Regulator tightens rules on foreign TV and films online

Every foreign TV show and movie shown on Chinese online streaming sites will have to be licensed or else go offline early next year, the country's broadcast regulator said yesterday as it tightened controls over the online industry.

Licensed foreign content also cannot exceed 30 percent of total domestic content licensed in the previous year, an executive at one of the sites told the Associated Press.

The announcement on the website of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television only addressed the approval requirement for foreign content and did not mention the 30 percent limit.

The statement urged websites to register all foreign films and TV series they were running at media administrative departments by March 31 next year. Works not on official records will be taken off the air from April 1.

It said companies must obtain a screening license or distribution license for each TV drama or film and those that do not have one will not be allowed to be broadcast.

The purpose is to "help online culture grow and prosper," the media watchdog said, adding that it encourages websites to "import, in an appropriate amount, cinema and TV works that are healthy, well-made and showcase good values so as to absorb fine cultural achievements across the globe and meet people's increasing spiritual and cultural demands."

As traditional television channels rarely invest in foreign series due to supervision barriers, budget constraints and an agenda that favors domestic products, video streaming websites have become a staple provider of popular foreign TV dramas for Chinese viewers.

The order means Chinese websites will have to get an online audio and visual program dissemination license to provide general video streaming services, and then obtain publication licenses for foreign films and TV series on an item by item basis.

In a surprise announcement in April this year, the regulator ordered online streaming companies to stop showing four American TV shows, including sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" and political and legal drama "The Good Wife."

Yesterday's notice was billed as a reiteration of existing regulations on the management of films and TV dramas, but one streaming company called them new.

Jay Chen, spokesman for Youku Tudou, said: "We don't see a material impact on our traffic or revenue in the near term. The new regulations won't take effect until 2015, it allows us time to adjust and comply."

Another site, Sohu, declined to comment. Calls to a third, Baidu Inc's iQiyi, were not answered.