China Forces Four US TV Shows Off Web

Four popular US television shows that air on Chinese video websites have been taken down because of government regulations, according to China's state-run media, raising the prospect of intensified government control over videos posted online.

The four shows -- "The Big Bang Theory," "The Good Wife," "NCIS" and "The Practice" -- have accumulated followings in China through online video companies such as Sohu, Youku Tudou and Tencent Holdings. The Chinese companies pay for the rights to the shows so they can stream them free of charge and earn money off advertisements. China has strict policies governing the release of foreign movies in China's theaters and has tight censorship rules regarding what can be broadcast on television. China's video websites, by contrast, have had comparatively more freedom. Two people familiar with the government's interaction with China's online video sites said the move indicates renewed efforts by the government to rein in the relatively freewheeling online-video sector. One of the people said that an online-video site for the past week had been in discussions with the officials at China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television about what content it can post. The government has been working on rules for online video since 2009, but had been hamstrung in the past by the sheer manpower required to go through the large number of videos posted on China's biggest sites, the person said.