China to restrict TV satellite stations to one foreign programme

The new rules are an intensification of an earlier policy announced in February,which capped the broadcast of foreign television series to 50 episodes,and will result in fewer foreign series being broadcast in China.

The campaign also could accelerate a wider trend: the migration of domestic viewers away from broadcast television toward pre-recorded shows downloaded from the Internet to computers and mobile devices.

The Chinese government is increasingly concerned about what it sees as rising vulgarity in domestic television programming. At the same time,it has been moving to limit domestic channels reliance on imported content.

Shanghai Daily said the new restrictions were intended to crack down on the growing practice of buying the copyright of proven foreign shows like Britains Got Talent,then localising them without further modification,spawning shows like Chinas Got Talent. Such programming can be quickly monetised at minimal risk and is generally easy to sell to advertisers.