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July 13, 2005
UPDATE: Foreign Investment in "Local" Radio & TV
In the winter, rosy forecasts to the contrary, we detailed the restrictions placed upon foreign investment in the Chinese media.
Today's Beijing Morning Post writes of the announcement by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) of additional restrictions aimed at managing the investment behavior of the Chinese media itself. Stating that all TV and radio broadcasting operations are now seen as a forbidden zone for foreign investment (电视、广播频道的经营一贯被看作广电行业对外开放的禁区), the Morning Post writes in part, quoting Article 7 of the relevant regulation:
广电总局向各地方发出《广播影视系统地方外事工作管理规定》。规定明确指出，各地方广播电台、电视台不得向境外机构出租广播电视频道（率），不得与境外机构合资、合作经营广播电视频道（率）。
[Editors Translation: SARFT issued all localities with the Regulations Pertaining to the Management of Foreign Affairs in Localities of the TV Broadcasting System. (Note: the formal English name for this regulation is as yet unknown.) The regulation clearly points out that all local radio and TV stations shall not lease frequencies to, form joint ventures with or cooperatively operate broadcasting stations with foreign organizations.]
Co-operative programming appears to have been prohibited as well. There goes development of the Chinese version of the Antiques Roadshow!
One is not surprised at the development. The media is primarily an organ of state, and only recently a source of revenue. But the further promulgation of prohibitive regulation makes one think that the localities had expressed a good deal of interest in foreign cooperation. More on this as we see foreign reaction to the development.
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