More American TV shows disappear from Chinese streaming sites

As of Wednesday, January 21, a number of foreign television shows have disappeared from Chinese streaming sites. Affected shows include newer programs like Empire and Agent Carter, as well as longtime Showtime standby Shameless. The culprit, as always, is Chinese regulatory agency SAPPRFT.

SAPPRFT—China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television—has long since made it clear that it will crack down on imported foreign shows in 2015 by instituting a quota system that restricts the number of foreign shows a Chinese streaming video site can offer. Specifically, in 2015 Chinese sites may add 30 percent as many foreign shows as they added new Chinese shows in 2014.

But this week’s takedown of shows appears to stem from a mostly different section of SAPPRFT’s regulations. Chinese streaming video sites must also now submit at least one full season of a foreign TV show (with Chinese subtitles) to censors before the show can be approved for Chinese audiences. That means that new shows still broadcasting their first season in the US can’t be shown by Chinese websites (hence the removal of shows like Empire).

Previously, representatives of Chinese streaming site Youku have suggested that they’ll attempt to fight the restrictions by offering more Chinese shows (which in turn will allow them to offer more foreign shows) and by developing their own English-language content (which they can offer without any restrictions since it won’t technically be foreign). Other Chinese video streaming services will likely take a similar approach, but the end result will likely still be fewer American TV shows on offer to Chinese audiences this year.

Of course, American TV buffs can always turn to piracy, but that is becoming more difficult too as authorities shutter websites that provide Chinese-language subtitles for foreign TV shows and films.

See: China’s censors ban TV shows and ads from using internet slang

(Source: Techweb)