China's satellite broadcasters have eliminated more than two-thirds of prime-time entertainment programs such as dating and reality shows to comply with tough new government restrictions, as Beijing increasingly seeks to rein in cultural trends it finds problematic.
The state-run Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that satellite broadcasters have winnowed the number of entertainment shows aired during prime time to 38 from 126. A new rule that came into effect on Sunday limits the number of entertainment programs the broadcasters air to two each week and a maximum of 90 minutes daily between 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The rule, first announced in October, is targeted at what Chinese regulators have called "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste," to address the rise of talent shows, dating shows and other such programming aired by China's tightly regulated, but increasingly competitive, regional satellite broadcasters. Authorities also encouraged broadcasters to air more news and educational programming.
"Satellite channels have started to broadcast programs that promote traditional virtues and socialist core values," Xinhua on Tuesday cited China's broadcasting regulator as saying.
The rule is part of a broad government effort to take firmer control of China's media landscape, an effort that also includes the nation's freewheeling Internet culture. The Internet aspect marks a recognition by policy makers of the Web's rising power in a country with few other public national forums for discussing issues of the day. The media part, while targeting low-brow trends, also shows China's rising interest in developing its own soft power—in the arts, media and culture—to compete with the likes of Hollywood as the nation looks to take on a broader global role.
Newly released remarks by President Hu Jintao also highlight Beijing's desire to limit Hollywood's influence. In October, Mr. Hu warned senior Communist Party leaders that "hostile" foreign forces are seeking to "Westernize" the country. "We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond," Mr. Hu said, according to the Associated Press. The comments were published this week in a party-run magazine called Seeking Truth and translated by Western news services.
At the end of that October gathering, Chinese officials publicly called for stricter control of social media, which has challenged the Chinese government's traditional hold on the nation's information channels.
Since then, Chinese Internet companies have announced efforts to crack down on "rumors"—a term often understood to mean information that the Communist Party finds undesirable—while city governments are enacting new rules that would require users of Twitter-like microblogs and other services to register their real names with the companies before posting.
Western media face limits in terms of the amount and the subjects that can be shown. But Hollywood continues to have tremendous sway in China—the movie "Avatar" earned $204 million at the Chinese box office in 2010; the latest "Sherlock Holmes" movie is poised to hit theaters this month.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to succeed Mr. Hu during an upcoming once-a-decade leadership change, once told the then-U.S. ambassador he was a fan of U.S. war movies, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
Nearly two years ago, Jiangsu Satellite TV's dating show "If You Are the One" caused ripples around the nation when a female contestant said she would rather be unhappy dating a man with a BMW than be happy with a man who rode only a bicycle.
Though "If You Are the One" faced new content restrictions after that broadcast, it was spared the latest culling, according to Xinhua, which quoted the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, known as Sarft. Also spared was a soap opera called "Li Yuan Chun," broadcast by Henan Satellite TV.
The original statement couldn't be found Tuesday on the Sarft website and a list of the canceled shows was unavailable.
China's media watchdogs already keep gritty programming involving crime, violence and social issues off the air. In response, regional satellite broadcasters with an aim to reach a national audience in recent years have turned to reality shows that sometimes pit family members against each other, or dating shows that sometimes dwell on how wealthy the suitors are—a potentially provocative issue in a country with a vast gap between the wealthy and the poor.
The new rules could hurt a potentially lucrative market for Western companies. WPP PLC's ad-buying unit GroupM estimates that China's television advertising revenue in 2010 totaled $27.4 billion. But there could be a plus side for advertisers, since much of China's recent output of entertainment programming involves copycat shows that eat away at the originals' ratings.
