New Procedures to Control Satellite Television in China

With approval of the SARFT, foreign satellite television channels may broadcast to stipulated areas such as guesthouses, three star hotels (or above) catering for foreign guests, and buildings exclusively for office and residential use by expatriates.

A foreign satellite television broadcaster will in principle be granted approval to land only one of its channels within the specified parameters. The provision would suggest that foreign broadcasters are to be limited to landing rights for just one channel rather than multiple channels.

Article 5 of the Procedures sets out the landing right requirements: i) the programme contents must not violate Chinese laws, regulations or related rules; ii) the channel is among the top three television media in its home country (region) in terms of overall ranking and audience rating; iii) the broadcaster has the resources to engage in "reciprocal" cooperation with China (see below) and undertakes to land, and actively assists in landing, Chinese radio and television programs abroad; iv) the broadcaster has friendly relations with China and actively encourages friendly exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign radio and television broadcasters; and v) the broadcaster agrees to centralize the transmission of its programs via the agent and undertakes not to land such programmes in China by any other means.

Cooperation and Reciprocity

The requirement for "reciprocal" cooperation appears to be a new requirement that has taken a number of foreign broadcasters by surprise. The new provision suggests that foreign broadcasters must offer reciprocal arrangements to broadcast programmes from the state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) on their own channels in order to gain landing rights in China. The recently announced agreements between CCTV and channels owned or backed by News Corporation and AOL Time Warner seem attractive from a business standpoint. For example, in Star TV's case, it has gained the right to beam its signal to the whole of Guangdong province with the possibility of reaping significant revenue streams from associated advertising. However, for other foreign broadcasters, the deal may not be as sweet. The provision requires "reciprocity" with no indication of the level of access that will be granted to the foreign broadcaster. Therefore, some foreign broadcasters are asking whether they will be required to provide access to CCTV on their channels only to gain limited access rights to air their programmes in three-star hotels in China. Undoubtedly, foreign broadcasters are looking for access to China's affluent urban population based in Beijing, the special economic zones and the major coastal cities.

Application Procedures

In addition to filing an application via its agent, the foreign broadcaster must submit a Satellite Television Channel Memorandum along with evidence of its capabilities as specified in Article 5 of the Procedures. Other materials such as explanatory information and reception devices such as decoders should be submitted with the application. Failure to submit any missing items within a two-week notification period will be deemed as voluntary withdrawal.

The SARFT will examine applications for foreign satellite television channel landing rights once a year between July and September; hence suggesting that applications will not be accepted at any other time. Once approved, a foreign broadcaster must conclude a contract with the agent within 90 days, otherwise it will be deemed to have surrendered its landing rights.

Content Restrictions

Prohibited content includes, among other things, information that opposes the Constitution, compromises state security, incites racial hatred, disturbs social order, broadcasts obscenity or infringes the lawful rights and interests of a third party.

No approval will be granted to land foreign satellite news channels or satellite television channels established abroad by domestic radio or television organizations or relevant authorities or groups. If there is a particular need to land such channels, special approval will be required. This provision may relate to PRC-based organizations and groups, which might also operate from overseas.

If any content contravenes Chinese law or results in "negative consequences", the channel is required to rectify the situation and must also suspend broadcasting. However, the Procedures are silent on the exact meaning of "negative consequences".

Under a "three strikes" approach, a foreign broadcaster will have its landing rights revoked if its content violates Chinese laws or regulations three times in one year. The foreign broadcaster cannot re-apply for landing rights for three years.

Although the Procedures are now in force, the centralized transmission of programmes per Article 5 has not been implemented yet. This proposal by the SARFT to route transmissions through a new central platform has caused widespread controversy among foreign broadcasters. It is unlikely that the central platform via the state-owned Sinosat-2 satellite will be fully operational before the end of 2002 despite an original date of January 1 2002. The centralized transmission system would enable the PRC government to collect revenue from foreign broadcasters and to facilitate greater control over content.

By Nancy Leigh,
Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong