Broadcasters Face New Legal Challenge .... From The Audience
-- In this exclusive editorial to be carried in Television Asia, CMM-I reports on the top rated TV drama "Princess Huan Zhu" and its controversial sequel which has smashed domestic copyright sales records and is now named in a local civil court action in the ancient capital of Xian.
Like many cable TV viewers around China, Xian residents were delighted when their local cable TV operator informed viewers it had won the rights to show the sequel to "Princess Huan Zhu", the most successful TV drama of recent years.
But behind the scenes, the winning stations such as Xian Cable TV had been forced into paying the highest ever copyright deal and were preparing to load the broadcast with advertising to recoup costs and generate the profits demanded by station leaders.
Indeed, the copyright battle for the rights to "Princess Huan Zhu II" and its subsequent broadcast on a mish-mash of terrestrial and cable TV channels and via legal and illegal VCD copies is truly one of national struggle.
It is also indicative of the many crises facing Chinese TV, including the dearth of top quality original programming, the poor regulation of the distribution market and the massive duplication of services currently being supported by the impossible number of general entertainment channels.
For the first time in its history, Chinese state television lost its composure over the negotiations on the division of broadcast rights to a single property and divided into classic factions, pitting municipal terrestrial and cable stations against each other despite their common ownership and allegiances.
In the end, political decisions were taken and copyright decisions were made, but not before the price had risen to over Rmb 550,000 per episode for terrestrial broadcast only.
According to CMM-I sources familiar with the negotiations, agreement to broadcast the series on terrestrial stations in the key markets of Shanghai and Beijing was achieved only after direct political intervention.
Meanwhile, the VCD copyright was won for an undisclosed price by Guangzhou Qiao Jia Ren Corporation which started releasing the set in July - even as the winning broadcasters hyped their own premieres. In Beijing, the hype included unprecedented cross-media support in publications such as Beijing TV Guide, Beijing Evening News and Beijing Youth Daily.
As is often the case in China, programme promotions are also advertising sales promotions and BTV was just one of the stations that resorted to holding an auction after a published ratecard increase of 50% failed to dampen enthusiasm from eager advertisers.
In fact, most terrestrial and cable broadcasters have found it impossible To limit themselves to the percentage of advertising time allowed, partly because rates are fixed by time slot which - in rare cases such as this - are artificially low.
But, while audiences in most places have grumbled, Wang Zhongqing in Xian decided to do something about the incessant breaks. In a court action filed in Xian on July 23rd, Wang sued Xian Cable TV for inserting too many commercials in the drama during its premiere run in the city.
In the action, Wang alleged that the episode with the most commericals was Episode 17 (shown on July 7) that had 89 commercials inserted. He further claimed that Episode 18 included a commercial break with 20 consecutive commercials and pointed out that the drama was just ten minutes longer than the commercials inserted in it.
Wang appealed to the court to take two actions. Firstly, he asked that Xi'an Cable TV be instructed to stop inserting commercials and make a public apology in the press. Secondly, he asked that the government confiscate the income deriving from the excess commercials.
This bold action indicates a significant change in grass roots activity in China. More interestingly, not only are his complaints valid, the proposed remedy concurs fully with Article 50 of the Regulations on Radio & TV Management and could open the floodgates for similar actions by disgruntled viewers in many markets.
Sensing possible repercussions from discussion of the case in influential legal publications, the local regulatory authority released a cryptic message in the Xian press on August 2nd that said that TV stations cannot insert commercials freely.
It also said that officials from the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) had made a rule in 1997 stating that "when commercials are inserted, the program should be kept a whole" and that "TV stations cannot disrupt the program freely and insert commercials."
The case is still under investigation, but many industry observers are already suggesting that Mr. Wang has succeeded in alerting authorities to some of the most serious problems affecting the Chinese TV industry today. If the legal system can handle it, he may also have shown them one of the best ways to enforce compliance of central directives at a local level.
As for "Princess Huan Zhu II", its legendary status as the series that shook an entire industry just keeps on growing! According to Beijing Television Information Center, ratings of the sequel peaked at 52% in the capital, more than double that of any other show!