CHINA'S ferocious censors have made a further move to restrict what can be shown on television, raising yet another barrier to foreign participation in a key sector of the world's second-largest economy.
Last week, the country's powerful State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued regulations banning overseas television programs and films from prime time.
The latest tightening of content rules follows an unprecedented attack on Western cultural influences by President Hu Jintao in a recent magazine article.
"We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernising and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration," Mr Hu wrote.
"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."
...The censorship body also restricted imported programs on stations to no more than 25 per cent of the schedule.
Last year the regulator abruptly banned talent shows, including China's most popular program, Supergirl and other entertainment offerings.
The most popular offshore shows in China are from South Korea. The soap operas and dramas are enjoyed across Asia, particularly in the more liberal environments of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Stations were then ordered to boost the amount of news and current affairs shown in the evenings -- programs produced under the auspices of the country's massive propaganda machine.
The threat for failure to comply was a raft of increased, though as yet unspecified, fines.
According to the state-run English-language China Daily, the new rules were intended to create "a favourable environment for TV shows made by companies on the Chinese mainland".
But Beijing-based media lawyer Mathew Alderson, a partner at American firm Harris Moure, believes the new rules are aimed at the encroaching cultural influence of Western society.
"Chinese restrictions on foreign film and television content are often attributed to trade protectionism but I think this is only part of the story," Mr Alderson told The Australian. "The other part is that authorities here want to shelter viewers from US cultural influences. At the same time, they want to ensure that sufficient space is allowed for a particular version of Chinese culture.
"Take for instance, the recent ban on 'excessive entertainment' on TV -- that was aimed mainly at dating and talent shows, many of which were promoting 'vulgar' materialism on the part of contestants.
"But more and more Chinese are turning off the stultifying offerings of their televisions and turning to the internet. A likely result of these pronouncements will be to drive more viewers online and into pirated foreign content."
In reality there are few, if any, opportunities for foreign content providers on Chinese television, he said.
"One reason for this is that program format rights, which depend on copyright, are not respected in China -- even when a format is successfully sold to a Chinese producer.
Foreign format owners are often forced to write off returns from their formats in China in the hope of somehow achieving influence or greater market access at some imaginary future time."
