Television in China
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The television industry in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
includes high-tech program production, transmission and coverage.
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
is China's largest and most powerful national television station. By 1987, two-thirds of people in China had access to television, while today, over 3,000 channels are available in the country. Chinese television drama has also proven to be a hot spot in today's popular culture (similar to K-dramas), with well received Chinese television dramas such as ''
Princess Agents ''Princess Agents'' () is a 2017 Chinese television series based on the novel ''11 Chu Te Gong Huang Fei'' (11处特工皇妃) written by Xiao Xiang Dong Er (潇湘冬儿). It stars Zhao Liying, Lin Gengxin, Shawn Dou and Li Qin. The series aired ...
'', '' Nirvana in Fire'', '' The Journey of Flower'', ''Eternal Love'', ''
Story of Yanxi Palace ''Story of Yanxi Palace'' () is a Chinese historical series recounting the struggles of a palace maid in the court of the Qianlong Emperor. It was created by Yu Zheng, with original screenplay written by Zhou Mo, and later developed into a novel ...
'', '' Ashes of Love'', '' The Princess Weiyoung'', '' Love O2O'', '' The Legend of Mi Yue'', '' Scarlet Heart'', and more garnering billions of views among China's most popular video websites, iQiyi,
Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haid ...
,
Tencent Video Tencent Video (, also called WeTV outside of China) is a Chinese video streaming website owned by Tencent. The website was launched in April 2011, and is one of China's largest online video platforms. As of March 2022, Tencent Video has over 1.2 ...
and Le Video. Some dramas have been so popular and widely acclaimed that they were remade into different languages, as well as spinning off with a sequel. Chinese variety scene has also become widely successful with popular shows such as ''Happy Camp'', ''Super Girl'', '' Sing! China'' and more gaining worldwide recognition, garnering from millions to billions of viewership and winning numerous awards.


History


Origins

When the People's Republic was founded in 1949, the telecommunications systems and facilities in China were outdated and rudimentary, and many had been damaged or destroyed during the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...
. Communications in China were established rapidly in the early 1950s. By 1952 the principal telecommunications network centered on
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
, and links to all large cities had finally been established, enabling the launch of
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
s. The first Chinese
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
in the world was
Rediffusion Television Rediffusion Television (RTV) was the first television station in Hong Kong, making it both the first British colony and the first predominantly ethnically Chinese city to have television.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). Television, Regulation and ...
(now ATV, off-air since 2016), which launched in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
on May 29, 1957. On the mainland, the first national broadcasts began on May 1, 1958, and Beijing Television (now
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
since 1978) was formally launched on September 2, 1958. A month later, the first regional station,
Shanghai Television Shanghai Television () is a TV station based in Shanghai, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, w ...
was launched, on the 9th National Day, which was on October 1, 1958. Liaoning Television would begin a year later, and in 1960, Zhejiang and Guandong provinces had their stations begin full broadcasts. Growth in telecommunications halted with the general economic collapse after the
Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstr ...
(1958–60) but revived in the 1960s: radio-television services were installed in major cities in these years. By 1965 there were 12
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
s in mainland China, 1 national and 11 regional (compared to approximately 700 conventional television stations and about 3,000 cable channels today). Similarly, in 1978, there was less than one
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
receiver per 100 people, and fewer than ten million Chinese had access to a television set (in 2003 there were about 35 TVs for every 100 people, and roughly a billion Chinese had access to television); expansion and modernization of the
broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
systems continued throughout the late-1970s and early 1980s. Until the mid-to-late 1970s, TV broadcasts started in the late afternoon and ended at midnight, with special daytime programs during the summer and winter vacations for students. BTV, at the same time, also expanded its programming reach, from the one channel the station started in 1958, the network grew to 3 channels in 1969. The first Chinese color TV broadcasts was launched by TVB in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
in 1967 and
China Television China Television Company, Ltd. (CTV; ) (Formerly called Taiwan Daytime TV (TDT) in 1969-1975) is a television broadcasting company based in Taipei, Taiwan. It was established on September 3, 1968, by the then-ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) of ...
in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
in 1969. On the mainland, test color broadcasts started in 1971 on BTV Channel 2, and later spread towards the regional stations, and at the same time, BTV pioneered nationwide satellite broadcasts only for major events starting in 1972. BTV fully converted to color in 1973.


1980s

The Ministry of Radio and Television was established as a separate entity in 1982 to administer and upgrade the status of television and radio broadcasting. Subordinate to this ministry were the
Central People's Broadcasting Station China National Radio (CNR; ; pronunciation: ) is the national radio network of China, headquartered in Beijing. History The infrastructure began with a transmitter from Moscow to set up its first station in Yan'an (延安). It used the call ...
, Radio Beijing, and
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
. Additionally, the various broadcasting training, talent-search, research, publishing, and manufacturing organizations were brought under the control of the Ministry of Radio and Television. In 1986 responsibility for the movie industry was transferred from the Ministry of Culture to the new Ministry of Radio, Cinema, and Television. Radio and television expanded rapidly in the 1980s as important means of mass communication and popular entertainment. In 1982 television was by one measure available only to 350 million of China's population of 1 billion, and was mostly watched on a communal basis. By 1985 television reached two-thirds of the population through more than 104 stations (up from 52 in 1984 and 44 in 1983); an estimated 85 percent of the urban population had access to television. During this time, the content of the programming changed drastically from the political lectures and statistical lists of the previous period. Typical television shows were entertainment, including feature films, sports, drama, music, dance, and children's programming. In 1985 a survey of a typical week of television programming made by the Shanghai publication ''Wuxiandian Yu Dianshi'' (Journal of Radio and Television) revealed that more than half of the programming could be termed entertainment; education made up 24 percent of the remainder of the programming and news 15 percent. A wide cross section of international news was presented each evening. Most news broadcasts had been borrowed from foreign news organizations, and a Chinese summary was dubbed over. China Central Television also contracted with several foreign broadcasters for entertainment programs. Between 1982 and 1985, six United States television companies signed agreements to provide American programs to China. Since the late 1950s, people in
Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Ma ...
began to receive channels from Hong Kong with
coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ) is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting shield, with the two separated by a dielectric ( insulating material); many coaxial cables also have a p ...
(1957-1973) and
Yagi–Uda antenna A Yagi–Uda antenna or simply Yagi antenna, is a directional antenna consisting of two or more parallel resonant antenna elements in an end-fire array; these elements are most often metal rods acting as half-wave dipoles. Yagi–Ud ...
(1967 onwards). Hong Kong channels were considered more entertaining and had Cantonese shows. Such reception was banned by central government, but semi-accepted by local government. By the late 1980s, local channels began to syndicate shows from Hong Kong. China launched its first television-broadcast satellite in 1986. In 1987
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
(CCTV), the state network, managed China's television programs. In 1985 consumers purchased 15 million new sets, including approximately 4 million color sets. Production fell far short of demand. Because Chinese viewers often gathered in large groups to watch publicly owned sets, authorities estimated that two-thirds of the nation had access to television. In 1987 there were about 70 million television sets, an average of 29 sets per 100 families. CCTV had four channels that supplied programs to the over ninety television stations throughout the country. Construction began on a major new CCTV studio in Beijing in 1985. CCTV produced its own programs, a large portion of which were educational, and the Television University in Beijing produced three educational programs weekly. The English-language lesson was the most popular program and had an estimated 5 to 6 million viewers. Other programs included daily news, entertainment, teleplays, and special programs. Foreign programs included films and cartoons. Chinese viewers were particularly interested in watching international news, sports, and drama (see Culture of the People's Republic of China).


1990s

In September 1993, after acquiring the STAR TV satellite network,
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
publicly declared:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/22/chinathemedia.rupertmurdoch
/ref> After this, the former prime minister
Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ch ...
requested and obtained the ban of
satellite dish A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive or transmit information by radio waves to or from a communication satellite. The term most commonly means a dish which receives direct-broadcast satellite televisio ...
es throughout the country. Subsequently, the STAR TV network dropped the BBC channels from its satellite offer. This, and many ensuing declarations from Murdoch, led critics to believe the businessman was striving to appease the Chinese government in order to have the ban lifted. It is also alleged that the PRC government was unhappy with BBC coverage and threatened to block STAR TV in the huge
mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...
market if the BBC was not withdrawn. This is despite technology that is capable of blocking BBC World in China, while making it available in other countries they serve. On
New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...
1994 at 06:00 Hangzhou Time,
Zhejiang Television Zhejiang Television (ZJTV, ) is a satellite television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "chann ...
was
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
's first
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
based in
East China East China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China. A concept abolished in 1978, for economical purposes the region was defined from 1949 to 1961 by the Chinese Central Governme ...
surrounding areas,
Yangtze Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangna ...
. On 6 October 1997 at 09:00 Hefei Time, Anhui Television was
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
's second
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
and on 28 December same year at 06:00 Nanjing Time, Jiangsu Television was
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
's third
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
based in
East China East China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China. A concept abolished in 1978, for economical purposes the region was defined from 1949 to 1961 by the Chinese Central Governme ...
surrounding areas,
Yangtze Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangna ...
. On 1 October 1998 at 06:00 Shanghai Time, Dragon Television (Shanghai) (formerly known as
Shanghai Television Shanghai Television () is a TV station based in Shanghai, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, w ...
) was
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
's fourth
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
based in
East China East China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China. A concept abolished in 1978, for economical purposes the region was defined from 1949 to 1961 by the Chinese Central Governme ...
surrounding areas,
Yangtze Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangna ...
(
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ante ...
in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
only).


2000s

In 2000, the Chinese government put forward a goal of promoting media amalgamation by establishing trans-regional multi-media news groups. It also instituted detailed regulations on media industry fund raising, foreign-funded cooperation and trans-media development. The
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterp ...
(SARFT), founded at the end of 2001, integrated the resources of central-level radio, television and film industry plus those of the radio and television, Internet companies into China's biggest and strongest multi-media group covering the fields of television, Internet, publishing, advertising, etc. At the same time Chinese media industry is cooperating with overseas media groups. By 2003, 30 overseas television networks, including
Phoenix Television Phoenix Television is a majority state-owned television network that offers Mandarin and Cantonese-language channels that serve mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and other markets with substantial Chinese-language viewers. It is operated by ...
,
Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is hea ...
, STAR TV,
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
,
BBC World BBC World News is an International broadcasting, international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a State-owned enterprise, public corporation of the Governme ...
,
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
, and
China Entertainment Television China Entertainment Television (CETV) was a Mandarin Chinese-language satellite television channel in the Greater China region, owned jointly by the Hong Kong-based TOM Group (majority shareholder) and the United States’ TBS Networks (36% ...
had entered into China with limitations. At the same time, the English-language channel of CCTV entered the United States through
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...
Internet under the jurisdiction of
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
. In conformity with trends in the international television industry, CCTV has made progress in the direction of specialization, introducing three specialized channels between 2003 and 2004, CCTV-News,
CCTV-Children CCTV-14 is a Chinese free-to-air television channel that was launched on 28 December 2003 and is owned by the China Central Television. It airs animated films and series as well as kids game shows and other young-oriented programmes, including ...
and CCTV-Music. Since September 1, 2006, the Chinese government has banned foreign-produced animation between the hours of 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. on state-run television to protect struggling Chinese animation studios that have been affected by the popularity of such cartoons. Despite these advances, a considerable gap remains between the eastern coastal region and the Chinese hinterland, where television sets and regional broadcasters are far less common.


Today

Altogether there are 3,000 television stations across the country. Large international TV expositions, including the Shanghai Television Festival, Beijing International Television Week, China Radio and Television Exposition and Sichuan Television Festival, are held on a regular basis. Besides judging and conferring awards, these festivals conduct academic exchange and the import and export of TV programs. Shanghai has become the largest television program trading market in Asia. Since China entered the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
, the trend within China's
media industry Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informatio ...
is to form inter-media and trans-regional media groups operated with multiple patterns so as to meet competition and challenges from powerful overseas media groups. In October 2014, actors and actresses who have used drugs, visited prostitutes, or broken the law are not allowed to appear on television, movies, or other forms of broadcast (radio and advertisement) in China. The ban also encompasses online media, film and publishing. ''
China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. ...
'' reported that the ban is meant to "keep the industry healthy" and "Celebrities who break the law should not be invited to appear in programs, and transmission of their words should be suspended." It was also noted that "Recent cases involving stars using drugs or visiting prostitutes have harmed the image of the entertainment industry and set a bad example for young people." In 2014, China has detained several Chinese celebrities on drug-related charges. China's Ministry of Public Security stated in February 2014, that police need to "get tough on drugs, gambling, and prostitution." All nationwide analog shutdown start on 31 July 2020 at midnight stroke and last analog broadcasting station officially turn off on 1 April 2021 at midnight stroke.


Censorship

Television censorship is conducted by
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterp ...
of People's Republic of China (PRC) and targets the overseas programs (including those from Hong Kong and Macau), that can be watched in
Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...
. In addition receiving satellite TV signals without permission is against the law in Mainland China. CNN has reported that their broadcast agreement in China includes an arrangement that their signal must pass through a Chinese-controlled satellite. In this way, Chinese authorities have been able to black out CNN segments at will. CNN has also said that their broadcasts are not widely available in China, but rather only in certain diplomatic compounds, hotels, and apartment blocks. Blacked out content has included references to the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Four ...
, the
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
, the death of
Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang ( zh, 赵紫阳; pronounced , 17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He was the third premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 19 ...
, the
2008 Tibetan unrest 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number o ...
, the Chinese milk scandal of 2008, negative developments about the Beijing Olympics, and historical dramas, such as
Story of Yanxi Palace ''Story of Yanxi Palace'' () is a Chinese historical series recounting the struggles of a palace maid in the court of the Qianlong Emperor. It was created by Yu Zheng, with original screenplay written by Zhou Mo, and later developed into a novel ...
. During the Summer Olympics in Beijing all Chinese TV stations were ordered to delay live broadcasts by ten seconds, a policy that was designed to give censors time to react in case free-
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
demonstrators or others staged political protests. During a television report of the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009, the state-run
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
(CCTV) abruptly cut away from its coverage of Obama's address when he spoke of how "earlier generations faced down fascism and communism". Enforcement in television censorship is increasingly difficult and ineffective in the early part of the twenty-first century, partly due to satellite signal hacking systems that can be purchased in most major cities for as low as 2000 ¥ RMB ($285), which access channels and programs on many satellites serving the Asian Pacific region. In 2021 China banned
BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media an ...
although access had already been heavily restricted before then and what was carried was censored with parts of the show being blacked out by censors live. They were banned due to their coverage of the
Uyghur genocide The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang that is often characterized as genocide. Since 2014, the Chinese government, under the ...
and in retaliation for
CGTN China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is re ...
’s ban from the British market for violating broadcast regulations there. During the 2022 COVID-19 protests in China, CCTV's coverage of the
2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...
censored scenes of maskless fans in the stadium. CCTV avoided coverage of the protests directly.


Digital terrestrial television

According to the Chinese government's plans, by 2010 the existing cable television in cities above county levels in eastern and middle parts of China as well as in most of cities over county level in western parts of the country will be digitized. The analog signals within the country will be switched off in stages between 2015 and 2018, due to large size of the territory. In the meantime, the policies emphasize the continued amalgamation of the three networks of Internet, television and telecom. To realize the above goals, NDRC, MII and SARFT will be responsible for organizing special projects for implementing
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...
services. Support will be given to digital TV related enterprises' listings and more investment will be injected into them. According to China's national strategy, the country aims to shift from a major television manufacturer to a digital television power during the development of digital television industry. The policies show that by 2010, the annual sales of China's digital television sets and related products will reach RMB250 billion and the export volume will reach US$10 billion. By 2015, China's digital television industry scale and technology level will rank among the top in the world and it will become one of the world's largest digital television set and key components development and production bases. First analog broadcasting television station officially turn off on 31 August 2020 at 00:00:00 CST (
UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...
) for
Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
and all analog broadcastings officially full-time completely turn off on 1 April 2021 at 00:00:00 CST (
UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...
) for all nationwide. On 1 April 2021, the digital terrestrial television of the People's Republic of China fully turned, shifted and switched to all full high definition for all nationwide.


Cable television

Cable television is the usual transmission method in all urban areas of
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...
- television aerials are an extremely rare sight. Cable systems usually carry all the
CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...
channels in Mandarin, plus all the channels of municipal, provincial or regional station in question (such stations are listed below). The remaining slots carry the main channels from several other province-level stations, and may carry additional channels from metropolitan stations such as BTV and Shanghai Media Group. They may also carry a local channel for a particular sub-provincial municipality, prefecture or county. Individual compounds (hotels, housing estates, etc.) often add a request channel showing karaoke
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...
s and animations. An extremely small number of compounds with many foreign residents (e.g. five star hotels in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
) will also carry selected channels from
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
and the West.
Phoenix Television Phoenix Television is a majority state-owned television network that offers Mandarin and Cantonese-language channels that serve mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and other markets with substantial Chinese-language viewers. It is operated by ...
has the widest carriage under this rule. Mainland China had more than 44.5 million digital cable television users in 2008, had 0.9 billion digital cable television users and 0.2 billion IPTV Users in 2015. Unlike many cable television operators in other countries that support two-way modes, China's cable television runs in a one-way mode (download only, no upload and no interactive services).


Most viewed channels

The top 10 channels based on viewing ratings:


List of national networks and channels


China Central Television


National free-to-air public satellite television


Others


Non-Standard Chinese satellite television


Children's channels


Premium satellite television

*Private Owned channel's with landed rights


Other

*
China Entertainment Television China Entertainment Television (CETV) was a Mandarin Chinese-language satellite television channel in the Greater China region, owned jointly by the Hong Kong-based TOM Group (majority shareholder) and the United States’ TBS Networks (36% ...
*
Phoenix Television Phoenix Television is a majority state-owned television network that offers Mandarin and Cantonese-language channels that serve mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and other markets with substantial Chinese-language viewers. It is operated by ...


Hong Kong

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
has two broadcast television networks, ATV and TVB. The latter, launched in 1967, was the territory's first
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
commercial station, and is currently the predominant TV station in the territory. Paid cable and satellite television have also been widespread. The production of Hong Kong's soap drama, comedy series and
variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...
s have reached mass audiences throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Broadcast media and news is provided by several companies, one of which is
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
-run. Television provides the major source of news and entertainment for the average family.


Macau

Macau citizens can receive most of the terrestrial transmissions broadcast in Hong Kong.


See also

* China Central Radio and TV University * Chinese Central Television * Telecommunications in China * Media of China


References


Sources

*
Ying Zhu Ying Zhu is Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York and Director of the Center for Film and Moving Image Research in the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Career A New York-based expert on Chinese film and media indus ...
and Chris Berry (editors), ''TV China'', Indiana University Press, 2009.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Television In China Censorship in China