STN Thomas 1998 Vol. 2compressed

7/28/2019 STN Thomas 1998 Vol. 2compressed

1/164

TRANSNATIONAL SATELLITES IN ASIAi& THE GLOBALISATIONOF TELEVISION

VohimeTwo

AMOS OWENTHOMAS

BA, MBA Rational UrftvasityofSftig^xrs)DpCS, M r s (RegextCoUege, Vancouvo)

Dissertation submittedfti otalfidfihnaitofttxrequftemaits forttxdegreeof

DOCIDROFPfflLOSOPHY

School ofCommurricatioai,Language and Cuftural Stidies

Faculty of ArtsVlCIDRIAUMVERSnY

CyTECHNCgjOGfYMiBIEOURNE

March 1998


2/164

THOFTS THESIS384.5545095V.230001005244241Thomas, Amos OwenTransnational satellitesAsia & the globalisation inof


3/164

Chapter SevenC H IN E S E T E L E V IS IO N M A R K E T

This case-shxfy of ttx Chftxse elevisionmaricdftxorpcaatesHong K on g Taiwan (also known as RepubftcofChftia, ROC, or sometimes as natiomaftstChftia), and tx Pecples' Rpubftc of Chftia (PRC, also known asrnaftilardChftia, communist Chftia,ca-nioreoflaisftipfy as Chftm) firanumlxrofpaagmatic reason Theneseaixh concoitiated on Hong Kong as tix broadcast source of StarTV sftxe ft is flx location of itsheadcjuartos and ipftnkingfedftties for tix whole ofAsia Whflefliaeisamftiusculemarkdftifliattaritoryfor StarTV, tix broadcasto was atiracting significant aucftaxes in ttx P RC and Taiw an Arty discussion oftiansnaticmal sateffite elevisicm n Asiacarmot ignore cme of ts m^or targdmaricets, namefy Qeato Chftia of12 biffion ettmic Chftxse of which ttx Hong Kong Taiwan and PRC populations are ftxxtiicabb andsignificant parts, discounting flx sizeable cftaporic maricets fti Soutti East Asia and woridwicb totaUftiganoflio 30 mflfton [Ovaseas Chftxse Afl&irs Committee, 1991]. T h o u ^ ttx concept of a 'Q ea to Q m a 'elatesfixmiflie 1930a,ft has gaftxd iixreasing cimoxy witii the grow^ of flx transbcrdo eccBiomy amongfliefluee ariti ries , 'globaftsaficm' of Chinese culture via dectixmic media, ard ejqxdaticms of a reunified state[Hardftig 1993].

7 . 1 P U B U C T E L E V B I O N & P O U C Y

fti flie eariy to mid-1990s. Hong Kong was stift a British colony, but evai then many decisions aboutftcensing of sateffite elevisionIroadcasters were bdng made wifli its eventiial hard-ovo o iie PRCftimftid,if not actiial ccmsultations with iiemlas-to-be. In 1997 Hong Kong became a pec ial achnftiistiative region(SAR) ofQuna, mocbUftigflieconcqit of one countiy, two systans'. This concqit was cbsigned omaftitaiiglobal business confidence in Hong Ko ng ard meant also o aUayflx fearsofTaiwan ova iieccmsequaxesofpofttical ramificationftiflie iitiire.Thae are historicalreasons,beyord flx scope offliiscftssertaticm,for iieon-goftig poftticalrivahybetweenflienationaftsts in Taiwan and tix communistsfti maftilaid China whichcontinuesfti iie foimof nftfttary postiring ar d diplomatic propaganda Y d in recent yearsflierehave beenconsida abb cultural ard economicftnksbdweoi tiese wo countries, sometimes evai axouraged by botiigovanments. This extods also intottie elevision ndustry ard contiibules to its globalisation as weU as tiftschapto wflldononstiate.

7.1.1 Hong KongHistorical-political backgroimd: Bdng mountainous and lacbng in fatfle land Hong Kong was

rela tive ly unpopulated when ttie British recognised ttie value of its sheltaed deep-wata anchorage to flidrtiade witii China ard founded a settlonait in 1840. Foftowing tieFirst Opium War, iie sland was ceded by

7-1


4/164

Chinese Television Market: 7-2

Chftia u ndo duress to Britafti as a iadftigbaseftiJanuary 1841 infteuof a commocial ieatyovo Britishaccess o Chftxse ports. FurthohostifttiesendedwfthflxPddngConventionftil860whichcededKowloonto flx British, whfle anotixr ieatyfti1898 leased flx New Taritories and 5 islands o Britafti for 99 years[Speake, 1993]. ThepopulationofHongKonggrewrpidfyfiomtiiai,fixUedpaiodicaflybyrsfiigeesfirmunrest cm orftivasiomsofflx Chftxse niaftftand, ardftb ^ a n itsroleas a rnajor iadftigport vvfth ttx PR C andwitti Chftxse ccmimunitiesft iAsia and woridwide. The re


5/164


Broadcast reguktticti/deregulation: Deqftte Hcaig Kong's reputation as afieemaricdeconomy, itsbroadcastingftidushywas Mîfy regulated fti ttx eariy 1990s ard fts auflxmties have moved witii greatcaution in cbrûlatingtix ftcensingof eireshial,sateffite and cable televiôn It is somewhat sbange ttiatHcjig Kong should have cjiritebureaucratic ccmtiols on elevisioneven priorto fts txorpxraticnftito txPRC,butpah^fltiatwasdcaxinanticîaticmoffliatevaibiaftty. The control ofradio and elevisionbnoadcastingfti Hcmg Kong rests wfth ttx Broadcasting Auflxmty, a statiibsy bocfy which uses flx Televisicm andEritotaftiment licensing Auflxmty (TELA) as its executive ann. Domestic tenestiial stations are grantedftcaises fir 12 years, subjed to mid-tam reviews chiring which muftipb pubftc hearings are he ld At tiiehearing? flx stations have an opportunfty to make a presentation on flxft pierformance, and ftxftvidualsandlobby groips were able to express opinions on programming advertisftig violaxe, censorship and ottiorelatedissues. Dcmxsticterresbial stations are subjed oprogrammftig and advotising codes ofpractice, andvfttuafty identical codes Efpfy to domestic cable and iansnationalsateffite stations. The TELA researchdepartment reviews poftcy issues at ttx mid-poftit of afl its 12-year TV ftcenses,by having pubftc hearingsbefore a panel of ttx Broadcasting Airihority ard community leadoshp . TELA also commissions researchbienniaUy on viewershp,ftiaddition o monflify meetings offts elevisionadvisory gnoipsftieadi of flx 19disttids of f lx temtoiy and quartafy'meetings of itsfiveniôr panels,flireedrawn fixm flx distiids, one onEnglish services and one on chfldroifyoufli programmftig pntaview Chn04.02].

In 1990 ttx Hong Kong Broadcasting Auttxmty granted a non-exchisive ftcense to StarTV tobroadcastfivesateffite elev isionchannels across Asia, takftig care o proted its domestic elevisionftcenseesbyrestiictingStarTV fiom broadcasting fti Cantonese or broadcasting news programmes. Th e 12-yearftcense was amendedftiOdobo 1991 to aUow StarTV to cany ttx BBC Worid Sovice Television, whichmust have been seen as logical e n o u ^ for a British co bny fti June 1993 a 12-year cabb TV exclusiveftcense was granted to Wharf Cabb givftig ft a nxmopofy fti Hong Kong during its first ttree years ofopaationonttxconditionttiatft didnot accept advatisftig. This was ttx largest sftigle-ftcensefianchise fti ttxworid and ttx first fti ttx worid to offo a 24-hour Chftxse-language news sovice . From O d o b o 1993,StarTV w as aflowed to operate a Asia-wide regional pay-TV sovice on condition tiat tx sole distiibutor ofsuch channels wittftn Hong Kong be ttx exchisive cabb TV ftcensee, Wharf C abb [Hong K ongGo vanm ait, 1993].

When Hutdftnson W ha np oa appfted fti 1991 for ITU approval to utiftse a Tonga cri ftal slot ftclaftned vaguefy obe launchftig a 'communication' sateffite. T h ro u ^ AsiaSatl and StarTV a precedait wassd unwittftigfy for pemftttftig iansnationalsateffite elevisicm n Asia [biterview ain03.02]. Whfle ITUregulations lequftefliat iansnationalbroadcastos "respecf flie broadcast laws of ttx counties fti w^ch ttiesignal is avaflable,flie t i to-govemmentalorganisation is not able o aiforceflfts.An unwrittoi ftitemationalconvention regardft^ iansnational elevisionrequftes fliat progjamme contait be acceptable to countiiesundo t tx sateffite footprint This has led to an Asia-Padfic Broadcasting Union (ABU) move to haveunifomistandardsagreedtobyregionalbroadcastas[ftitoviewChn04.01]. The secretary ofttx Hong Konggpvanmenfs Recaeation and Cufture Branch was said by ofl&cials o beftifevourof an 'open ^ e s ' poftcy ftiordo o attrad broadcasters to ipliik fixm ttx taritory pntaview Chn04.01]. Stifl, some executives befteve


6/164


ttiat StarTV may move evoftuafly to Sftig^xre because of fts pofttical stabffity ard telecommunicationssuperiority [fiiterviewChn01.03]. AheadyHBO, ESPN, ABN and MTV Asia had selected Sftigapore o v oHong Kcmg as tidrproduction and uplftikftig basefor tx Asia r ^ o n

Sftxe TELA governs cable, sateffite, ip-ftnks, and tenestiial elevisionbrxiadcasting ft aflenpts tobalancefts fevcmrsaooss channels [ftiterview Chn03.01]. Its ccanniissiono is paftidpal executive of theBroadcasting Auflxmty which oisures community iqresentaticm cm pxiftcy. At faesatftaresbial and cabletelevisicm ccme undo ttx Television Ordftiarxx, video shcps com e undo ttx Obscene Articles Orcftnance,whfle StarTV was granted an ipftnkftcensefti1990 undo flx Telecommunications A d. Any tiansnationalIroadcasto which ipftnked fts signalfiomi ts own fedfttiesfti Hong Kcmg came dftedfy undo TELA'samtiol [TELA, 1994a & b]. But if ft was ipftnked by Hcaig Kcmg Telecom, ft would be contioUedftxftiectiy, as tiiis government-owned coipxratiom has identical rûlaticms rândftig advertising andbroadcasting TVBhadsouâftcaiseforfifllipftnkingfixmiHongKongforlroadcaststoChftia,Taiwanand Soutii East A sia as ft would ^ e ft mereflexibflity tian pfinkftig ttirou^ Hcmg Kcmg Telecom.T h o u ^ TV B was granted fti^rftxpb s^proval fir fliis by TELA fti 1994,ft was onfy formafly issued ftimid-1995afioflxPRChadgrantedftsassent[ftiterviewChn04.0l]. fti 1994PanAmSat,aUSsateffitefimi,signed an agreemoit wfth Hong Kong Teleccmmunicaticms Ltd. which aflowed its broadcasting andtelecommunications custcanos to beam flxf t signals ftito and out of Hcaig Kong [AWSJ, 1994]. HongKong did rxit requfteftcensftigof sateUfte dish-anteimae but flx Office of Telecom Auttxmty (OFTA)contiofled Sftigle Masto Antennae Television (SMATV) cpoatoisftistaflas, and nxmitired StarTVopaations. SMATV operators were piamitted o coUed feesfor tistaflaticmof sateUfte elevisionaccess butnot forflxpaogrammftigpaovided, at least iflflx1996broadcastingreview[ftiteviewChn04.01].

A comprehoisive broacbasting ad whichftxorpxraledafl elevisionmecfta was stifl bdng wcdcedon fti 1995 [Interview Chn04.01]. The r^ylatory body has been criticised for vadflating cm flx matto,rescx tftig to repeti tious consultandes on tix ftipftcations of tiansnational sateffite broadcasting ar dsubscripticm elevisicm[Davies, 1995]. By Mardi 1996 flx Hong Kong govanment shelved plans toftitixxf txx a unified biU o covo tix sateffite, cable, tarestiial and otiio forms of telev ision Insteadftdeddedcftaft regulatioms pedficalfy for pay-TV and video-on-demand (VoD),fti ix context of W harf Cable's piay-TV nxrxpofy ejpfty and HK Telecoms plans o offo VoD savices. NaturaUy asftwas just ovo a year toflx hand-ovo of Hong Kcaig ix realreason for tix dxKing of flx bfll was aflêd to b e to pleasefliePRC[Television Asia, I996d]. What would h^pai inflxpost-1997 era was urxertaftibecauseflx Basic Law, orfijhire ccmstitution of Hong Kcmg was vague cm flx ^ftcation of mass communication laws [ftiterviewChn03.Q2]. Y d evoi before tix hand-ovo flx govanm ent announced tiiat tix broadcast laws govenftngnew technologies such as sateffite elevision,VoD ard pay-TV would be overhauled ova a 12-monfli pioicdwhfle ttx edstingtarestiial broadcasting laws wouldnot come uncbrreview [Asian A&M, 1997f|.

7.12 TaiwanHistorical-politicalbackground: Aflo 50 years ofJîanese colonisation Taiwan was sunodae

to ttx nationaftstgpvemment fti Chftia onfy at ttx a d ofWorid Warn fti AsiaftiAugust 1945. When ttie


7/164


nationaftst or Kuonftntang [sometimesreferredto as Guonftndang] govonmoit of Chiang Kai-shdc waspaogressivefydefeated cm maftflard Chftia by tx commurrists undo Mao Zed ung about 2 mflftom nationaftstforces, dependoits and s%npattftseis fled to flx province ofTaiwan bdweai 1947 and 1949. Much to ttxresentinent ofttx 8 mflftcm native Taiwanese,flx nationalists estabftshed a govonmaitftiexfle for flx wholeof Chftia and maftitaftxd large armed forces in f lx hope of reconquaftig ttx maftfland [Spxake, 1993:556].Supported poftticalfyfti tiarclaftn of soverdgnty ovo ttx whole of Chftia by ttx virulentiy anti-communistUS govemmaits of ix ime, ix Repubftc of Chftia (ROQ rqresaited ttx countiy inftitanationalforasuchas ttx United Nations, ft w as ousted fiom ttx UN and rplaced by ttx Peoples' Rqiubfic of Chftia (P R Qonfy fti 1971, foUowing ddaite between tix US and ttx latto. Thou^ ttx US gave fiifl diplomaticrecognftion ftil979 to PRC,ft stifl sippcats ROC economicaUy ard depfte flx l^ise of flxftdefence pad fti1984, tix U S has continued o an n Taiwan Sftxe fliai Taiwan has ergoyed diplomatic ieswifli onfy a fewoflio ncm-coanmurrist naticms, tixxi^ rnarty oflxrs have used pseido-cuftural ard iadernissions o rnaintaftieconomic ties unoflfidafty. Thus ftxbpodent data on Taiwan has been cftfificuft to locate sftxe tix 1980sbecause ft tends not to beftstedat afl or occasionaUy subsumed u ndo flx PR C fti international sources offtiformatiom, ardfttileccmmurftcaticmresearch cm Taiwan wasfimdedextemafly.

Upomfix cbafli of Chiarig Kai-shek, he was succeecbd by his son Chiang Chiig-kuo who had fliepxfttical legitimacy o cany out a programme of progressive dancxaatisaticm and Taiwardsaticm' of flx state.This saw c^posfticmpolitical parties ccmckmed so Icmg asflxyfirswcaecornmunisrn, ard native Taiwaneseaflowedftitopxosftions of ft ifluaxe fti tix party, government and nftfttary. The process of ftbaaftsation wasaccdeiated cm Chiang Ching4aK)'s demise in 1984 by flx US-echxated economist Lee Teng-hiri,flxfirstTaiwanese4x>m paesident, who soon rdfted off'old guard' nationaftst poftticftansfti fevourof locals, and i i1987 repealed tix 40-\ear martial law, which has had impftcations for the develcpment of flie cbmestictelevisionftxhistiyas wfll be explaftxd fti 1991 Lee ended flx state ofdvft war wifli t ix PRC ard acceptedflx Intimacy flx ammurftst govanment fti Bdjftig abancbnftig RO C hcpes of r^aftftng contiol of tiiemainland H ow ev o calls for fifll Taiwanese ftidpodence promoted by flx new c^positicm DonocraticParty were rejected by flxwido populaticm which feared pimitiveftivasicm by PRC ipon such a declaration[Speake, 1993: 557]. During Taiwanese national elections fti 1995, forftistance,PRC was not avose toflexing its nftfttary muscle fti ttx Formosa Stiaft fti an attaipt to sway voting behaviour agaftist tixftxbpodoxe movenxnt, pron pting recprocal flag-flying by ttx US navy fti support of Taiwan'ssovadgnty.

Devdopment of television: The intixxiuction of elevisiontoTaiwan fti 1952 as a commercialmecftum was a pofttical dedsicm because flx nationaftsts wanted to danonstiate ttidr commftmoit to fieeaitaprisefticontiasttoflxftammurftstrivalson the maiiftand But tie iiflhwas that iiegovemmoit, ttiedomftiant pxifttical party and ibenftfttary wae bancftng ogettiowitti private busftxss to fomi an oftgopofy inttx elevisionftxhistiy,a model not unammon elsewhereftiAsiaftirecent years ofosloisihb privatisationThe resultant tiree ccmmerdal networics which contioUed ttie Taiwanese elevisionscaie, namefy TTV(provftxial govanment), CYW (Kuomftitang pofttical paity) and CTS (nftfttary), wfll be discussedfti iienextsection on cbmestic commacial television Afl flree networics are partfy and privatefy owned by tiiose


8/164


organisations namedfti txbracdcets, and partfy by pubftc shares [ftiterview Chn04.05], but tiere s no pubftctelevision broadcaster as such. Th e Taiwanese pubftc elevision aw had stifl not been passed by govanm entbyflx imeof research iddworicfti 1995 ard soflxrewasno pubftc broadcast system, nor cmeftkefybecauseft was becomftigftxreasftigfydifficuft to fimd such a systan ttirou^ flx givanmoiL The BroadcastDevekpnent Fund ^ D F ) , apflot schemefliathad lasted since 1985, is t ivohêdfti programme plannftig andpromotions. It akitiaftisstafffirttx tireedcmiesticrxtwcaks,fixrn media graciuates o school-leavers. BDFprogrammes are on aftftisame ime^lotof9:00-9:30pHn Monday-Friday on aflflreenetworics, tixm^ ttireediffaait programmes wae afted to avoid cftredconpetition,rec[uftftig 15 hoinsofprogramnftngpowedctobe sippfted The 9:00-9-30pm ime-slotwas requfted by tix GovanmentfttfcamationOffice (GIO) via ttxbroadcast law f ir "paopârda', as w a e also ttx 5:30^:00pm and 11:00-11:30pm slots which w a e justbefore and af lo general broadcasting hours. Programme paxxftxtion by BDF was funded by govemmaitflirou^ flx GIO annual budget, but fts Hbrary was fimded by flx flree ccmm erdal broadcast ndwoaks[ftitoviewChn04.05].

Broadcast regulation/deregulation: The Taiwanese govemmait hadbeen concerned about sateffitetelevisiomfixmiJ^)anwhenNHK bânaqxrimaitingwiflifliatincxboftiansniissicmftil986. Afloscmiecbftbaation tix Govonm aitfiifirmaticai Office legaftsed sateffite didvantamaefti1988, tiiou^ growfli tookplace cmfy aflo 1991 when StarTV w as launched. That event cftd cause unwarranted constonaticm fti t txgovanmoit about the pxDssibb use o f AsiaSatl by its one-ttftrd owno ttx PRC to satiirate Taiwan witiipofttical paxpaganda viafts C C T \ ' [Peng 1994]. The Taiwanese govem mait soon fouid itself confiontedwitti ttiree fimis of filial media' oppodticmparty charmels, cable cpaations ard recqiticm of tianaiaticmalsateffite channels. Thusfts tbaaftsaticmof aflflreewas a reacticm to flx/n^ accompli of r p id changeftiflietelevisicm maricd raflxrfliana proactive poftcy response. Cable opaatcrs a rd incftviduals in Taiwan cftd rxitneed ftcaises to cbwn-ftnk TV signalsfixmisateffites. By late 1995 fliae were ov o 60 cable channelscatoftig o Taiwan, 90 pacait of ttxm hoadcasting via sateffites such as Apstar and SipabftdAflo tix resdrding of martial law and witii tieproUfeiation of channds, flx G IO claftned to n olongo monitor programnftng Sftxe flxrewere rxirestiictions cm iansnationalchannels lartfiom iieftmitof 20 pacent of flx total numbo of cable channels, about 10 cable channels w a e sourced fixm abroad as of1995, inchicftng Austiaha Televisicm ard French TV5, wifli more to ccmie [Interview Chn04.04]. Howevocable operatcas were required to carryflx fliree arestiial stations (pftis anoflio ccmimadal network tixn f tithe plarmftig stage), Taiwan's ow n cpai university ard ttx pubftc broadcasto whaxvo ft is estabftshed[Interview Chn04.05]. There was also no long o any pofttical soisitivity rârdftig elevisicmpfll-ovobetweoi PRC ard Taiwan, fti part because flx formo uses flx PAL colour system whfle tix latter usesNTSC, gjvoi its histcricalftnkswfth ttx US. How evo, iie PRC cbftheratefy iansmits ts elevisionsignalsusftig NTSC via Apistar in oixbr to reach Taiwan fti any case o v o flx past d ^ years, o v o d ^ mflftonvisitorsfixrnTaiwan had bea r to tix PRC, and so tiiae could be no reaftstic restiiction onftifomiationflovvsbetweoi tix two countiies [ftiteniew Chn04.04].

The Cable Tdevision Law was passedfti1993 ard enforcement was ddâted o iie GIO. Prior tofliai, afl cable systems waefllegalbut as oflate 1995 none had md flx technical requftonents recpred undo


9/164


ttxlawpassed. fti ordo to med ttxse requftemaits which cost NT$250 mflfton fti capftal cable operatorshave b ^ u n to mage. If any dkl, ttx government would issue a constiuctionpomit, vaftd for iireeyears forttx cable ftcensees to constiuct stixftos, ipftnk fedftties, cable-layftig (ft: grourd), and so on The cableoperatcrs would flxn have to file for examination and cjuaftfy fir a ftcaise fir an addfticmal nftx years[ftiterview Chn04.04]. The lasv cftvided ttx countiyftito48 sovice areas pftis tireeoff-shore islands andaccording to ttx law onfyfiveoperators wa e piamittBdpo area That rpresoits 255 operators nationwide,ttxu^ onfy 209 had f ted forftcences and were bd ng processed in 1995. The law also paohrhftedfordgnshare4iolcftn^ fticable cpaaticms ard caoss-media ownadftp by existing print ard broadcast media [Pa ig,1994]. But tixre is seme over i^ of ownerdiip and fimctiombdweai prcducticm houses, channels and cablecperatcas fti ttx Taiwan maricet Furthomcre, by law cme-fliiid ofttx channels provided by each cableoperator must rxt to be by ttx cp aator itself fliat is, up to 4 0 out offts60 channels had to be fixm oflxrsources [Intoview Chn04.04].

On flx issue of mecfta ow no sh p, Taiwan's laws are somewhat vague. Its Broacbasting andTelevision Law which gova ns tenestiial broadcasts cmiits to adcftess ttx issue excqit obftquefy. AM xiu ^ttx conventicmal wisdom is that fiirdgn owneidiip is not aflowed, about 20 pocait of TTVfir ftistance sowned by ttx Jqianese multinaticmal corporations Hitachi, Toshiha and NE C. As for flx Cable Law, ftprohihfts firdgn ownaship totafly, but flx GIO has exaxised its pow as of enforcement to aUow ip to 20percent firdgn ownershp as was stated fti flx eariy cftafls of flx law. Of greato corxem was cbmesticcontiol of cable eleviacnand ttx law aflows no one shardxildo o own moreflian10 percent Howevo amove by san e exposition m onb as to restiid pxifttical piarty investinentfticable networics was out-voted byflx K T ^ govem mait which had plannedftivestinaits n a miflti-savice operator in ccagunctionwifli fordgnfti taests. The draft sateffite elevision aw firstrestiictedfordgnownership to 30 pocait, tiioi raisedft o49pacent ardfinaUyranoved any restiictions aftogetho [Wftiklo, 1996h].

7.1.3 PRChftiaHistorical-political badiground: The andent history of Chftia was characterised by a series of

cfynasties, tix last of which w as flx Manchu ^nasty who w a e aduafly roi-Chirxse nomacls fiom an arearxrth-east of Chftia Duririg tix 19flicaitury, flx latto piartoftixftmle which was weak ard compt, tixcountiy espoioiced fem ftxs ar d pofttical unrest These w a e c iftaftsed cm by ftipoiaftst powers such asBritafti, Geimany ard flx U S who used flxft success in flx Opftim Wars to carve out p h a e s of pxiftticalinfhiaxx fti Chftm aid contiol afl its internatiorial iacb iiroughflxft ieatyports alcmg tix cciast and rn^orrivas. Peasantiprisftigs,flxBoxardxfficmagaftistWesteminperiaftsmandfliecbfeatinflieSftx>jpaneseWar contiibuted ocftsint^jation offtnperial Chftia,flieabcftcation offlie nfent anpaor , and estabftshmoit ofttx rpubftc u nd o Sun Yat-sen, ahh ou ^fliatde^neratedftitowaricaxftsm byrivalgenaals and provincialgovernors. Tw o pofttical parties surfecedoffering differing sohitions,flx nationaftsts or Kuonftntang (KMT),un do Sun Yat-sen, and flx communists or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) un do Mao Zedung Theycooperatedftfttiaflyto unite Chftia and were galvanised by a common oiemy in J^ian whichftivaded iienorth fti flx 1930s o s d ip a piqpet state ofManchuria headed by ttx dposed last anp ao r of Chftia But


10/164


tix defeat ofJîan at ttx a d ofWorid War n saw dvfl w ar break out resuftftigfti txcommunists conquaftigttx maftfland to sd up ttx Peoples' Repubftc of Chftia (PRQ and ttx nationaftsts retteating to Taiwan[Rayno, 1992:114-115].

The communists ftiposed a Sovid-sê constitiition, nationaftsedftxhistiy,ftistitiited and refoim,and practised economic centialpkmftig Whai tix programme of agricuftural and ftdusttialcoflectivisationftiflx'GkeatL e ^ Forward'spearixaded by Maofti flx ate 1950s resuftedftipoverty andfemftie,a recoveiypaogrammewasftistitutedbymodaateswhichrevosedpartialfytixeariiocoflectivisation B u t M a o f o u ^backfti flx late 1960s wittiflx Cuftural Revohition agaftist pacdvedcseepftigc^ftaftsm and axourag ed ttiestixbnt-led Red Guard mov anent which ranoved m odaates. The ensuftig chaos was rectifiedfti1970 wittittx help ofprimeniftftster Zhou Bflai, which led to DaigX iacpftigamcngottias, bdng idiabffitated Anew amstitiiticm was ratified which led to an eccaxmiic plan cafled tix Four Modanisations' to bringagricuhure, ftxhistiy,flx amied forces ard sdaxe ip to par wfth flx West by tix year 2000. How evo, flxcbaflis ofbofli Zhou and Maofti 1976 resuftedftia succession stiuggle betweai leftists or'Gang ofFour'andnxxbrates headed by Doig. When his protês werefinalfyftistafledas party chaft and prime niftiista,Daig(a king-maka" and 'paramount chief witiiout any significant official titie ) was able to push his agenda ofmodaiftsation flrou^ govanment stieamftning army downsi2ftig local autonomy, maricdftxentives,ardfordgnftivestinent,afl of which have had tipftcationsfirflx elevisicmard advatisftig txhistiiesftiflxPRC.Stiidait dononstiationsftiflxmid-1980s which axledft iflx1989 Tiananmoi massacre undonftned Dai^srefonns and resuftedfti ixrise ofconsavatives in govanment [Spxake, 1993:123-127]. Afthouôfficiaflyretiredfti1987,I>ngriiaftitaftied pofttical irftluenceasaking-maka iflhis cbmisefti1996.

^ Devdopment oftelevision: Ejqiaimailsw^flitelevisionbînfti 1956 wifli flx technical asastanceof tix USSR ard the PRC c om m ax ed broadcasting in May 1958 in flx cqiital wfth itsfirststaticm, BdjingTelevision In support of Mao's Gaeat L e ^ Forward a naticmwicb netwoak was planned to be estabftshedwiflifti tix inpossflib chnaticm offouryears, epedafly when tix ideological break witii ttx USSR fti 1960stepped tidrassistance and suppftes. By 1960 iierewae less tiana dozai urban stations which, tiiou^ notnetworiced, circulated fihns a rd tp e s among tixm sdves. Television feced anoflxr setback during tiieCuftural Revohition of flx 1960s when media poftcy was amfiised, many broadcast staff were cftsmissed,paogranmiftigwasexbemefyftrnitedardequipmaitriotniaftitained As of 1970fliaewere scmie 30 stationsbut cmfyflx four argest, Bdjftig Tiargin, Shanghai and Quangdiouw a e networiced by microwaveftnks.In1972 vfttuafty afl 29 provftxes and autemomous regions had a elevisionstation each ard Bdjftig Televisionacted as headquarters to tix nationwide networic, tifl ft was foamafly pftt ftito a national Chftia CentialTelevision Service (CCTV) ar d a local Bdjftig Television sovice in 1978. Onfy in flie late 1970s cftdtelevision become amôr part offlx ftvesofflx Qdnese pxpulation Whfle tix num bo of elevisionstationshad doubled o 47 by 1975, saving afl provftxes and regions excqitTflxt because ofits remoteness, by 1983ft grew to 105 programme^mxftiction stations, wifli 411 microwave statioais ard rdroadcasting 7,475rebroadcasting stations forrural andranote areas [Won, 1989:212-213].

Characteristic ofttx post-Maorefonnsby Den gtiie elevisionstinchire had b ^ u n to decoitiaftseonce pronvidal and municipal govemmaits b ^ a n to lobby for tix abffity to mn ttxft own statioais. This


11/164


finaUy resufted fti ttx lltti National Broadcasting Conference fti 1983 which granted a 'four-level'managanoit and covoage oftebvisicm, flx levels refared o bdng iioseof govemmait whicdi were aflowedto ftivest flxft own fim ds and r e ^ ttx profits. T h o u ^ decentiaftsed, television fti ttx PRC was to becoordftiatedby CCIV as opedium and ec^uftonaitstorelaynational networic prograrnnftng aM xiu ^ ttxlaflo firmed a smaflopnoporticnofbcal stationfereas imeprogressed. Undottx new poftcy era, telev isionfti Chftia grew rapidfy fiom 93 stations and 9,708 iansmittersfti1984, to 509 stations and ovo 22,139ttansmftters by 1990. fti keqpftig wfth new pofttical poftcy of mabng maricd-profit and not bdng depjoxiaiton state-fiirdftig revenue came ftxreasingfyfixrnaclvotisiiig aid otiio rnariceting activities and ranged fix rn40 to 70 po cait amongtix elevisionstaticms. fti total advertisftig reva lue grew fixm a patoy 325 mftftonyuan (US$390,00) fti 1979 when advatisftig wasfirst titioducedto 2.05 bflfton yuan (US$245 mflfton) fti1992. This was accompanied byftxreaseduse offtiportedprogranimftiglargefy fiom flx US, invariabfy ftibarto for advertising time. How ev o Huang [1994] cautions tiat iiisseaniig economicftheraftsatiom s notprogressive and has poiods of repressicm of mecftafieedom,because flx PRC government has rxt made aconcurrent committnait opofttical reform

BroacbastirigftiMandarin, CCTV was tx priniary chanrxl naticmwicb and ix paovirxial sovice ina local cftaled was ttx second channel Colour elevision had b ^ u n witti CC TV and Bdjftig Television fti1973 ard pr ea d to ttx oflio stations by 1980, Chftia adopting ttx PAL starxlard developed and used ftiWestan Eunpe raflxr flian SECA M used by flx U SSR and flx Eastern Bloc countiies. Most of fliecameras,fihn,videotex, sound and halting ard oflxr stidio equpmait was locafly-made, th o u ^ Cancmlaises, Anpex ecftting eqiripmait and Sony video-cassettes w a e imported evai prior to economicftheraftsatiom [Howkftis, 1989:29-31]. By 1982fliaewa e ovo 50 elevisionproductionfedories,ftxftdftigflree assonbftng inpcated colour sets, o proted which ftiports of elevisionsets were ceased [Won, 1989;217]. Between 1980 and 1985 tix nu m bo of elevisionsets grew fixma630,000 o o v o 12 mflfton, tiiou^maftify fti inban areas, depfte flx fed tiiat blaci:-and-whfte sets cost US$280 or five times tiie averagenxmflfty ftxxm e, ard colour sets cost US$1,000. By flx late 1980s flxre were 38 programmeprocftidngstaticms, 238 idroadcasting stations ard about 2,000 bwpowotianslators naticm-wicb [Bidxp, 1989:109].Inflxarena of edixaticmal eleviacai,flx PRC govanment has sd ip tix Cential TV University as weU as 28oflio urftvosities at state ard municipal levels, and flx Chftia Education Televisicm Station which has fourchannels provicftng 30 hours of iansmissioneach week [Huang andZhong 1993].

Afl Chftxse elevisicm was pubftc or raflxr owned by flx sole pxiftticalparty, fliou^ fliae were fourtiers: national, provftidal, municpal ard prefeduraL CCTV offas amix of news, sports, educational, arts ardcbcumentary programmes, news bdng flx most inportant Doanestic news was gaflxred by CCTVreporters or iioseofflxprovftxial and municipal stations, whfle intanationalnews was ad^ted fiom footagedeftvaed via sateffite fiom fordgn news agendes or provided by flx PRCs own XftihuaNew^ Agency, fiiits earfy years CCIV adopted tix Sovidrncdelofrxvvscasting wifli simpfy an ardxrreadftig items. Thoiduring tix Cuftural Revohition iuflifiihxsswas ovatakai byflxneed o exaggerate pxisitivedevelopments ftiChftia and to portray tix Westfti a poor fight But fti tix post-Mao or Doig era, tie Mftftstiy of Radio andTelevision began subscribftig o W estan news agendes and showing about 10 minutes of international n e v ^


12/164


rsmaricabfy,relativefy unecftted [Won, 1989:221-223]. Alsofti ix ate 1970s sanctioned by ttx Com munistPatty, CCTV executives began to purxhase cheap W estan programmftig which became veiy popular wittiviewas.

Ecoronicrefomiscftiririg ttx 1980s iiggaedurprecedaited grow^ftiChftxse elevision,sucdi ttiatby 1992 tixre w as a four-tio networic of cme national broadcaster, 30 provirxftal, 295 municpal ard 350prefectiiral statioaisreachftig80 pocoit ofttx population The national or cenbalbnoadcaster CCTV had fourchannels, two of which were naticai-wide, cme local to ttx cqfttal Bdjftig ard one iansnationalvia sateffiteard targeted at Taiwan, Hong Kcmg ard M acao. CCTV-l has an naticm-wicb aucftaxe of300400 mflftcmview as a rd transmits ttx national news flrou^ 11 news bufletftis p o day. Also naticm-wicb CCTV-2provides econcmic infomiatiai ard English-language programmes to an estimated 100 mflftcm viewos.CCTV-3 broadcasts to 5 mflfton viewersfti flxBdjftig area (ftiring flx evaftngs onfy andfts programnftngcompaises repeated featiirefiftns,chama and educational programmes. CCTV-4 is iansmittedby sateffiteard so may b e seen naticm-wicb as weft in much of Asia [Austraftan Fflm Commission, 1994a: 21-24]. Oftibe m^cr regicmal staticms Bdjing Televisicm surpasses CCTV fti flx c^tal dty r^cm wifli its flreechannels, considerable ftrpcrted programnftng a rd an aucftaxe of 10 mflfton One of Quna's earfteststations, Shanîai Television has two channels ard an audiaxx of 70 mflfton, flx largest of flx regicmals.Guangdong Televisiom wifli two channels ca tas to Soufli East China where ft ccnp etes also witii HongKong channels avaflabb by spifl-ovo. Oriaital Television, launched fti 1993 and cataftig to tix YangtseDefta and havftig ambftioms cm Taiwan, troadcasts ccaisidaabb sports programnftng some of ft obtaftxdfiom ESPN [Austiaftan Fflm Commission, 1994a: 27-30]. So by flx nftd-1990s, Chftia had a divosifiedtelevision maricd evai if ix ownaship was stifl in gpvamait or party hands.

Most paogramniftig was createdfti-house,coanmissioned or cciprxxhicedbytix elevisionstations,ahhou^ ftxreasingfyflxsewere b dn g sourced fixm cbmestic movie stixftos ar d ftxlqioxlai t productionhouses, evenftiportedfixm oflxr Asian countiies sycu as Taiwan ard Jîan, as weft as fixm tix U S [Asia,fix., 1994]. The Mftiistiy of Radio and Television sets Iftnits on flx numbo of hours of cftfifooftprogrammftig genres which may b eftnportedard broadcastos have considaabbfieecbmof choice wifliinflxiseconstiaftils.ft s notewcafliy iiatChftxse broadcastas scan oprefo Western prograrnnftng raflxr tiianoflio Asian producticms [Tebvision Asia, 1994b]. Chinese elevisicmofficials justified pomittftig ttxbroadcast of fordgn paogramniftig cm cbmestic channels by sayftig tiatfth e ^ retain ttx aueftoxes, pxihqisagaftist conpetiticm iansnational elevision,aflrad mifltinational advatisas ardfiflbroadcasting hours. Byofficial accounts CCTV was able to paoduce onfy one-fliird of its programnftng needs fti 1990, whfteprovftxial ard dty levd stations w a e able to prochxe less flian two hours of flidr dafly programnftngImported programnftng was also much c h e p o , about 10 pa ca l iiecost ofprcducingsimflar programnftnginflxPRC. Butflxrevvas flx rnajca-coaistiaftftoffcadgn currency excdiange andflxrefcretix Mftftstiy ofRadio, Fflm a rd Televisicm (MRFT) ran a quofe system, and balanced ttx programmes ftipor ted by genreand countiy of origin ft also censcaed txm,flioughsome provftidal ard d ty staticms w o e granted someautonomyfti iiisrârd Fo rdgn currency ex chan^ cftffiaflties were also by-passed by Chftiese televisionstations offoing to swap advotising time ard piart of tiiat revenue for flie ri^ to broacbast fordgn


13/164


programmes for fiee. Thusfti practice tix quofe systan was not fixed and Chftxse domestic broadcastaswere aflowed to show as much as txycoud obtaii, witti due pofttical clearance [Chan, 1994b].

From ttx mid-1990s many ofttx PRCs provincial stations w a e begftmftig to broadcast nationwide flirou^ sateflfte, much to tix displeasure of CCTV. Local provftxial and municpal elevisionstationsfti Chftia adfteved h i ^ covoage among tiion flian flx national CCTV, witti ttx exception of Bdjftig[ftitoview Chn01.Q2]. This meant ccarpdftion for advertisftig revalue fixm botti cbmestic busftxss andM NC sources on which afl Chftxse hxiadcastas were sani-depaxbn t, tixiugh ttx caitial govanment wascommitted obaflftig out CCTVfinandaUy fnecessary, ft was expected iiat tx provftxial elevisionstationswould evoitiiafly broadcast Asiarwide ooverseas Chftxse [ftiterview ChnO4.03]. fti 1995 CCTV contiadedwitti PanArnSat o utiftseflxftPas-2 and Pas-3to reach p to 40 mflfton ovase as Chftiese wfthftsbnoadcasts.At ttx same tftne CCTV was also ccmcoitiating its progjarnnftrig sales cm overseas Chftxse and otiio Asianmaricds. It also announced ttx launch of fts own encrypted port s and movie channels wiflifti flx PR C,aflowing CCTV to prxxhxe duty censored channel padcages for bcal cable networics [Simons, 1995]. Byearfy 1996 CCTV had also announced iiatftwould launch six cftgital channels woridwide, fli rou^ a 10-yeardistiibution agreement witti PanAm Sat which would take ftscovoage fiom A sia alcme o North America,Eunpe, and Afiica ft also began witti extaxftng flx readi of C C T V 4 , ttx channel taftcaed to OvoseasChftxse, andadcbdamusicchannelftiJiflyandanEhglish-languagechannelftiOctobo. fti keqiftig wifli flieejqressed aftns to prcmiote understardftig of flx PRC generalfy and to reac^ an Overseas Chftxse aucftaxeof 60 mflftcm, afl ofttx intematicmal ciiannels w ae to befiee-to-aftard subsicftsed by its cbmestic channds[Mastas,l996e:IV].Table lA Television aucftaxe maricd sharesftiBdjftig April 1995SourceCVSCSCMRBirv

CCJVlTP/o22%13%

ccnv29%6%7%

CCTV311%14%9%

BJTVI26%40%21%

BJTV210%14%9 /0

Othersvr/o4%

41%Soiree: Bariow [1996]. Legad: CVSC = (::bitialVievva Survey &amsuhing Cento (OCiVaffiEiErSMCR=SoufliChinaMaricBtResearch(NielscmSRGaflffliate), BJIV-BdjingTelevision

Broadcast regulation/deregulation: Televisicm was seen by flx Chftiese Ccmimunist Party as amajcr means of propaganda, communicating flx benefits of comm unism ar d piasuading its populaficm tosiqporttixftpoftdes. Itsrolewas o (ftssaiftnate news and govanmait decroes, o provicb education and toenrichflx population's cufturalflfe[Won, 1989:217]. As such afl elev isionwas stateowned and contiofledat ttx national, provftxial a rd municipal levels. The Propaganda Committee ofttx Chinese CommunistPaity's Central Commfttee hods uhftnate ccmhol of broadcasting tiirough ttx Mftiistiy of Radio andTelevision ar d contioUed dftedfy national broadcasters such as CCTV. The seccad elevision channels andlocal radio are governed by tix Communist Paitys committees atflieprovftidal, autonomous i^onal andmunicipal levels. In keepftig witti its ideology afl boadcasting was financedby dfted gov anm ait grants ardttiere are noftcensefees for vi ew as andfistenas,alttxiugh advatisftig had beaiftxreasftigfyused o subsidise


14/164


operating expenses [Bishop, 1989: 113-114]. Acting wittftn ttx dftectives ofttx Cential PropagandaDepartmotf and ttx Mftftstiy ofRadio and Television, CCTV hasfts own Office of ttx Party Commfttee andOffice ofDftedois which sd pedfi c poftcy on broadcasting [Won, 1989:218]. Sftnflariy flx admftftstiativestiixtines of paovftxial ard municpal broadcastas rpftcated fti nftniatine flx stiudure of ttx nationalbroadcasting system.

The commociaftsation of tix PR Cs elevisionbureaucxacy wasfixUedfti part by ttx conpetitionfixm pfll-ovo elevisicmf ixm Hcmg Kong fixmi flx late 1970s and tix anival of iansnationalsateffitetelevision such as StarTV in tix 1990s. Inapushtorechxespodftigftitix 1980s, afl govanm ent sectorswere requfted to sqplanent statefimcftngwitii flxft own revenues, and elevisicmbroadcasting wasconsideredparticularfyweUplacedtoctofliisastixeconomywasftxreasftigfyrnaricetised As noted earfto fti1983 flx Chftxse cential govanment gave govanmaits at provincial level ard belowflx right obufld ar dmanageflieftown broadcasting stations, whfle CCTV was separated fiom flx cftred managonent of flieNGnistiy ofRadio, Fflm and Tebvisicm Whfle foreignftivestinentwas stift notpiamftted, broadcasteis foundways to cftcumvoit ttiis lestiicticm flirou^ joftit-ventines in cable networics and programme prcductionDomestic pubftc broadcasters imsbecame semi-autonomous coapxraticmsfiee opursuefinardalprop)erity,tiiough stifl subjed to flx government's pxifttical stiictines. Thus, piaracbxicafly, ttx ccmimerdalisation of ttiePRCs elevision ook place wittxxit any m^or loss of pofttical control ovo elevisicm [Hao and Huang1996].

In 1996 flx Chftiese govanment ftmited flx broadcast of firdgn movies to no more tiian 40nftnules during prime4ftne cmfts doanestic chanrxls, arguftigfliatfliiswas to preserve cuftural vahies andprotect, the local fihn and procfticticminchistiy which is laigefystale


15/164


It is evident fixmi ttfts summary of television develcpment ttiat despite bdng hisbricaUy intarelated,geogrphicafly proxftnate ard cufturaUy sftnflar. Hong Kong Taiwan and PRC bring vastiy cftfiFeraitpofttical-eccmcmic contexts to ttidr mecfta There is anottxr but much smaUo Chinese maricd fti neari3yMacau, aPcatuguesecokmycftx o evert oChinese contiolfti1999. Though an attarpt was made o obtaftidatattiae,ftttlewas saidby researdirepcaxbnts obepubUcfyavaflable ard presumabfy w asftiPortugueseftiaitycase. Whereflxre sftxdciaitaldata cm Macau, which has adcpted a condftatory stance owardsflxPRC ahead of ts m a g o ,ftwifl be classified wifli iidghbouriiig HcmgKcmg sftxe botti tari tirie s wifl soonbepe cial admftftstiative regions (SAR) of Chftia Stifl, rattio flian tieat flxm as otaflyseparate cases, ttiebroadcastingftxhistiiesof tix tiiree taritemes of Hong K on g Taiwan and PR C wfll be analysed fiirtho asconstibioits of a Greato Chftia region

7 2 DOMESnCCOMMEROALTELEVISION

As wfth ttxft pofttical and econom ic contexts, ttx development of elevisionfti Hong Ko ng Taiwan and ttxPRC are stidiesfticontasts ard so wifl be ieatedseparatefyftiflftssection Afl ttx same tierehas long beensome overiapftiviewership, programmftig and advertisftig bdweai ttxse taritiries, dueto elevisionsignalspfll-ovo and programme sabs . This process has beenftitaisifiedby ttx growtti of sateffite and cabbtelevis ion witti ttxft consequent greato need for programnftng aud iaxes and a dvatisas, and witti ttieconsequent greato consumo acress to television viewftig aftematives on a tiansnational basis. Thesubsequent responses of domestic pubftc and commerdal broadcastersftiaflflree aritories of Grea to Chftiato tfts iansnational elevisiononslaught were somewhat varied givai ttxft differing domestic televisionenvftonmoitsandpoftdes, devebpmenls wfllbe charted inflftssection.

72.1 Hong KongGeographical coverage: Witti a population of o v o six mflfton H ong K ong is one of t ix most

densefy populated and mbanised areasftiflxworid, necessitating most ofits food, walo and raw materials beshippedftifiomabroad, most notabfy fiom maftfland Chftia Hong Kong is located alongflx iopicalsouflicoast of Chftia near ttx moutti ofttx Peari Rivo, ac^acent to ttx Guangdong Provftxe, ftfto which ftstelevision signals spfllovo ttx bord o. It is bcated 130 km souttveast of Quangdiou (Canton), capftal ofttxQuangdongprovftxe, and 65 km east of ttx Macau, ttx Portugese colony due also o evert o tx PRC. Thetotal land area of 1071 sq km comprises ttx Hong Kong island, ttx Kowloon paftnsula, ttx hftiteriandbordering Chftia known as ttx New Teoitories, and 235 islands, tie migor ones bd ng Lantau, Lamm a andCheung Chau By contiast nd^ibouring Macau has an area of 16 sq km and a population of ust 479,000[Rayno, 1992:116-117]. Despite tix anival of iansnationalsateffite elevision,Hong Kong's two domesticnetworics domftiate ttx taritory and souttian PR C maricd, largefy because botti are Cantonese-speakftig fticontiast o Taiwan andflxrest of tix PRC maricet


16/164


Television Broadcasters Ltd (TVB): The commacial station TVB bântroadcasting asflxfirstwireless elevision broadcasto fti Hcaig KcaigftiN o v a n b o 1967, and was cme ofttx few stations woridwidefliai ooffo all-colour iansmission.Com mo xing witti 200 stafl ftbroadcast a few local productions alongwfthftnpxrted programnftng Ovo tix yearsft txroased ocal prcduction such tiatby 1994ft was producingan average of 5,000 hours of prxigrammes annualfy or 85 pacent of ttx programmes ft Iroadcast andonpbyftig 2,600 staff [ IVB, 1994a]. Programmes produced oitirefy in-house by TVB are news, variety,drania, ard rnusic for its two Hong Kcmg channels, iie Chftxse channel broadcasting 23 hours po day, andttx English one for 16 hours po day [ftiterview Chn02.04]. fii part its production ouput was due to ttx lackof aftanative sources for Cantonesedialed programmftig for its Hong Kong and souttxm Chftia pfl l-ovoaucftaxes.As fer bac^ as 1991 T VB ftitioduced NICAM (NearftistantaneousfyCompounded AudioMuMpbx), fts own engftxering devdcpmait which provides viewas wifli digital stoeo and moresignificantiy mufti-ftngual sound iackswhich iansnationalsateffite broadcastas have sftxe emulated [TV B,1994a]. It has astiftefy used ttx technology to provide iiftngualprogranimiigfti Cantonese, English andMandarin fti ttx post-1997 a a uido Chftia's mle [Asian A& M, 1997a]. More recoftfy a programmedistiihution deal was sigped wfthflx iansnationalAsian Busftxss N ews for A BN programmftig featimngbusftiess and financialnews, andftifoimafionwould be earned by taresbiafly by T VB . Ukewise, flieAmerican CBS Evaftng News received via sateffite is broadcast on TVB eacii nxmftig FftiaUy, TVBteamed up wifli CNN, HBO, ESPN and Austiafta Television to fomi a consortium which took up 16tianspondos on ApSterl [Fung and Lee, 1994]. fii 1995 flx UK mafia groip Pearsons which hasftivestinaitsftipubftshftig computo software, muftftnedia, production houses and elevisionstations, wasab b to purxhase a 10 pacent stake fti TVB for US$168 bflfton fiom its diaftman Sft Run Run Shaw,suaeedftigwhoeTftneWamohadfefledeariiolTaylor, 1995]. UndostandabfyTVBwaspocdvedbyatleast otx advertisftig executive of a muftftiational agency as a daric horsefti ixAsian elevisionmaricd, yd ofno dfted flireatto StarTV sftxe ft would be a case of one-tiKme conpetition bd w eai specific sateffite, ca bband tarestiial channels [ftitaviesv ChnOl .09].

Asia Television Limited (ATV): Thisfirst elevisionsoviceftiHong Kong was previousfy ownedby a busftxssman wifli close ftnks to ttx Chftxse government, servftig on one of t tidr consuftative bodies.Thus he aôyed ttx stiong support ofttx Xftihua News Agency, ttx unofficial Chftiese embassyft iHongKo ng fti his puidiase of ATV fti ttx niid-1980s. ATV is cunoitiy owned largefy by a môr propertydevebpo fti Hong Kcmg ttx Lai Sun Group [Fung and Lee, 1994]. ATV has long beoi a loss-makftigoperation due to its poor programmftig depfte recdvftig twice ttx advatisftig revenue of StarTV, but ttftswas expedai to change wittifinttxrcompetition By ttie 1990s ATV was a poor mnno-up to TVB whichhad an 80 pacent maricd share, ttxiu^ ttxy had been head-to-head conpetiters fti ttx eariy 1980s. E v osftxe tx tftrddomestic station CIYW closed down wittftn two years of its start, ttx convaitional wisdom hasbeen tiat tx Hong Kong maricO can onfy support two brcvadcastas [ftiterview Chn03.02]. ATVwassaidtobe iaditionaflyprefaredby okb r audiaxes, txiu^ tivestinaitsfti tieeariy 1990s led o anftxreasefiom 10pocait ofpaimetime audiax es to an averse of25 o 30pacaitby 1994 [Rsp, 1994].


17/164


Table 7B: Topfiverating programmes on Hong Kong channels, Septem bo 1995ProgrammeTVB Jade fCantonese)ShowbyShobalShobalChaftengeShrinpCondo heroes95Stepping StoneTVB Peari (Bielish)ThundeibaUBatinanLeflialWe^x)n3King KongYestayou, yesfame

Genre

LeisureLightEntLiÊntDramaDrama

MovieMovieMovieMovieMovie

Rating

3029282626

65444

ProgrammeATV Home (Cantonese)N. Legerd ofShaohnManofTimesHKTodayRomance of3 KingdomsFistofFuiyATV Worid (EnglMi)MrsDoubtfiieRacingN i ^ liveKindagartaiCopMac&MeGotcha

Genre

MovieMovieLiÊntDramaDrama

MovieSpcxisMovieMovieMovie

Rating

1917161515

43333Source: ASlAcom[1995aJ, citing NielsaiSkG

Havftigfefled iirough ts eariioattanptto txreasemaricO shareby imitating TVB programnftngATV adopted a stiategy of paovidftig ahanatives such as tabloid' television By givftig Hong Kongaucftences for flx first time ccmtiovasial stories, such as inlaviews wifli crime victims ard anti-Chinapoftticians, ATV succeeded in occasional maricd shares of ahnost 50 pacait [ftilaview Chn02.02]. ATVbroadcast about 3 hours of drama programnftng evay ni^t, produdng one hour offt n-house and inportiigflie rest fiom Taiwan, Jîan and ftxreasftigly fiom tix PRC. Of flie 23 hours dafly on AT V Hom e(Cantonese), 70 pacent were producedftvhousebut half of tiatwasrepeats.Moreflian40 percent of ATVWorid's (English) programnftng was inported mostiy fiom tix US ttxu^ ftxreasftigly fiom Jîan andKorea ATV maricds its programming overseas, has pixxftxed pecial programmes for CCTV andcontiaded o suppfy 400 horns and 12 pedals o StarTVs Chftiese channel [APTC, 1995].

Programme production/export: Hong Kong is one of tiie key centie of fiftn and televisionprcduction not only for txiseof Grea to Chftia but ovaseas ChftxseftiSouttxast Asia as weft as woridwideWitti an ouput of 200fiftnsp a yearft s rputedlyflx iftid argest produco offihnsand tie second largestqxirto. Fftms such as TV B, and Goldai Harvest which are prodigious producers have also worid-classftbraries conprisftig Chftiese drama, hung a epics, poftce tmUas,music, and comedy programmftig Qvaittidr unique pofttical, cultural and geogrphical sitiiation Hong Kong distiihutois have also saved asintamecftaries between elevis ionstationsfti fliePRC and programme producos ovaseas, whdho Westernorfiomoflio Chftiese scxfteties [Austiaftan Fflm Commission, 1994a].

TVBl,tiie ftitanationalami of Television Broadcastas Ltd, was estabftshed in 1976 to meet flieworidwide demand for Chinese-language programmftig. Each year TV B produces 5,000 hours ofprogramming for its two channels which broadcast in Chinese for 23 hours p a day, and in Engftsh for 16


18/164


hours p o d ay Programmes produced oitirefyfti-houseby TVB were news, variety shows, drama, andmusic [ftiterview Chn02.04]. These are ttxn avaflabb for export by TVBfs ttiree mariceting divisions:Ov aseas Chftxse Communities, National MaricdsftiSoufli East Asia, and Weston Maricets. TVBI is ttielargest sftigle cpaator fti ttx Chftiese video-roflalftxhistiywitti itsftivolvemaitrangftig fiom production ofvideo programmes o opaating video shops, fti 1994 a TVB aflfiftate company sd up The Chftxse Channel,a cab b pay-TV channelftiEurope, catering to about 800,000 ovaseas Chftiese resident tiere[Kohft, 1994].Presoftfy TVB is not onfy ejportftig programmes but managanait potise, such asto tidonesiawhoeft sassistingttx ftidosiarconmnocial channel, and o India whereft s coflaborating wifli a British firm oconsultwitti cbmestic com m ad al broadcastas usftig sateffite [ftiterview Chn04.03]. The ottio Hong Kongbroacbasta,ATV ,sedcstoemiflateTVBftiprograriimeprocfticticmandejqx)rtbutonasmaflascale. For itsMandarin language charmels StarTV has purchased programmftig fixmi various Taiwanese producers asweft as fiom ATV which was not a dfted conpetitor intiie iansnationalmaricet,flioughnot fiom TV Bwhich cotainly was.

7.2.2 TaiwanGeographical coverage. The Repubftc of Chftia (ROQ ccmprises flx mafti island provftxe of

Taiwan, cftx norfli of flx Phiftppftxs ard south-west of Jîan, as weU as a few smaU and Ift ify fortifiedislands very close o he cential coast of mainland China Infedft s adjacoit to ttx PRC province ofFuchiaifixm which much of its population comes and flxrefore flxy share a common ftnguisticmarket H i ^rnoimtafti ranges cbnsefyfirestedwifli carrphor, ciak,pftie and cedar cbminateflxcentie ard east of tix rnainisland, aflowing orJy 25 poco it of its land area to be settled and cultivated Its warm and moist cftmatesuppoVts agriculture such as sugar cane, teas, bananas as weU as rice crops, laigefy for local consumptionAKhough at 36,000 sq km Taiwan is less tianhalf iiesize of Tasmania,ftsupports apopulation d^ ty timesttiat offlie atto [Rayno, 1992: 117]. Faftfy daisefy populated at 20 miffion, Taiwanrepresentsa sizeablemaricd for com madal elevision savices.

Domestic ne^vorks: The reasons whyflie flireecbmestic Iroadcast networics, TTV , CYV andCTS, are owned by govemm ait and party orgarftsations have beai cftscussedftiflxprevious ch^to sectionFounded fti 1952 as flx first station, Taiwan Television Company (TTV) had flie Taiwan ProvindalGovanment as its principal shardxldo owning 49 pacoit, fti conjunction witii four Jîanese televisioncompanies ownftig 20 pacen t between flian ard flierest held by local busftiess. Appaiaitiy its monopolyprofits were so attractive iiatoflio sftnflar p laya s began o aitoflie elevisionbroacbasting industiy. Thus in1969 tieChftia Television Company (CTV) was formed witii iieKMT as tiemôrity shaidiolda at 60po co it , wifli some racfto stations owning ti ie rest Thai in 1972, a smafl echicational elevisionsovice wasexpanded quietlyftitoa flxrou^y co mm ad al station cafled Chftiese Television Sovice , owned 72 pacai tby iie Mftiistiy ofD efa xe [Lo efa/, 1994].

Undo martial law fiom 1949-87 mecfta contait was undofliestrict coisorship of iireeauttiorities:tiie Govemmait Information Office (GIO), iieKM T Cultural Worik Committee andflieTaiwan GarrisonCommand Tlie government periodicalfy enacted laws o fiirtha control television broadcasting for instance


19/164

Chinese Television Market: 7-1'

one o restiid ttx expression ofTaiwanese cuftural locaftsms on elevision[Lee, 1990]. Furthermore, ttirou^ttidr antioUiigftitereststtx nationaftst go va nm ai t places dftedors on iieboards ofttx ttiree broadcasteiswho are nftnistas, generals, party officials or leadftigbusftxssmai Aftnosthalfflxgaiaalmanagasftittxstations wae ex-mflitary officas ard forma aides o txPresident Evoi bwo-levd personnel ^poftitinoitswereftifftieixxdsuch tiat tx vast ni^caity ofttx elevisicm oumaftsts woe KM T party meirflxis and nxistiymaftilarders or tibeft descendants, even ttxm^ ttiese groips am pr is e less ttian a fijffli fti ttx goieialpcpulatiQn[Loe?fl/, 1994]. Typical ofsuch an idaitificationofmedia executives witti ttx i^ftne fti poftticalpowo, ideological dissent waft unreported, sensitive issues were assiduousfy avoided, and sdf-coisoishptook care ofgrey areas evaibefore iieofficial caisors would have

Rating? for flxse broadcast networics have been drofpftig ovo ttx 1990s, epedafly sftxe ttietiansnational channel TV BS e ntaed the maricd and became vo y profitabb. TVBS achieved popularitytiirough a programmftig stiategy ofhavftig pofttical fomms and Hong Kcmg s o ^ x p a a s . Lacking long-terms t i a t^ oflxr sateffite providos were said o ose NT 5-6 mflfton po momtii ard go out ofbusftxss. Howevottie advertisingftxomeof networics has rxit beoi significantiy fowo sftxx advatisftig pie was getting biggo,evai fliou^ Taiwan wasfti mickfle of a recession in ttx mid-1990s [Intoview Chn03.08]. Also a fourthtarestiial broadcasto, was due to start up fti late 1996 and ttx govanment w as seddng to ftcoise a fifSinetwork as weU as 11 new Icxal elevisiom staticms. These moves were linked to tix ^vemmenfs plans toftbaalise txmecfta ard piositicm Taiwan as a regional centie of Mandarin-language elevision,but irdustiyexecutives were afiaid of furtho loss of audiences and advertising rsvoiue by CYW, CTS ard TTV whichhad aheacfy lost much to t tx cable networics [Asian A&M, 1995b]. Unftke tix ot tio stations, tiefourthbroadcasto. People Broadcasting Coipxration, was owned by forma opposition pofttidans in conjimctionwitti me US cosmetic firm Estee Laudo which had expaience fti mnnftig its own stations in Europe[Wesflrook, 1996].Table 7C: Taiwan elevisionaucftaxe share, 1994Charmd Share ofviewing OiarmdTTV 25% CTSCrV 23% Cable (irasc.)

Share ofviewing22%30%Source: APT-C [1995:216]

By 1995 flioe w a e flree m^or Taiwanowned mecfta groips opaating as multi-sovice opaatorswhich were: United Communications Groip (UCG), Rebar Telecommunications Co. and Po-Hsin (PH)Entataftiment Whflefliesenewo groips are not dftectiy party-contiofled, flidr ownos astiitely are card-carrying KM T m on ba s. Tha e w a e also two Hong Kong medk gro ips active in Taiwan:first,TVBSwhich is run fiom H ong Kong a rd sippftes programmes fiom fliae, ard second, tiie Taiwan-based butHong Kong-financed CTN which mns two channels for news and oitataftimait [ftiterview Chn02.10].Distiibuted via sateUite, CTN channels targeted at Chinese peakftig populationsfti mainland Qiftia, SoufliEast Asia, ttie Soufli Pacific and flieUS as weU w ha e ft was earned by cable networics [Tdevision Asia,


20/164


1995c: 33]. Among a numbo ofTaiwanese fimis, ftxhdiig ttx Po-Hsin groip, were leportBd to beftitaestedftia state i i CI N but ttx latto feared tiat tftswodd damageftschatxxs ofpenehating ttx PR Cmaricet, ydabid fiom ttx Pearson's Group ofttx UK was also unsuccessfifl[Hu^xs, 1996b].

Cable television. The fedors which led to ttx growfli of cable hi Taiwan were ttx pxxrprogramnftng previousfy cm ttx ttree broadcast channels, and drffioflties wifli ttxft reception due tomountanxDustenaftiandtaflbufldingg. Scmae 20 years agi bcal cable cpoatorsbân as a mass antennaesystem for cbm estic elevision,subsec[uentfyi)utting on video channels and lato sateffite channds. Thesesovices provided by smafl-scalendîbcHiriicxd operators carnetobe known coflectivefy ard c o U o c j ^ ^flx teim'fourth channel'. Sftxe ttx govemmeift: and Kuomftitang party owned or amtiofled ttx broadcastchannels, members of opposftionpwrties orpieopb synrpaflxticto txft:causes started cable cfaanne3s i i t txlate 1980s, long befire ttx channels were oflfidaify made legal fti 1991, fti or do to provicb a means ofam raunica ting wifli voters eqxdaUy at ttx fiequoit election imesftiTa iwan filterv iewees testified ttiatttxse 'donocsacy ndwcafcs' ogoyed pxpular support whflst ttxy provided aftemative pxifttical viewpxiftfts,befire a combinaticn of systematic government repressicm and txft-own ideological bias which camettwoughftittxir programmes caused txftviewoshptostagnateThe cpposition Daiwoatic Pnogtessrve Party owned ip to 20 cabb operations flxxi^ viadiflfera*fecticms,aflowing fa 9cmx irxlperxience ofopaation [fct^Cable operaticns woe clanped cbvm iponby flxgovaimxnt kit ix}t eftniinalBcl,fliusdr i^fln Imdergrxxmd ardalfcget% iritDfix cxmttol ofcriniinal elaixrits [ftitoview Chn02.W^^Scmx pofttical parties had also invested in production houses flxw^ flx programmes flxyptxxbcedtendedtobe pofttical [InlErviewChii04.04].Tix scxalkd "Daixaacy ixtwtdc^ were at one stE^ estimated o have 40 channels island-wicfe, but flx politica]fy43iased views ejqressed led to a decftne in flidr popularity [InterviewChn03.06].

IIn 1995 flx Taiwanese govonmoit entoed ttx cabbftidushyitselfbyftihodudngaVoD soviceto

seme 2,000 subscnhos whicii was backed finandafly by o v o 13 organisaticms and ccmpanies. Theseixftded fardgn and local nudtinationals such as Hewlett Packard, Phflps, Aco, Tatimg and CWnatiustwhicii cortnhuted US$1.5 mflfion, an amount ttiat was m atcixd by Taiwan's National Sdoxe Coundl[Wesflrook, 1995]. This coftxaded wfth moves by ttx govanmait to lâlise and regulate flx cabletelevisionftxhistiyandpomftconpetitionto its oftgppofy ofttx broadcast elevisionftidushy.

Programme production/export The Intoiiaticmal Media Conpany, a subsidiary of ttie tiireeTaiwanese omm adalnetwcdc s, TTV, CTV aidGrS,hasbeenrepcmablefir seflftigttidrprograramestoNorthAmerica HowevobecauseitsmanagjngdftedDrposftiQnhasbeenrotatedrûlarfyttirou^ttiettireenetworics, eacii ^pcnntee has not remaftxd fti ttx job kmg enou^ to bufld ttx business. Meanwhfle ttxgpvemment-iun Broadcasting Develcpment Furd (BDF) promotes its programmes at ftitemationaltelevisicmfensand some BD F programmes are used wittiout charge by a Chftxse sateffite channd hi NorthAm erica Because of its anti-communist agenda, BDF findsft difficuft to seUftsprogrammesfti elevisicmmarifldselsewhere. Howevo,WharfCabbanfittxvicbcKmdemandseivicehiHQrigKcmgbityfiomBDFand chibftitoCantcrxse, whfle M acao and SnigEpore brxiadcastas also bityfiomfts programmes [ f i i ^^Chn04.05]. There is undostandabfy afimftedmaricd woridwicb fir Taiwanese procftictions because ttx


21/164


PRC, ttx largest maricd for Mandarin-language programmes, is closed to Taiwanese programmes; mostovoseas Chftiese maricets are Cantonese-language domftiant and weU-serviced by Hong Kong bixiadcastas.

72.3 PRCGeographicalccjverage. The largest countiyftiNorfli East Asia and iftrd argestftiflxworid at 9.6

mflfton sqkm , Chftia (PRQ is bounded o tienorth byMongofta, Russia and North Korea, o tiewest by ttieCaitial Asian nations ofKazaldistan, Kft ftzia, T^fldstan and Afghanistan, and o flxsoutti by India, N q ^Bhutan, Bumia, Laos, ard Vietnam Qvai its geogrphical size, flx lardsc^x and cftmate of China is astiidy of contiasts. ft comprises two môr intasecting mountafti chaftis flirou^ flie centie, grasslands ftiManchuria in flx noitii, iieh i ^ plateau around Tihdftifliewest, desa t inflienorth-west, and laige fatflerivo plains owardstix east [Rayno, 1992:113-114]. ft supports a population of ov al bflfton, w hich by anyestimation makes anftresistibbmaricd for elevisionbroadcasters, domestic, regional or global.

Dom estic networks: As cftscussed inflieearfto section onflxPRC, afl cbmestic elevisionnetworiksfti iiePRC are government-owned,flioughdpendent on advatising revenue in adcfttion to governmentsubsidy. ForftistanceOriaital Tdevision of Shanîai estabftshed in 1993 is owned byfliedty of Shanîaiand contributes half ofits advertising revalue to flx govanm ait [Inlerview Chn02.11]. It was said by somein flx broacbasting industiyfliat iierehas not beai any domestic commacial elevisionstation fti P RClaigefy chx to a lacdc of Icxal ejqiatise o matoh Hcmg Kong and Taiwan, laflioflian ack of fimcftng.But ftmay also be tix pofttical risks ar d cftre l ^ ardfinancialconsequaxxs for a cbmesticafly-based televis ionstation and its managos of offaxftng flx communist Chinese govanment P e r i i ^ fti reponse toconpetition by iansnationalsateffite channds thae has beai some attenpt at privatisingflie elevisionmecftafti ttie PRC, ttiou^ fti reaftty flie owners of such so-called non-govanment stations are dttio localgovanm ents, communist party branches or aitieprenoirs wifli good pxifttical piationage

Industiial community elevision(ICTs), owned or assodated wifli factories and oflio economicinstitiitions ard nanowcast oflidrhousing areas have beoi a gaiaafly unacknowledged part offlieChinesemecfta scoie. OriginaUy utiftsing microwave fiomcbmestic elevisionrelay stations,ft has givai way o cablefoUowing flie growfli of flie latto and flie ftbaaftsation of regulations. Whfle tiie ICTs fedftties andequipment belonged to ttx industiial oiganisation,ft came undo iiecftrection of CCTV or iie ocal televisionstation for technology and program me prochiction, iie MRFT local bureaux for poftcy implementation, evaiflie Propaganda Deparmait of flie Chftiese Comm unist Party. Afl offlieserelationshipshave beaiconsiderably eroded in reca it yeais, asflieICTs shift fiom bdng primarily informational-educational organsof the state to being Idsure-aitataftimait conduits of cbmestic ard iansnationalchannels ft i a conpetitiveaivironment which includes multiple local cable networics [Shoesmifli, 1995]. The developmait of cabletelevisionftiChftia has beai characterised by Chinese officials as having u rd ag one four stages: communityantama TV, closed circuit TV, laige and mecftum aitaprise cable systan (or tiie ICTs above) andadnftnistiative region cable networic [Jiang 1995]. The stage wasfliusset for iie contioUed ftitiocftictionofsubscription cable or pay-TV networksfti China


22/164


The Chftxse government seemed o be keen on encouragftig subscription ca bb elevision networicsfti ordo to counto ttie ttreat of tansnational elevision,and agafti tix provftxial and municipal levelbrcadcasters were m^or pfeyas. Utiftsftig MMDS technology, Shanghai Cabb TV and Bdjftig Cabb TVwere flx largest such networics, claftnftig 3.5 mflfton v iew as bd w ea i flxm By ttx year 2000 ttxre wereexpected o be 3,000 such stations covering ttx niral areas as weU where d ^ paca it of Chftia's populationftved . For ttx longo ta rn cable was bdng laid, particulariy fti flx dties by tarestiial elevisionstations fticooperation witti municipal auttxmties. fti eariy 1996 ttx PRC was estimated to have 1,200 cabb stationswitti afiirtho2,000 awaiting ^proval, each expecting o provide between 10 o 24 channels. To avoid ttiestiains iiat tftsproftfaation of channels would put on domestic fiftn prochiction and p ah ap sftnports, tiecential go vanm ait dedded shiewcfly iiatCCTV would be leponsihb forflidrprogrammftig Aheady ttie300 laigest cable sys tans witti a viewadftp of 12 mflfton housdiolds between flian w o e ie-brc)adcastingCCTV eroypted channels: Channel 5 Spjorts, Channel 6 Movies, Channel 7 Ghfldiai's/Fannos, andChannd 8 Variety [Sftnons, 1996].

A ltt io u^ foreignftivestinent n ttxm was prohihited, fliae w ere exceptions such as Wuhan CableTelevision Entaprise ,flie oftit-vaitine since 1992 betwe ai iieForeign Relations Dqiartment of Wuhan dtyand flie tianaiational broadcasto CTN of H ong Kong which provided start-ip coital, equipmoit andtechnical consuftancy [Shoesmifli, 1995]. Anoflxr example was UnitedftitemationalHolcftngs (UIH) of flxUK which was in a 49 pacent/51 pocait joftit-venture witti tieBroadcast Bureau of Hunan Provftxefti tieHunanftitanationalTV Communicaticms Company, which deftvas cme channel to cable networks in 14dties in ttx province. In tiiscaseftwas able o dicumvait Chftiese bixiacbast laws because tiemicrowaverelay used was classified as a communicaticms systan ard rxit cable television It was sd to esqiard itsopaarions and upgracb o cftgital technology wifliflieassistarxe ofXflH. FinaUy, Tftne Wamo offlieUS hada contiad to sippfy Bdjftig Cable Television wifli equipmait and assistancefti expancftng a MM DS systan,whfle Sing^xire Technologies ard SftigaftrfiashndureInvestinent of Sing^re w a e said to be woridngwifli BCTV to bufld a pflotfibre/coaxialcable system [Flynn, 1995: 68]. The lafla case may not be seoiaitirely as a fordgn investinait because of Sftigapore's cbnftnant Chinese culture and commitinent tocompatihb cultural ard pofttical values.

Programme production/export: The elevisionstations in flie PRC, espedafly CCTV based inBdjftig and flx provftxial and municipal stations of Shan^iai, Guangdiou and Sichuan sefl tiieftprogramming o ovaseas maricets dflio cftrectiy or via China Television United (CTU). Television festivalsare oiganisedfti iiesemetropofttan dties to promote PR C programmes, and have attracted oflio stations asweU which had programmes to sefl for export How evo PRC elevisionprogrammes w o e not saleable toflie ot iio Greato China markets of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Taiwan restiids flie utilisation of PRCprogramming fliou^ tiiae are loop-holesfor epackaging tianftiHong Kong orfor iansmissionby illegalcabb opaatois. Whfle Hong Kong has no such restiiction, its aucftaxes have found P RC programmes ofpoor quaftty ard too ideological, and so tiie com mad al stations t a d not to featijre tiian. ftistead, PRCprogrammes have found a more receptive maricd among tiie ettmic channels ard video shops in NorfliAmerica as wdl as ofliaregionswitii sizeable numbers of diasporic Chinese. Alttiough flx PR C has agreed


23/164


to swaps of programnftng of an educational natine as witti Discovery Channel, ft has not pemfttted dftedbroadcast ftfto its maricd fti rdu m [AMCB, 1995a]. Anottio way ttiat PRC is qxirtftig its domesticprogramnftng is vfe extendftig its tansnationalsateffite brc)adcasts, such as CCrV4 for Hong Kong andTaiwan, o diasporic Chftiesefti txUSfti 1993,ftiSoutti East Asiaby 1996 and woridwide by 2000 [Chan,1996].

Afthou^ ttx production oftelevision drama in ttx PRC is stifl partly fim ded ttrou^ an annual statesubsicfy ofttx prochxtion houses,fliishas been irxaeasftigly supplanaited by oflxr sources. These ftxhxbpersord connections in ottio parts of govanmait ard tix amiy who could provicbfiiittiosubsidies, but alsoentaprises which could oijoy up 30 pacait rdum onflidrftivestinoit,as weft as mariceters wishftig topo nsor tix prochxtion inreturnfor association offlidrprcdud witii tieprogramme, ft is aUeged tiatofioiflx procftjction houses have had o mcdify context o satisfyflidrbaiefectors or investors whfle not offaxftngflie caisors,fliusccmpromisftig artistic autonomy and procbction quaftty [Keane, 1996]. The aftemativeprocess of raisingfimdsfiom banks and investinentfilmsard seUftigflieprogrammes to broadcastas whotixn raise revalue fiom advertisftig has rxit reduced the compromise of caeative integrity fti Chiia, as ttiemore recent ard pxpular soap opaas and situation comedies ftxftcate. Undo flie pretext of safeguardingcidtiral values ardp e i h ^ to paotedflxstaleKiwned elevisionprociuction fedftties,flx MRFf has mled fliatinported movies may not exceed 40 minutes on prime-time elevisiondefined as 6pm to 10pm daify[AMCB, 1996d].

Chftxse-language elevisionard movie prcductionftiGreato Chftia fti 1993 was vaftied at US$2.8bflfton Of tftsTaiwan had ttx hi^xst share at 47 pocoit or US$1.3 bflfton, foflowed by Hong Kcmg at 28pacen t or US$0.8 bflfton and PRC at 25 pxicent or US$0.7 bflfton Assunftng growfli of mecfta maricets atfive pacent armuafly, cable penettation exceecftng 60 pacait, ard a sft^t increasefti movie ard televisionshare of consumo purchasftig powo, flie value of Chftxse-language programme production ui GreatoChina could be as h i ^ as US$14 bflfton orfive imes ts 1993 value, not counting subsicftaiy services [Hu,1995]. The US was flie laigest source offimdftigfor original Chftiese elevisionprochiction tirou^ suchmecfta firms as Dis n ^ and Discovay, whfle Taiwan firms simply tiansfa red labour-intaisive anftnationcontiadsfor fihnsesqxirted o txUS [Wdnstock, 1996]. By late 1996 tx PR C Mftftstiy ofRadio, Fflm ardTelevision (MRFT) had announced stiicto regulations on t tie use of Chinese personnel fti fiftns ard co-productions. To combat whatftdescribes as tix po nidous sodal influences offekecbmestic fihns and co-prochiction, iieMRFT requfted tiatmost ofttiefihncast and crew should be native Chinese [Gaiiard, 1997].But such regulatory efforts ofttie Chinese govemmait mi^t be a case of toofttfle, oo late', ard somewhatftieffectiial inflieh i ^ y competitive, global busftiess of convogoit mecfta

Given tiesodal and cultiiral affinities between Hong Ko ng Taiwan ard the PRC, fliae is much synogy inttidr domestic elevision rdustiies, depiteflieftostoisibb pofttical a rd economic cftffaoices. Now fliat fl i^share conpetition fiom tiansnational sateffite television and compete among flianselves as subiegionalbroadcastas in Northeast Asia,fliestiategies of TVB, CCTV and various Taiwanese broadcasteisftisuch abusiness aivftonmait mi^t be instinctive for oflio subregional markets in Asia wifli socio-ciiltiiral affinities.


24/164


Fuflxmiore tix extent to whichfliesateffite and cable elevisionmedium has promoted homogaftsation ofcdtiiral preferences and maricets across Asia and epeda fly fti G reato Chftia via programme production andport is worthy of fiirtho ftivestigation The next section of ttfts ch^to wifl look at flie entiyftito tieChftiese maricd of StarTV as tx pioneering ianaiationalsateffite elevision,epedaflyfliediffering reponsesof govanm ents, broadcastas a rd aucftencesfti ts constitiioU taritories.

7.3 TRANSNATTONALCX)MMERaALTELEVISION

The largest num bo of StarTV-capabb homes in Asia is in Grea to China and natiiraflyfliedevelopment oftiansnational sateffite elevisionbroadcasting is of critical interest o govanments, broadcastas and adv atis asaftke in tiie subregion A h h o u ^ flie ovaafl growfli of iiismaricd has been steacfy, ttie expaiaxx fti itsconstituait taritories has beoi varied, witti r p d growfli in some states ard provinces but decftne in oflias.Scxm aflo its launch StarTV achieved significant paidiation in Taiwan, whfte viituafly minftnal poiettationin Hong Ko ng wiflifliePRC somewhere in between, a situationfliathas gaiaaf ly pasisted o v o the yearssince. These varyftig piattems of accessto ianaiationalsateffite elevision nflx Grea to Chftia subregion, ardflx reasons for flian wifl be exanftned closefyfti fliissection

7.3.1 Hong KongEconomic & m arketpotential: The Hong K ong economy has gaftied a woridwicb reputation for

being flie closest ^proxftnation to fiee-maricd c^itaftsm, because ft is relatively fiee of govanmaitintervention The UN embaigo on iadewifli communist Chftia inflie1950s caused a economic slump andforced tiie rp id irdustiiaftsation of Hong Kong particulariy fti textiles and cbflftng but also fti dedro nic ,clocks, plastics and oflxr ft^t ftxhistiies. The export oriaitation offlieeconomy isfthistiated byfliefed iiattotal visihb tiade fti 1993 was H K$2.2 bffion [US$283,000 mflfton] or 250 pacen t of its GD P, rankftig ft10th amongflieworid's economies [Hong Kong Govanment, 1994a; 51]. This phoxmaialperfoimance ftivisible bacb has also been acconpanied by growfli fti tix sovices sector, resulting in Hong Kong bdng amajor Asian as weU as intanational caitie forfinancialard business services. Britain's agreonent to handovoflie aritory was conditioned onfliePRCs assurancefliatHong Kon^s economicfieecbmand c^itaftstftfestyb would be maftitained for at least 50 years, oflidrmutiial baiefit [Speake, 1992:272]. This has beoireassuring ofliebusftiesses operating out of Hong Kong having part or iiewhole of Greato China as tiieftmaricet,ftxlucftngttie iansnationalsateffite broadcastas and iidradvatisas.

StarTV: A lfl xu ^ Hong Kong was iieheadquartos and sateffite ipUnk location for StarTV, fliemecfta reported fliat ft commanded a paiettation rate of ust 5 pa ca it cftiring 1993, wifli 253,000 peoplewatohftig the network ova a 24-hour paiod [Television Asia, 1994a]. Govanmoit estimates wae fliatabout 13 pac ait of elevisionhouseholdsfti Hong Kong had StarTV access, ard only 2 pocait subscribed tocable-TV by 1994 [Interview Qin04.02]. Howevo, StarTV claimed its penetiation fti Hong Kong liadgrown steacftly since it was intixduced in 1991, sedng an almost four-fold increase wifliin iie firstfour yeai^,


25/164


namefy fiom 116,925 housdxildsfti January 1992to418305 householdsfti eariy 1995. Avaflabb byflienftio v o 25 pa cent of aft TV housdx)lds fti tix colony andfti 99 pocent of sateffite/cablecqiabb housdxldsStarTV was ttx leadftig such networic Viewership wittftn txisehomes is 75 pacent for 'watched StarTV ftittxpast7days'and30pocentfor'watched yesterday [StarTV, 1995a]. The vastm^ority or, o be precise, 96pa co it of StarTV housdxilds recdved ttx ndworic ttrou^ Sftigle M as to Antennae Television (SMATV)systans accorxftngto figuresfixmJanuary 1994 [StarTV, 1994b]. ft was reportedfy ttx leadftig ndworic ftihomes able to recdve sateffite television, depite ttx burgeoning cdioice avaflabb. Domestic channelscontinued ohave tix largest share ofviewership,fliou^ iiesewere bdng ax xb d Figures for Macao flxiu^were not avaflable, butmay be assumed to b e not dissimflar to Hcmg Kong givaifliefedfliatCantonese isflie cbnftnant cftaled and much elevisionwatohed is by pfll-ovofiomHong Kong.

Prior o substantial cabftng of Hong Kong sateffite elevision viewas recdved ttx service dtiio viaMcrowave Muftipoint Defivay System (MM DS) or Sftigle Mas to Antam ae Television (SMATV) whichare appropriate technologies g ivaiflieh i ^ inbanisaticm offlx aritory. Hong Kong isflie eadftig SMATVmaricd in Asia, and not Taiwan as is ccmimonfy fliou^t [Interview Chn03.01]. fti the past flx companywhich ownedflie argest SM ATV dish instaUation service also owned StarTV and iiushelpedftxrease tspenetiaticmftiHong Kong ft is saidfliatLi Ka-Shftigflx ftfttialowno of StarTV had sateffite cftsh-antamaeftistafledftbaaflyon afl hisreal-estateholcftngs as a way of boosting penetration and viewership [ftiterviewChnOl .05]. The initialrivahyo v o elevisionbetweai Hutchftison W han poa and WharfHolcftngs ex tax bdtoflxftpKpoty devdcpm ents, such iiatresidafls of a p r p a t y devdcpmait by Hutchinson were ofioi notable o have access o WharfCable, whfle residents of a develcpment of Wharfwere usuafly not able o haveaccess o StarTV [Interview ChnOl .06]. Howevofliecftsh-antomae instaflation company w as subsequaitiypuixhasedby WharfHoldftig^ owners also offlierivalWharfCable [Saatohi & Saatohi, 1994].

Research commissioned in 1995 byflieHong Kong Broadcasting Auflxrity usingfliesame maricdresearchfirmas StarTV cftd, foundfliatafl 1,958 sateffite TV-cqiabbhouseholds wae ableto recdveStarTVbut onfy 47 pacen t could recdve otho sateffite channels. Offlie atto households, 43 pa ca it recdved ChinaCoitial Television (CCTV), 29 pocent Canal Franceftitanationale(CFT), 6 pac ent Asian Business New s(ABN), 4 pacait Austiafta Television, and 3 pacoit G u i ^ u TV, a soufliem Chftia provftxial charmd[SRH, 1996]. There does not seon o be much diffoaxefti flieage and sex profile of StarTV vosus aU-TVhousdx)lds fti Hong Kong but a significant cftfifaence fti ftxom e cftstiibution StarTV ova took aU TVhousdiolds in iie proportion of housdiolds havftig monflfty incomes above HK$20,000 (US$2,600) a rd inttie ownership of luxuiy paochids such as conpad cftsk playas, computos and cars. The prindpalbreadwinnofti SterTV housdiolds was alsofoundto have a h i ^ o education ard occupational status tiianaU-TVhousdxlds [StarTV, 1994b].

The most popular StarTV programmes fti Hong Kong appeared to be flie Star Chinese channel.Prime Sports ard the music channel, Channel V. But evai thai ttiey w o e no conparison for cbmestictelevision charmels,. a phaiomaion attiibuted to h i ^ o production values of programmes o^ newoprogramming on andflieuse of Cantonese onfliosechannels. Specific comments in iiis egaid made byinteiviewees were:


26/164


StarTV and Wharf Cabb programmes are not as pcpular as Hong Kong dcmiestic channelsbecause flx/ are pacdved to be of pocxo quality. Wheflia flxy are sourcedfixmiTaiwan andSingapae, produced in-house a reruns of ATVs programmes,flieseprograrimxs are seal as old-feshicmed, even as a diffaait cultiire oHcmg Kcmg's [ftiterview ChnOl .05].StarTV regulariy hys ATV dramas aflo havingfliemdubbed into Mandarin [ftiterviewChn02.02].Aflanocm programmes cm flx StarTV Chinese channel are usualfy old B&W saials inCantonese dubbed iiitoMandarin and one easonft s not inflxsame league asflx ocal channels isbecausettis in Mandarin [Interview Chn03.01].

I>x o flx sbxmg loyalty towards locafty-produced ptxigrammes such as Cantcmese soep operas,ft is runxuredfliatcable subscmlxis were canceUing aflo cme a two mcmflis [Interview Chn03.02].Of aft tie StarTV channels, Channel V was sftigled out for special maiticm by sevoal ftitaviewees.

This was for its excqitional abffity, fti flxft view, to attrad au diaxes and adv at isa s ttrou^ cultinalcontextiiaftsationofitspnogramming seoiftngfywifliout much loss ofits MTV-type ettxos.Channel V has created prograrns faprinx-tinx in each rnaricafliusmakingftnxxe attractive toadvatisas fa ft catainfy got betia audiaxes, f a exampleflx Taiwan audience was said o havegrown six imesbecause offlx ntixxiuction of Chinese pep songs, pbs pcpular video jocteys (VJs)previousfy cmMTV Asia [ftiterview ChnOl .03].MTV has affected flx style of advertising to youfli andretained ts mtemational identity whfleChannel V had calaed o ocal tastes [IntaviewChn03.04].Channel V has dcme ptTDgrammes fa prime-time in each naticsial or eflmic maricO undo itsfoo xint becausefliatmakes ft m ae attractive to advatisas because it had l a i ^ audiax:es

[ftiterview Chn03.04].Prior to 1995 StarTV had not beoi aflowed to use flx Cantonese cftaled on its non-aHataftimait

chanrxls which were practicafly afl offts charmels, and instead ft utilised Mandarin which wasrelevant oTaiwan andfliePRC but not Hong Kong whereft s scarcely poken, at least prior o flie1997 hand-ovo toflie PRC. T h o u ^fliatrestiictionwas lonoved by flieHong Kong aifthorities aflofliemid-term review fliatyear, StarTV had chosoi not to do softnmecftately.Wifli its evaitual broadcasting in Cantonese, StarTVviewershipftiHong Kon g M acao ard soufliem China e^xdaUy Guangdong provftxe, was expected o risesubsec^uentiy.

Wharf Cable: By 1994 sateffite elevisionwas offaed in Hong Kong by cable as weft as byMMDS, but viewership was not growing as weft as qxded The cable subscriptions were aftned at tiioseliving at govanment housftig estates, seemftigly a mass audience o be t^ped fo r sateffite elevisionbut flieyseon quite satisfied wifli programmftig on fliecbmestic tarestiial stations. Thae have also beoi problanswifli wiring Hong Kong wifli opticfibrecable, which have led o tieprocess being bdftnd schechfle The'mid-levels' residaitial areaftiHong Kong which comprisesflieuppo-midcfle class and expatiiate populationshad y d to be wired by tiie 1994, nor was ft close to MM DS iansmitters[Davies, 1994a]. For reasonsmaitioned earfto, sateffite cftsh-antamae have not beai prevalentftiHong Kong except in apartmait blocksowned or developed by Li Ka-Shing. By la ta acquiring Fortress fiom Li's Hutohinson Whanpoa, WharfCable gained access to a customo base of 300,000 housdiolds a rd hotel ixxrnis aheacfy wired to recdveStarTV [GoU, 1995]. Iffthad acquftedflierightstocftstiibuteflireeof StarTVs betio-known channels. WharfCable would have acquired flidr established aiuftaices as well as an added ftducanoit for would-besubscribers butflienegotiations soured. Tiiere were 60-80,000 WliaifCable subscribers by early 1994, wliile


27/164


pendration rate was 61 pac ent ofT V households and at 95 pacoit ofcabb householdsft s tix m ost popularsateffite channelfti Ta iwan About 57 percent of afl StarTV housdxlds "watohed yesterday andflftsfigurerose wifli household ftxxm e [StarTV, 1995a]. iltervieweesftittx sub-r^on were nftxedfti txftassessmentofttx progress, some lftnkftigftrepresented ranaricabb growfli, ottias poftiting to flx feflure of flx pan-Asian st iat^.

Thisreflectsremaricabbgrowflifixmfigures n 1993fliatftwas avaflabb injust 11 percent ofaftTV housdxids, a 1.6 miffion cable hcmies, whai movi&based cable channels had 59 percentpaxtotion ofaft cable homes m Taiwan [ftiterview ChnQ2.01].StarTV used ohave good penetrationrates n Taiwan and PRC, butfliisdeclined ovo imeasdcmxstictelevisicminprovedflxcjiafttyofflxirprogramming [ftilaviewQmOl.01].fti itiafty, StarTV expected the uppo classes of Asia to purchase sateffite dishes in crdo owatehflxir channels ard wae not ccmcaned about mass ^peal. Since ixnft has made Greato China,Inclia and hxkmesia its prirne rnaitete ard is planning ova a hunclred channels in mdtiple languagetargeted at flxm. The original StarTV channels may remainasfiee-to-airshowcases of itsprogramming offerings [btaviewChnOl .09].

When StarTV switohed its Taiwanese cftstiibutor, cable operators blacdced-out its chanrxls o protestagaftist the new cftstiibutoi's plan to reduce flx existing cftscounts which aflowed cable opaa tors to pay fororfly20 pacent ofsubscmhers [Asian A &M , 1995a]. Whfteflftssitiiation eased soon aflo, StarTV ccmtinuedto be dqioxbnt on carriage of bofli itsfiee-to-aftand piay-TV channels on Taiwan's ubiquitous cableopaators who had a wicb range of alternative channdsto etiansmitto flxftsubscribas. There wae said tobe about 160 to 180 channels avaflable fti Taiwan fti 1995 but each cable cpaatir had a re-tiansmissioncapiadty o homes of only 50 to 70 channels. Govemm ait legulaticm stipulated fliatsix chanrxls had to b eresoved for flx nftfttary ardfliatflie fliree arestiial broadcast stations must be carried,fliusstiidfy leavingonly 45 charmels po cabb opaatorforfliesateffite and cable channels o conpete for [Interview Chn02.10].

TVBS: fti 1993 TVB entaed flieTaiwan maricet wifli its SupaChannd or TVBS, a Mandarin-language cable chanrxl deftvaed by sateffite. It cftd not succeed as weft as expected because ft used H ongKong programmesftfttiaflybut subsequaitiy reaftsed iiat ocal programmes were needed So unsuccessfiflwas TV BS wifli its programnftng in Taiwan fliatft achieved only 5 pocait piaietration then [Intaview Qm03.01]. Soon TVB b ^ a n paochicing Mandarin-language programmes, achieving an oup ut of 1,000 hours ayear ard a paxtration of 2.5 mflfton homesrepresentingahnost 90 pacait of cable households and 50pacait of afl elevisionhousdiolds fti Taiwan [TVB, 1994a]. Having become tiie most pxpular cablechannel in Taiwan, TVBS esqianded dsewhae in flie region by being avaflable to subscribas in fliePhflippines via SkyCabb, in Sftig^re via Sftigapore Cable Vision ard in Thafland via Univasal Cable TV.TVBS diversified its offeringsftitoTVBS Golden and TVBS Newsnd channels. TVB S Golden featiirsd fti-house piociictions of chamas, made-for-TV movies and music pedals broacbasting fiom 10:00-04:00hours. Whfle TVBS Newsnd featired intanational ard finardal news infliemomftig and evaftngs andftfestyb ard aitertaftmait for women and chfldrai inflie afianoon [TVBS, 1995b].

Cable networks: The cable irdustiy in Taiwan comprised local cable system opaators, sateUite-tiansmitted cable channels and programme suppUers, generaUy separate aitities but not witixut someblurring of boundaries bOween fliem.. The cable opaators w o e segmaited geographicaUy ard so sold


28/164

Chinese Television Market: 1-1',

advatisftig ime ov o y locaftsed cftents, whfle tix cabb channels were segmented byftfestyb.Most of ttxmrelay channelsfiom ottio sources, domestic or tansnationalHow evo ttxy were routed to exaggoate thdrsubscribo numbos to advertisers whfle downplayftig ttx numbos to ttidr programme and channelprovidos seddng roya fties. This sftuation was expected to ftiprove wittiregulationand ftcensftig akftigeffedfti tx ate 1990s.

Few channels are nm by cable opaalcxs, since most of tix lattorc-tiansmftofliets' channelsPntaview Chn03.07].Each cable cpaata chooses which sateffite and cable channelsto e-bnoodcast,a decisioninfluenced byflx oyaftieschaigedty ix channels [onfy new channels offered no royalties deals toattractflian nitialfy] and onflxciariadby subsmhas aflxirwfliingness opayflx subscjpticm fee[ftiterview ChnOl .08].Cable cperakrs have not been honest wifli sateffite channels aboutflxirsubscnho numbers,often statingfliatflxyhad onfy 3,000 housdxild wtei flxy aduaUy m i ^ have 10,000 a more.Hovveva vvhen approaching acivertisos, cable cpaalcxs exaggerate the numbo ofsubscmhers in tixopposite directicm [Interview Chn02.10].

One offlierecent entiantsfti flx cbmestic elevision maricet, Po-Hsin Erilatainment began in 1995as a programme provido, elevisionchannel cpaator ard multple-system cpaator (MSO) ownftig nftxcable opaators around Taiw an like CTV (China TV), Po-Hsfti'sPHTV station was KMT-financed Po-Hsin had leased one tianpordo fixm A pStarl on which flrou^ digital conpnessionft could broadcast sixchannels, tireeof ttian lun by Po-Hsfti itself whfle ttx oflxrflireewere sub-leased to otites. PHTVl orfiiformatiom Chanrxlfeaturedpofttical, ecorxmftc and ftitematicmalnews as weU asftfestyb ftifcamation,forwhichft had its own sbdios which procftice 95 pocent offlxftown programmes. PHTV Tod was a 24-hourJ^ianese movie channel,flx fihnsfor which wae procfticedby a leacftngfihnstidioftiJ^ian but subtitied ftiTaiwfen PHIVDrarna was a channel planned o featiire soap cperas, movies andfiftn-icblprograrnmes.Oftiie ranaftiing fliree channels, two w a e sub-leased to Taiwanese firms San-Lfli and Tai-Chi for pcpularentataftimoit channels featiiringflxftown variety shows and ?aap opaas. Thefliftdwas utiftsed by Disne>'channel for which Po-Hsin was sole agentfti Taiwan It was iplinkedfiomSftigpore flirou^ ApStarl andso Po-Hsin also does Diaieys cftstobution ard promotion among cable opaatorsftiTaiwan [PHTV^, 1995].Lflce 90 pacent offliechannds in Taiwan afl Po-Hsin channels wae encaypted for subscription tele\ision

Rebar, a subsicftaiy of one offlie ip en conglomerates in Taiwan, claftned 1.5 mftfton subaibos \n.1995 for its fifteai channels o f B-giacb Mandarin and fordgn movies, educational elevision,MTV-stylemusic programmftig TV-shopping and a Taiwanese cftalect charmd Cunaifly

Documents

STN Thomas 1998 Vol. 2compressed