In the current issue:

Video-sharing websites: new regulations for a new era?
New tougher regulations controlling video-sharing websites recently sent a shudder through the sector which had previously been identified as one fo China's latest key online growth areas with enormous revenue potential backed up by large international venture capital investments. The authorities appear to have backed off from what originally seemed like a hard-line position that would have hit the sector hard, but the future still remains uncertain. However, new regulatory pressures are not the only issues facing video website operators and forcing the sector to rethink the way they operate. In this Analysis, China Media Intelligence looks behind recent developments affecting the video-sharing sector and investigates the issues that may be shaping the new era for online video in China

TD-SCDMA trials: too little too late?
At the beginning of this month, the first commercial trials of China's homegrown third generation (3G) mobile technology, TD-SCDMA, were launched in eight cities around the country. With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner and the Chinese authorities giving 3G a key role in making them the 'Hi-tech Games', the clock is ticking for China's telecoms operators and equipment manufacturers. Yet there are industry concerns about handset shortages, a lack of handset models, lukewarm take-up and limited consumer incentivisation. However, as the telecoms industries around the world have moved on to plan for 3.5G and 4G technologies, there is also concern that China is coming late to the 3G party. In this Market Report, China Media Intelligence reflects on the first weeks of China's first commercial TD-SCDMA trials and asks both for the Olympics and for China's 3G future whether this is not a matter of too little too late?

CNN sued as anti-Western media campaigns swell
US satellite television news channel CNN is facing lawsuits in both Beijing and New York following comments by commentator Jack Cafferty that offended Chinese people around the world

TD-SCDMA trials lack content and services
After the launch of the first commercial trials of China's homegrown third generation (3G) mobile phone technology at the beginning of this month, the platform has been dogged by problems with lack of content and incomplete service offerings

Intel, SMG sign IPTV deal
The Shanghai Media Group (SMG), one of the country's largest and most powerful media groups, has signed a deal with US-based Intel Corp, the world's leading computer chip maker to work on Internet protocol television (IPTV) projects together

Online video sites targeted in copyright clampdown
Senior officials responsible for copyright protection and enforcement have made it clear that online video and music piracy is a priority target for policing