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Tag: SARFT

  • Despite robust growth in box office, China’s film industry hits five-year low

    Despite robust growth in box office, China’s film industry hits five-year low

    MUMBAI: According to a report, China‘s domestic film industry has hit a five-year low despite robust growth in box office sales across the country in the first half of this year.

    The industry is going through a rough patch as ticket sales of domestic films started plummeting in the first six months, a time when the country‘s total box office revenues gained by over 40 per cent compared to that a year ago.
    In the January-June period, 14 blockbusters hit Chinese theatres among the 38 imported films screened in the country, and only two of them failed to bring in more than 100 million yuan.

    In contrast, among the 141 China-made movies screened in the same period, only 5 per cent managed to break even and the rest lost money, it is understood.
    The box office for domestic films dropped by 4.3 per cent year on year to 2.8 billion yuan (444 billion U.S. dollars), according to the latest data from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
    The slump came just months after China amended rules in February to import more Hollywood movies for national distribution. In the meantime, ticket sales of foreign films jumped by 90.4 percent year on year to 5.27 billion yuan.
    China‘s rapidly expanding movie market collected 8.07 billion yuan in the first six months — up by around 41.7 per cent from a year ago.
    The country had previously allowed only 20 American films, mostly big-budget Hollywood fare,- to be distributed nationally each year. In February, the country agreed to allow an additional 14 US films to be distributed each year as long as they are made in the 3D or IMAX formats.
    China represents one of the most attractive growth opportunities for the US film industry that is facing declining theatre revenues and slumping DVD sales in North America.

  • ESPN Star goes off China’s airwaves

    ESPN Star goes off China’s airwaves

    MUMBAI: Pan Asian sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has gone off the air in China after the authorities refused to renew their permits last week.

    A report in Variety states that they were the only channels among a group of foreign networks not to be re-upped by China’s State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (Sarft). No reason was given for the refusal.

    ESS was already restricted to broadcasting to hotels with three-star or higher ratings and to compounds for foreign nationals.

    “ESPN Star Sports is still in the renewal process of its ‘landing rights’ and is actively working to conclude the arrangements,” the Variety report quoted an ESS spokesman as saying in a written statement.

    Meanwhile Sarft will impose stricter restrictions over prime time TV series from next month. Sarft says that the country’s satellite TV stations should only screen ‘ethically inspiring TV series’ during prime time, which reflect the reality of China in a positive way.

    The restriction will go into effect in February and last for at least eight months state reports.

  • China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    MUMBAI: The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics.

    A new study from ABI Research published out of Singapore forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008. About 27 per cent of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73 per cent will use unicast streaming technology, while a number of viewers are likely to use both.

    In 2006, SARFT, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, announced two handset-related standards. DAB is likely to be the first phase of mobile multimedia broadcasting standards development in China. DAB paves the way for upgrading to China’s proposed mobile multimedia broadcasting standard, T-DMB, a terrestrial implementation of SK Telecom’s mobile video format.

    Because both standards are voluntary, there are questions surrounding their effect in the market. “It is likely that local media groups and TV stations will deploy DAB initially, and implement T-DMB at a later date,” 3g.co.uk quotes ABI research director Jake Saunders as saying. “The Chinese government will give preference to a standard that will be used in the 2008 Olympics, and DAB has been listed as one of the broadcast services that will be available at the Beijing Games.”

    “Although lack of content is still deemed to be a bottleneck for mobile video in mainland China, the problem will be solved in the next two years,” adds Saunders. “The current content shortage is caused by the limited number of handset TV SP licenses. When more companies obtain licenses, competition will become the lubricant to drive up the market.”

    Meanwhile in Hong Kong, mobile operators are active in mobile video streaming. Their international operations backgrounds allow them to provide diversified content to users.

    PCCW’s experience in operating its IPTV business will boost its performance in the 3G market. ABI Research forecasts approximately 715,000 mobile video users in Hong Kong in 2008, of which 99 per cent will be streaming users. In Taiwan, ABI Research forecasts that there will be over 1.5 million mobile video users in 2008, with 97 per cent receiving content via streaming.

    “Mobile Video in China” analyzes the mobile video market in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It lists the streaming mobile services offered by mobile operators in the three areas, discusses the regulatory environment in mainland China, and charts the directions that will be taken by mobile video development based on different technologies.

  • China’s cartoon production sees rapid growth

    China’s cartoon production sees rapid growth

    MUMBAI: China’s cartoon industry produced more than 81,000 minutes of animation this year, almost double last year’s 42,700 minutes.

    An official with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) was quoted in Chinese publication Xinhua saying that the country produced more than 50,000 minutes of cartoons from January to August this year, topping last year’s total output, not to mention the country’s aggregate output of cartoons from 1993 to 2003.

  • China restricts foreign stake in TV, film production Cos

    China restricts foreign stake in TV, film production Cos

    MUMBAI: China has adopted a policy in disallowing the creation of new joint venture companies dealing with television and film production.

    The decision sets aside rules issued in 2004 that allowed foreigners to take minority stakes in local production companies.The country is suggesting international media companies to work instead through individual projects with local partners.

    Such a move would be a blow to foreign media companies that are eager to tap a Chinese market with 400 million increasingly affluent TV viewers and booming video sales.

    State Administration Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) director Zhu Hong said, “Our policy is to temporarily not approve the creation of new joint companies. People can jointly invest in filming individual movies and individual television dramas, but we are not going to approve the creation of program production companies.”

    Beijing has tightened curbs on foreign media involvement over the past two years, both to protect Chinese companies from competition and to maintain the communist government’s control over what the public sees and hears. Regulators also have restricted use of foreign programming on Chinese television.

    “The agency isn’t considering expanding the limited rights granted to a handful of foreign television channels to broadcast in China,” Zhu added.

  • China to start mobile TV trial in 2007

    China to start mobile TV trial in 2007

    MUMBAI: China will begin trial broadcasts of mobile television by mid-2007.

    The digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) technology will be tested next year and a satellite system will be activated in the first half of 2008 so that the Olympic Games can be broadcast to mobile-phone users across the country, China Daily reports.

    The country’s two biggest mobile telecom operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, are expected to sign agreements with phone makers by the end of the month to buy TV handsets.

    Besides mobile phones, big-screen personal digital assistants (PDAs) and MP4 players will also be able to receive TV signals, Yang Qinghua, director of the television division of the SARFT’s Broadcast Science Research Institute, was quoted in the report as saying.

    The mobile-phone TV market in China is estimated to reach $756 million by 2008. China is the world’s biggest mobile phone market with 426 million mobile phone users and in the next five years, about eight per cent of them are expected to subscribe to the mobile TV service, the Chinese government estimates.

  • China to announce terrestrial digital TV standard soon

    China to announce terrestrial digital TV standard soon

    MUMBAI: China will soon unveil a locally developed terrestrial digital TV standard, Xinhua News Agency has reported.

    Wang Xiaojie, director of the technology department of State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), said the new standard will be promoted for one year before it is fully implemented.

    Broadcasting systems operating with other standards will be forced to embrace the new standard after the promotion year ends, Wang said.

    Terrestrial digital TV is designed to replace the existing analogue system through which the majority of viewers in China watch the TV networks.

    The number of households with digital broadcasting facilities rose from one million in 2004 to 4.13 million in 2005.

  • Simpsons, Mickey face a ban in China

    Simpsons, Mickey face a ban in China

    MUMBAI: Foreign cartoons will no more be a source of entertainment for Chinese kids. From 1 September, cartoon series produced outside of China will be banned from local broadcast between 5 pm and 8 pm. The move is an effort to give a boost to the local animation sector.

    According to reports, the ban, which hasn’t been formally announced yet, is said to be in response to the popularity of anime in the Chinese market, and comes from other efforts by regulators to clamp down on international content.

    It also follows a 2004 edict mandating that Chinese cartoons had to account for at least 60 per cent of a channel’s animation output.

    The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has told stations that prime time TV, from 5 pm to 8 pm, will only be allowed to show Chinese cartoons. Among those banned are The Simpsons, Teletubbies, Mickey Mouse, Blue’s Clues and popular Japanese animation will take a back seat to Chinese animation.

    The first major step was taken in 2000, when SARFT requested that all foreign animations get its approval before being broadcast on Chinese TV. Since 2004 the administration has also built 15 animation industry incubators around the country.

  • China begins shift to digital TV; 41 cities targeted in 1st phase

    China begins shift to digital TV; 41 cities targeted in 1st phase

    MUMBAI: China is progressing towards a complete shift to digital signal television. An official from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has been quoted in media reports as saying that, all analog signal television programs will be stopped and replaced with digital signals by the year of 2015.

    Currently, 41 cities and regions in the country are shifting from analog signal to digital signal, according to the report.

    The official also said, some cities including Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Qingdao had already completed the conversion, and others including Dalian, Taiyuan and Foshan are expected to complete their switch-over within the year.

    The overall digitalization of cable television will be done in three steps. The first step started in 2003 when the digitalization work began. In the second step which starts in 2006, digitalized satellite live broadcasting technology will be adopted. The third step begins in 2008 when fuller digitalization will be realized.

  • China associates with Venezuela for broadcaster training, program exchange

    China associates with Venezuela for broadcaster training, program exchange

    MUMBAI: Venezuela and China have signed a mutual agreement on program exchange and training of television and radio broadcast professionals.

    The deal was signed between Venezuelan communications minister William Lara, and deputy head of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) Tian Jin, said a Venezuelan communications ministry statement.

    As per the agreement, Venezuela will broadcast two channels of Central China Television programs in Venezuela and will also have access to China Radio International’s programs in a variety of languages. “Radio, television and cinema are the frontline” of Venezuela’s revolution, and the Latin American country needs China’s know how to fight on this terrain”, said Lara.

    Tian expressed hope that the cultural and information exchange would boost friendship between the two nations, as radio and television are the easiest ways to get information.