Media investments in China—Is It All That Rosy?
Investment in the Chinese media market is becoming a hot topic nowadays, following the government’s recent policies allowing partial foreign ownership in the film and television industries. To answer this call that is considered a major breakthrough in the tightly controlled media arena, many international media giants have made their moves through establishing joint ventures with their Chinese counterparts. With all the ongoing expectations and enthusiasm about Chinese media, this article from Asian Business Intelligence is telling people to calm down and be cautious while asking the question, “Is it all that rosy?”
Chinese Gaming Market Booms Despite Rampant Piracy
Piracy of media products and computer software has long been a headache among domestic and foreign media players and software companies in the Chinese market. With the government’s continuous crackdowns over the
years, the situation hasn’t become better, if not getting even worse. According to this article from IGN.com, planning to capitalize on online games, rather than selling game software, might be an effective investment strategy that somehow avoids the lingering piracy problem.
China’s Answer To Larry King
The International Herald Tribune presents a story of a non-local TV producer and host who is struggling in the Chinese TV market to become the Larry King of China. Foreign investors can now become players, or content producers to be more specific, in this fast developing market with the base size of one billion screens. But what does it mean to a small foreign investor with a big dream? Does it take a whole lot to become the Chinese Larry King? You may find some enlightening answers from this article.
SXSW Report: Ben Walker on ‘Net Censorship in China’
WorldChanging’s Emily Gertz reports from the South By Southwest Conference on some common misconceptions on Chinese net censorship…
Misconception 1: We in the west assume that millions of Chinese are searching for information to aid their revolutionary struggles. Truth: Most Internet users in China are looking for the same thing most Western users are looking for. Porn.
Misconception 2: Information from the outside gets blocked at the national level, especially on oppressed movements such as Falun Gong. Truth: Chinese get flooded with unwanted email about this and a lot of other things, and just like users in the west, they consider it spam.
Misconception 3: There are 30,000 to 50,000 “Internet police” who do nothing but monitor people’s email, web surfing, etc.
Truth: This is a number invented by officials for official propaganda missives, aimed at the national media, not Western reporters, who nonetheless take up information ministry press releases as legitimate and use them as source material.Misconception 4: Only the most tech-sophisticated kids know how to use proxies to get beyond the firewall and onto “banned sites.” Truth: Lots and lots of users regularly use proxies to not only get to more content, but to avoid extra pay-per-service charges. (Although, apparently even this does not manage to evade the highly effective national censoring of porn content.)
Misconception 5: Censorship is all happening at the government level. Truth: Censorship is more prevalent at the personal level, with bloggers omitting or removing references to certain ideas or issues in order to avoid trouble with the authorities. Service providers in China also must cooperate with the authorities on screening for certain words and phrases and intervening with those who post them, but the active hand of the government with individuals is rare.
Chinese Online Gaming Income Triples
The Industry Standard reports gross income for online gaming in China is exploding. The country’s largest online games provider, Shanda Interactive Entertainment, expects even more profits for the years to come. The company has started negotiations with Microsoft to offer online games on television and is developing a new PC-enabled set-top box with Intel. China Economic Net had a similar report on two other major online games providers in China, Netease and The9, who have also experienced rapid growth over the past year. Such impressive returns on investment should boost investor confidence and lead to more foreign collaboration.