China said yesterday it had lifted its long-time ban on foreign investment in television and film production companies as the country moves to reform its monolithic and largely loss-making media industry.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued regulations that took effect in December permitting foreign media groups to hold stakes in joint venture production companies.
"Foreign companies are allowed to start joint ventures with Chinese film and TV program producing companies, although the Chinese side should hold more than 51 percent of the shares in the joint venture," Tong Gang, director of the film bureau at SARFT, said.
"Generally speaking the Chinese side should be a state-owned company and the foreign side should be famous and strongly influential on the global stage," Tong said.
Domestic private firms will be allowed to jointly develop pay-TV channels to help attract the investment needed to fund China's plans for the expansion of pay television and digital TV services, he added.
Allowing television programming joint ventures is part of an ongoing series of industry reforms aimed at bringing foreign know-how to China's often tedious TV output.
In recent years, Chinese television programming has undergone numerous content changes aimed at capturing a younger, hipper viewing audience, with programs now reviewing the world's trends on fashion, sports, science, economics and even politics.
However, reforming content remains one of the more sensitive areas of China's economy and shows are still heavy on patriotic agendas with the ruling Communist Party long using the medium as a primary propaganda tool.
As part of the new reforms, more foreign films and television programs will also be allowed on Chinese screens as current quotas are eased.
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