MCLC: evolution of Chinese tv

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Michael Keane <m.keane at qut.edu.au>
Subject: evolution of Chinese tv
***********************************************************

This story of the evolution of Chinese TV may be of interest to  some
readers
 

Michael

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Source: Creative Transformations (May 2014):
http://www.creativetransformations.asia/2014/05/chinas-television-industry-
but-not-as-we-know-it/

 
On the 5th December 2013 a crowd of media industry professionals and
observers crammed into the Number One Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Shanghai
Hotel to listen to the new elite of China’s online content sector.
Heading up the keynote list were Charles Zhang, CEO and Chairman of SOHU,
Ma Dong, CCO of iQyi.com; Shan Xiaolei, Vice President of PPTV.com; Tan
Jingying, Vice President of Letv.com, Tao Mingcheng, CEO of BesTV, and
Tian Ming CEO of Canxing, the latter a leading television production
company based in Shanghai. The event was the China National Internet
Audio-Visual Industry Forum <http://www.cnaif.com/index.php>. I had
managed to gain entry into this important industry event by chance.

While the names might not be so familiar outside China, perhaps the best
point of comparison are digital platforms like Youtube, Hulu and Netflix
that offer a range of streaming and downloaded content through the
internet. In China the online content market is growing exponentially
because of the massive online audience and its propensity for sharing. The
dominant players manifest as online video providers and video-hosting
providers. Many of those presenting in the Grand Hyatt Ballroom were on
the side of pirates in the past; on this occasion they sang in unison from
the copyright hymn sheet provided by the event’s sponsor.

The sponsor was the Motion Pictures Association <http://www.mpa-i.org/>
(MPA), which for many of the audience present was a potent symbol of the
creativity of Hollywood. The parent organisation, the Motion Pictures
Association of America (MPAA) had waged a sustained campaign since the
early 1990s to gain access to China’s media markets, culminating in
agreements by the government to loosen foreign media entry rules following
China’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession in December 2001. Despite
concessions made to foreign media it remained difficult for
‘sophisticated’ foreign programming to breach China’s regulatory defences.
In many cases audiences were not prepared for foreign genres; and when
they were, as in the case of youth audiences, the state ensured that
access to primetime broadcast channels was blocked.

In the following years the lure of the Chinese market sparked a wave of
interest from professionals from the UK, Europe, and even Australasia.
Directors who were once vocal critics of the regime brought projects to
China, adding alternative endings for screenplays, editing problematic
topics, and providing cameos for Chinese actors. In the online space,
where an incredible amount of capital is invested in production,
collaborations—and talk of impending mergers—now seem to be almost a daily
Occurrence.

In the Number One Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Shanghai Hotel the forum
started with the usual ceremony. Government VIPs informed the assembled
masses of the significance of the ‘Chinese dream’, in this case the dream
was to take China’s media to the world. Like most dreams, however, there
was an air of unreality. The home market was where the action was, and
where internationalization was taking place. Following the departure of
officials from the Ballroom dreams were put to the side. Discussion turned
to the domestic market, how to generate original content, how to combat
piracy, how to exploit e-commerce, and how to work alongside the incumbent
television system.

This event is significant for a number of reasons. First, there is a
growing sense that China’s media industry is transforming, breaking out of
the political containers that have constrained commercial development
since the term ‘industry’ was first used in the early 1990s. The collapse
of boundaries is most evident in China’s online space. Second, the idea
that China’s media can go out to the world, and even compete with the
‘foreign wolves’, fits nicely with the political rhetoric about China’s
international status, a feature of nightly news broadcasts on the national
broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV). With the dream of
internationalization pervading the nation there is no shortage of support
for ‘national champions’.

 
Television and global markets: new strategies

To put these developments into a global perspective it is worth
considering how television content moves across national borders. The
television industry has seen three different models of
internationalization. The first is licensing of programs, the second model
is international co‑production, and the third is adaptation of program
concepts from one place to another. A fourth model is imminent.

Licensing of programming, the first model, is self-evident. A program is
recorded for transmission in the home territory. The program doesn’t
change when it is sold, although subtitles can be added for export to new
territories. Over the past several decades program distribution has
predominantly taken the form of licensing in different territories, a
process assisted by regional offices and annual television markets (e.g.
MIPCOM). The revenue gained from ancillary markets is significant taking
into account that production costs are already covered in the home market.
This model of television distribution is dominated by the major studios in
Hollywood which send their expensive products into new territories, for
example shows like Disney s Lost and ABC’s Desperate Housewives. Yet the
downside of this model in territories like China—and other parts of
Asia—is the massive loss of revenue through piracy, made even more acute
by file sharing technologies.

The second model, co‑production, has attracted a great deal of attention
in recent years in China. Co-productions have made headway in China
because they offer a way into the market, as long as the necessary
conditions are met, for instance, censorship of political ideas and
incorporation of Chinese elements. Producers often talk about
co-development, referring to the strategy of co-writing stories that will
accommodate both parties, although in China this road is littered with
failures. Co-productions are more evident in film and documentary than
television; they came to prominence internationally in the mid-1990s as a
result of economic and technological changes which made ‘runaway
productions’ more feasible as well as providing opportunities for less
powerful content nations to work together officially.

Formats are third model. The international trade in television formats
took off in the 1990s. The circulation of TV program ideas internationally
has facilitated the emergence of new national sources of formats, with
format concepts developed in Japan and Korea.  Japan’s Iron Chef is a
well-known export. In the past two years Korean formats such as Where Are
We Going Dad? 
<http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=118029> (baba qu
na’er?) have become very popular in the PRC as have international
franchises like The Voice of China
<http://www.eeo.com.cn/ens/2012/0906/233129.shtml>, China’s Got Talent and
The X Factor China. Chinese television’s acceptance of the rules of the
international format trade, however, has taken time to register and as I
have discussed elsewhere there have been many recriminations and
accusations of foul play.

The fourth model, which industry analysts now call ‘connected viewing
<http://www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/mip/what-connected-viewing>’, is more
about distribution than production. Although content is still king, the
speakers in the Grand Hyatt Ballroom are the ‘new king kongs
<http://www.amazon.com/Screen-Distribution-Kongs-Online-Palgrave-ebook/dp/B
00D5T9U22>.’ These savvy and well-connected entrepreneurs understand there
is a massive market for new genres and formats of media among audiences
disenchanted with the heavily restricted fare of the traditional
broadcasters.

To understand what this means for the future of media in China we have to
take account of how technological changes in the medium of television are
impacting on viewing practices. Since its inception in 1958, Chinese
television has been viewed in the family living room, allowing the
government to send messages directly to a captive audience. Propaganda, by
definition, relies on constant repetition and assumes a passive audience.
This equation has changed with digital media. While still viewed in living
rooms, television is a communication and entertainment medium delivered
through set-top boxes deploying interactive applications (apps). An
expanding array of opportunities exists for audiences to view content and
to ‘reconnect’ with each other.

Content is accessed on small tablets as well as on large flat panel
television screen and conspicuously displayed in taxis, subways and on
transit platforms. ‘Smart devices’ allow audiences to be users and content
generators—as the tag line of BesTV, one of China’s new breed of content
providers puts it, ‘from watching TV to using TV
<http://www.bestv.com.cn/en/index.html>’. Access to digital video
recorders means that people can watch when it suits; these flexible
viewing practices disrupt the traditional model of television production.
While these changes began in international television systems, their
impact is nowhere as obvious as in China. Many younger audiences are
especially attracted to shorter ‘transmedia’ formats that can be viewed on
‘second screens’ and enhanced by ‘TV everywhere
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Everywhere>’ apps, which makes it easy
for content to be shared interactively and instantaneously with friends.

Whereas getting access to the hearts and minds of Chinese viewers in the
past was almost impossible, the existence of hundreds of community
discussion forums provides a means for fans of international content to
connect. Even if the content is not readily available, there are ways to
access; some avenues like Bit Torrent sites and pirated DVDs are illegal
but increasingly new online players are entering into content distribution
deals and incubating new fast-moving formats and genres that exploit
celebrity culture.

The medium of television is in a state of unprecedented flux in China.
Changes translate into new opportunities for foreign content players,
whether licensing, co-productions, formats or transmedia. Whereas in the
past television was about making a successful show, producers are now
looking to create content that is flexible, which can be distributed
across different platforms and networks. Micro-content and user-generated
content, sometimes innovative, often derivative, has become the new
currency as the technology sector integrates with story-tellers. The
digital transformation of media is transforming peoples’ lives and their
cultural consumption in a way that was unimaginable even a decade ago.

 
 
Michael Keane