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China’s big banned theory on US TV corruption

In China, The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS & The Practice will just lead you to corruption, prostitution and gambling.

2014-05-20_1126China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has indicated US shows The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS and The Practice on streaming websites breach copyright and were not in line with Article 16 of state regulations on Internet audiovisual products.

In April the shows were ordered off video streaming websites last month, leaving University students from Wuhan in central China to post a quizzical response to SAPPRFT a on a university website.

In responding China’s media watchdog has not clarified which section of the rules the shows were not in line with, but Article 16 relates to shows that “harm the nation’s reputation, mislead young people to commit crimes, prostitution, gambling or terrorism.”

The move comes despite more robust depiction of China and its politics, in such other streaming shows as House of Cards‘ second season.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Prof. Ying Zhu from the City University of New York suggests, “The reason is simple economics. Chinese local producers want to keep a lion’s share of the massive domestic online content market, and they want to cultivate their own fans instead of siding with the fans of US or UK shows.

“Though such shows may be popular, they are preferred not by the masses, but but by sophisticated urban elites who are wealthier, better-educated and pride themselves on having cultivated a taste for quality Western programs, as opposed to the East Asia pop culture devoured by what the elites see as viewers with less discerning tastes. And of course for elites, Chinese domestic TV dramas are further down the food chain still. Social snobbery is the very fabric of the global elite, which ascending members of China’s elite society yearn to be a part of.

Foreign TV shows are also a threat to state-owned broadcasters, who have seen new media undermine both their political control and revenue streams.”

BBC executives reportedly visited China earlier this month hoping to persuade the authorities to broadcast various banned shows such as Sherlock, which is watched online by 69 million people.

A source told the Mirror: “Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother, is a dodgy government official and that’s probably too close to home for the Communist Party of China.

“Chinese dramas are dull compared to UK ones. That’s why they’re so popular and people watch them over the internet.”

Better to follow the good family values of If You Are the One perhaps?

Source: Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, Hollywood Reporter.

3 Responses

  1. They don’t seem to worried about the specific content. It is the shows with huge audience that have been singled out.

    That undermines the state broadcasters and the control the party has through them. Niall Ferguson’s thesis is that China is huge diverse place with a bloody history and order and control are valued above all else.

    China is also in negotiation for trade (including EU and US actions for dumping solar panels) and territorial disputes with the Japan, whom the US is backing.

    The ABC’s ‘deal’ for the Australia Network was far from done in this climate.

  2. I read about the Chinese Government’s ban on The Big Bang Theory and other US programs last month. Apparently one of the major Chinese streaming websites bought the rights to TBBT from Warner Bros last year, so it could not have been deemed to be a copyright breach. I read that state broadcaster China Central Television would now buy the show from Warner and show a “cleansed” version, complete with Chinese subtitles. Sounds like a mixture of censorship and a push to force people to watch CCTV to boost its ratings.

  3. Interestingly the most popular series in China via streaming websites is ‘Nikita’, which has been streamed 472 million times. A quote from a TVLine/Billboard article:

    ‘Online streaming sites regularly receive orders to take down Chinese or foreign TV programs and movies, but usually because the regulator considers them to be too salacious or violent or because they infringe copyright laws. Sohu’s most popular U.S. shows are “Nikita” – episodes from the first and second seasons have been watched a combined total of 472 million times – and “Masters of Sex,” which weren’t included in the order.’

    Very interesting considering the show only averaged 1.5 million on the CW in the US

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