Chinese Censors Loom Over Foreign TV Shows

Recent Chinese broadcast rules look likely to delay foreign TV shows that had been available almost immediately for streaming on Chinese sites, possibly for entire seasons while censors review them.

In September, the top broadcasting regulator said that it must approve all foreign television shows before they can be posted on Chinese video-streaming sites and that sites must pull unapproved content by 2015. It didn’t give details. Recently, local Chinese media posted a draft of the rules by the regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which said the censorship standard for streaming of foreign shows will be based on rules already applied to TV programming. The TV rules dictate that whole seasons of shows must be reviewed by censors before any episodes can air.