China opens access to TV market
China plans to let foreign companies take stakes in local television production companies, in a move that will give international media better access to the world’s biggest market.
From November 28, foreign broadcasters can form joint ventures or co-operation deals with Chinese partners to produce entertainment programming, including children’s cartoons and television dramas, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
However, the rules, viewed on the administration’s website, retain the ban on foreign involvement in news and current affairs-related content.
Previously, only 30 foreign broadcasters were allowed to sell programming in southern China’s Guangdong province, near Hong Kong, and also to luxury hotels and expatriate residential compounds.
Under new rules, joint venture production companies will be given the same treatment as domestic productin companies. That includes adhering to China’s numerous restrictions on content.
Authorities ban the broadcast of public dissent or politically sensitive programming and have recently stepped up censorship of anything deemed sensitive, obscene or otherwise unsuitable for family viewing.
