The Chinese Government is to impose limits on the number of international television show adaptations allowed into the market to promote “domestic originality”.
According to a new directive, official approval must now be sought by satellite broadcasters before they air remakes of popular international reality shows, such as The Voice of China, which was based on the ITV-owned Talpa format.
Chinese regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), said that local channels were “still too dependent on broadcasting foreign programmes” and lacked originality.
The directive stipulates that Chinese satellite channels can air a maximum of two foreign shows or foreign adaptations each year during the primetime slots of 7.30pm 10.30pm. Any channel flouting the rule will be banned from all foreign imports for a year.
“Only domestically invented TV programmes in the Chinese cultural tradition can properly convey the Chinese Dream, core socialist values, patriotism and Chinese traditions...Audiences are craving more Chinese original programmes,” said the SAPPRFT statement.
These latest restrictions follow a crackdown in March on content the regulator deems “vulgar, immoral and unhealthy,” such as depictions of smoking, drinking, adultery, homosexuality and reincarnation.
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