China opens door wider to foreign media

CBC

SHANGHAI - China announced Thursday that it will allow foreign companies to form joint ventures or strike co-production deals with domestic TV production companies, allowing international media greater access to the world's largest market.

Beginning Nov. 28, foreign companies will be allowed to take a minority ownership stake in companies producing programming like cartoons or TV dramas, government officials said on the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television website.

However, news and current affairs-related programming is still off limits.

Currently, some 30 foreign broadcasters are allowed to distribute their programming to specific areas, including upscale hotels, residential areas inhabited by expatriates and the Guangdong province in southern China.

According a statement on the website, the goal of the new rules is to "promote the development of the television production industry."

New companies or partnerships will be subject to the same rules currently faced by domestic TV producers, including China's severe content restrictions, which bans the broadcasting of public dissent, politically sensitive programming and material deemed obscene or considered unsuitable for family viewing.

Among the other rules:

Chinese partners must hold a minimum stake of 51 per cent in new co-productions.
Foreign partners can only invest cash, while Chinese partners can contribute funds and fixed assets, like property.
All programming must first be approved by the team's Chinese partners.
New projects will be overseen by the provincial bureaus of China's media regulator.
At least two-thirds of the new programming must be based on Chinese themes.

Viacom Inc.'s music network MTV, which already broadcasts a 24-hour channel in Guangdong province, has announced plans to produce Chinese-language children's programming as well as music and entertainment shows with domestic partners.

Others in talks with Chinese media companies include the U.S.-based Discovery Channel, Time Warner and Disney.