Foreign cartoons banned from primetime viewing

Television industry sources have recently revealed a toughening of China's so-called support policies for the domestic animation industry. A new tougher restrictions policy was issued earlier this month which reduces the proportion of foreign-made cartoons to be shown on Chinese television and bans them from peak evening children's viewing between 17:00 and 20:00. The evening peak restrictions also extend to joint venture produced animations unless special permission is sought and granted by the State Administration for Radio Film and Television (SARFT). Under the new policy the overall proportion of foreign cartoons on any day cannot exceed 30 percent of the total amount of cartoon programming on that day. In the past, the quota was at 40 percent for foreign films and 60 percent for Chinese films.

The reaction to the new policy among Chinese television executives has been lukewarm. Many point out that the timing restrictions on imported animations will create extra scheduling headaches, but more importantly, they already have some difficulty finding enough domestic cartoons of sufficiently high quality and that will only be exacerbated by the new restrictions. They similarly complain that the policy places the onus on broadcasters and supervision, whereas a much broader policy needs to be put in place offering more concrete support for animators, producers and broadcasters right along the production chain.

CMI - 22/8/06