Foreign Media, Chinese TV and Market Access: The New Rules from SARFT
November 30, 2004 | BY
clpstaff &clp articlesChina is gradually opening its broadcast media to foreign participation in an effort to modernize the sector. New rules from the state regulatory agency take new steps in broadcast media reform.
By Jeanette K. Chan and Marcia Ellis, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Hong Kong
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued the long-awaited Administration of Sino-foreign Equity and Cooperative Joint Ventures that Produce and Operate Radio and Television Programmes Tentative Provisions (the TV JV Provisions) on October 28 2004 and they became effective on November 28 2004.
Ten months earlier, SARFT issued a policy statement that paved the way for issuance of the TV JV Provisions and gave the first official indication that television programme production houses would be open to foreign investment. This policy statement, contained in the Furthering the Development of the Radio, Film and Television Industries Opinions, issued by SARFT on December 30 2003 (the Opinions), provided few clues as to the qualifications that would be required of investors in foreign-invested television programme production companies (a TV JV) and the requirements that would be imposed on the TV JVs themselves.
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