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Beijing (pte038/13.04.2005/15:30) - China is set to clamp down hard on foreign media, with new rules limiting foreign investment. As the Media Guardian http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk reports, foreign media companies such as News Corp, Viacom and Sony will be limited to one programme production venture apiece in China, which has a 23.3 billion dollar advertising market and 300 million households with a TV set. Interest in China among international media groups as surged during recent months after Beijing relaxed its media ownership rules to allow foreign investment in Joint Venture television, radio and film production. However, the implementation of guidelines issued in recent weeks could mean that media giants' plans to set up joint ventures with Chinese media and expand may be limited.
Chinese media industry executives confirmed the new regulations, which come just months after the government allowed the formation of joint ventures with foreign media firms. With a population of 1.3 billion, China could become one of the world's largest media markets, with spending on print and TV advertising rising 25 per cent last year to 23.3 billion dollars. Viacom is the only foreign company to have announced more than one Joint Venture in China. Its children's TV channel, Nickelodeon, has teamed up with China's second largest media company, Shanghai Media Group, and it also has a "strategic alliance" with the third largest, Beijing Television. It is also looking at a link-up with Southern Media, the nation's fourth largest media company.
However, according to a Viacom spokeswoman, the SMG venture will be its only programming venture to date and the Beijing Television deal will involve no equity investment. "The Shanghai venture will be called HaHa Nick," she said. "We are producing content to be distributed across China." According to a News Corp spokeswoman, the company's relationship with a broadcaster in the Qinghai province is purely a sales tie-up and does not involve equity investment. Sony has a TV programming Joint Venture with Hua Long Film Digital Production Co, while Warner Bros has a Joint Venture with the China Film Group and Hengdian Group.
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