but it will be delayed."

He said he could not comment on the government decision, but said his station, the largest and most powerful in China which generally reports state-controlled news first, had originally expected to show the history-making event live.

Fear of public disappointment and criticism if the mission fails could be the reason behind the decision, analysts say.

With millions potentially watching, failure would be a publicity disaster for the Chinese Communist Party, which hopes the flight will not only promote patriotism and national cohesion but legitimacy for its rule.

"It's because they had a failure in the past. They are being very careful this time," said Zhai Liyuan, a physicist at the China Association for Science and Technology.

The government had shown some satellite launches live until 1995 when a rocket exploded during a live broadcast, killing several people on the ground.

"Before 1995, we used to organize young people from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China to the launch center to watch, but after that we did not organize such activities anymore," Zhai said.

He said the government did not want too much domestic publicity for fear of adding even more pressure to the people involved in launching Shenzhou V.

News leaks in the run-up to the launch have largely gone to the Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po, rather than mainland Chinese media.

Zhai said China was trying not to raise public expectations of the leadership too high.

"If there are too many reports, people are going to think the country's stronger than it really is," he said.

"People are going to think if you're so strong, you should resolve a lot of problems, such as unemployment. But there are still a lot of problems the government has not resolved."

The government mouthpiece People's Daily website also reported CCTV has dropped original plans for a live broadcast.

Another CCTV employee indicated the government was staying true to its habit of closely guarding coverage of important events with a high level of secrecy.

"It's for the sake of secrecy," the employee told AFP.

China is expected to launch Shenzhou V from Wednesday to Friday, but it has yet to reveal an exact launch date or identify the astronaut or astronauts chosen.

SPACE.WIRE