Tag Archives: SARFT

‘Big Bang Theory’ Back on Air in China Under New Regulations

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photo: CBS

“The Big Bang Theory” is poised to become the first U.S. television series to play on China’s online video platforms under the country’s new content rules. The eighth season of the show is set to air on tv.sohu […] SARFT has put new limits on the number of imported shows that can be aired on China’s video platforms. It also requires every episode of a series to pass censorship before it can go to air. That limits the ability of the platforms to release episodes on a day and date basis in parallel with their overseas broadcast. – Patrick Frater, Variety

China’s Tencent partners with HBO for TV show streaming

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Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings Ltd is partnering with Time Warner Inc’s HBO network to stream its TV shows, which are known for their provocative content and may draw scrutiny from the country’s authorities. […] Tencent declined to say how much it spent on HBO’s content, nor did it give a date for release. The TV series and films are set to be broadcast in the very near future, said Tencent, as they are still subject to approval from China’s regulators and may need to be censored. Earlier this year, China’s state broadcaster CCTV aired a chopped version of Game of Thrones which one viewer said resembled a “medieval castle documentary”. – Paul Carsten,Reuters 
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Video-streaming sites in China under scrutiny

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Last Thursday, the Beijing News daily reported that [The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film & Television] called a meeting with several streaming site operators and ordered them to remove apps that viewers can download through TV sets to access their contents. Sarft has not given a clear reason for tightening control over video-streaming sites though analysts cite reasons, such as protecting traditional television stations. […] China’s video-streaming sites have grown rapidly in recent years at the expense of television stations, constrained by tight control and unclear rules that result in shows that many viewers find unappealing. Online sites require a government licence to operate but are largely left to self-regulate their content. The online-video viewer population, which now accounts for about 80 per cent of the 632 million Internet users in China, is forecast to grow to around 700 million by 2016, according to iResearch, which tracks the industry. – Kor Kian Beng & Carol Feng,The Straits Times via AsiaOne

China Clamps Down on Foreign TV Streaming

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As of today, about half the content on popular Chinese streaming services comes from outside the country. But that all will change as the country limits foreign, streamed TV shows to 30 percent. […] The sudden blackout of popular U.S. shows is seen as an example of Chinese leaders keeping a tight grip on foreign media to counter the U.S.’s soft power and shore up China’s own television industry. Last year, Chinese censors withheld box office receipts while negotiating a rise in tariffs on Western importers. Now, Chinese leaders want to become not only international exporters of finished goods but also dramas and soap operas, which amount to about 10,000 episodes a year. – Robert Mann,Adweek
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The Simpsons comes to China in Sohu online-streaming deal

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The Simpsons will make its official debut in China this month – marking the first major video-streaming deal after Chinese regulators tightened the approval process for streaming sites. Internet giant Sohu and 20th Century Fox Television Distribution announced the licensing deal on Monday, according to the industry publication The Hollywood Reporter. […] As of the end of last year, Sohu was the largest provider of foreign television shows in China. It offered 144 American and British TV series, according to data by the Beijing-based consultancy EntGroup. Among others, it broadcasts the series House of Cards, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Competitors Tencent and Youku Tudou respectively carried 123 and 109 series. – Patrick Boehler,South China Morning Post
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New SARFT Regulations Worry The Internet TV Industry

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Despite the Chinese government’s efforts to keep the Internet under control in recent years, the level of influence that it can exert over TV is much stronger. Comparing with the information people can access on the Internet, TV content is often much more tamed and boring – or to give it a slightly positive spin, sanitory. Yet with the rise of Internet TV, the dichotomy of TV and the Internet is no longer there and the once clearly drawn line is becoming increasingly blurred. The [State Administration of Radio Film and Television], with its sense of entitlement as the TV police, may feel intruded and even threatened. But no matter how hard it wants to restore the old order, if that is what it tries to accomplish with its regulatory measures, it should expect nothing more than causing some temporary nuisance, and have no illusions that it can bring the televisions back to what they were a decade ago. – Eric Mu, Forbes http://ift.tt/1zMQJx1