China will forbid any new foreign-owned TV channels from entering the country, at least for the time being, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television.  The new rules stipulate that China “will not again allow a foreign satellite TV station to have landing rights in the country.”

 

Regulators said the new rules were designed to strengthen oversight of the industry while the government “finds ways to regulate (existing foreign media in the market) to prevent harmful programs from entering.”

 

Currently, foreign players with mass broadcasting rights in China include Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., Viacom’s MTV and News Corp.-backed Phoenix Satellite Television Co. Ltd., which all broadcast in Guangdong.

 

Tom Group Ltd., controlled by Hong Kong’s richest businessman, Li Ka-shing, also owns a station with mass broadcast rights in Guangdong with Time Warner Inc.

 

Overseas players with limited broadcasting rights in the market include Time Warner’s CNN and the BBC news channels, and various channels owned by News Corp.’s Star TV subsidiary.  All these programs are available in China's high-end hotels and apartments.

 

The ban on new stations in the Chinese market is expected to have the most immediate impact on Disney, which applied for a limited broadcasting license in 2003 and is one of the few major media companies without a channel in the market, observers say.  Viacom’s Nickelodeon children’s channel also applied for a limited broadcasting license in 2003, and could also be affected.

 

(Edited from various sources by SinoFlicker.com)