Mid-autumn Shanghai. One gust of cold wind after another seeps in via the passageways. Inside Asia Plus's studio the lights are burning bright, but they barely block the footsteps of the early morning sun. Despite the chill, there is a thick scent of tropical Taiwan in the air as they shoot a variety show, Food Masters of the World. This episode features a quiz about Peking duck. At first a video is played, introducing the cuisines of various places in China. The guests then split into two groups and begin to fill in their answers, and the host occasionally walks to and fro, chatting with them about their recent developments. When the answer is revealed, the victors win the right to dine on the steaming hot, sumptuous dishes on the table.
This program's host and special guests are unknown faces to a Taiwanese audience, but the style of the program and the recording process could lead you into thinking you were in Taipei. Every now and then during an unoccupied moment between scenes, producer Joan Sun from Taiwan reminds the host what he should be saying, while program production center supervisor Liu Chi-ying, also a Taiwanese, moves all about, gazes here and there, and issues orders decisively despite her fatigued look.
"This week Asia Plus's Shanghai studio has major events every day. First there is the press conference for Japan's pop idols, the V6 band, then a series of recording sessions for studio and outdoor shots, and besides everyday work, we have to plan a new program, Dash Around the Globe," says Liu Chi-ying hoarsely. On the weekend for the F4 concert at Shanghai Stadium organized by Asia Plus, from the dress rehearsal to the actual performance, full support must be provided. TV staff at Asia Plus consider themselves "international citizens," who have to bear being separated from the land where they grew up. As China reforms its economy and a Chinese cultural circle is in the process of taking shape, the Chinese want to realize their dream of establishing media of international quality-with two-billion-plus Chinese speakers worldwide as a support base-which can counterbalance that of English-speaking countries.
One move behind
Hot money has flowed into mainland China thanks to economic reform, and with it, the outlook for the media market has become quite rosy. Following right on the heels of the Sixteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, bidding for 2003 prime-time advertising spots-held by China Central TV (CCTV) in Beijing-earned revenues of RMB3.3 billion in a single day as the auctioneer's hammer came down again and again, a rise of RMB700 million over 2002, a growth rate of 26 percent. This growth has encouraged the march of foreign TV groups into the mainland market.
In the light of CCTV's annually rising profits, the wide coverage of satellite TV offers a similar business opportunity and has inevitably become a contested domain among players in the TV industry. Most Asian satellite TV programming is broadcast by AsiaSat and AsiaSat 2, so mainland residents need only install a mini-dish receiver and they can get clear reception in most places. Programs from Taiwan-dubbed "The Chinese Entertainment Center"-are fairly competitive in the mainland. When the first episode of Eastern Broadcasting's Food Masters of the World went on air in September 2002, it achieved the highest viewership among entertainment programs within the Hangzhou area of Zhejiang Province.
Even without legal landing rights in China, Taiwanese TV stations have strong potential in earning sizeable advertising revenues thanks to the content of their programs. But while two of Taiwan's satellite TV stations, Asia Plus Broadcasting and Eastern Broadcasting, are popular on the mainland, in reality they are a step behind Hong Kong media groups in terms of the timing for competition there.
China legalized inbound satellite TV broadcasting from outside its borders in 2001, and Hong Kong's TVB and ATV, Time-Warner of the US, and China-invested Phoenix Satellite TV were all on the list of the initial beneficiaries.
At the end of the year when China granted legal landing rights to some 26 foreign-based US and Hong Kong satellite TV firms, the modes and locations varied vastly: General landing rights for channels for Hong Kong's TVB and ATV, for instance, were granted only for the Pearl River Delta, a region considered as being at the forefront of economic reform; While Phoenix Satellite TV was granted rights for the mainland as a whole, its reception is restricted to three-star hotels and above, research schools and institutes, large government bodies, apartment buildings accommodating foreigners, and other special venues.
Due to the limited nature of these landing rights, TV groups based outside China are still in the initial phases of investment and are only marginally profitable. But other owners who also want to get into the market still have the "winner takes all" attitude, and are equally looking forward to their chance. In the year-and-a-half since limited legal landing rights were granted in 2001, the communist authorities have not taken any further steps to open the market, something which has agitated many other media groups that want to participate.
In order to assuage the concerns of industry professionals, Zhao Qizheng, director of the information office of the PRC State Council, has on several occasions openly indicated to top executives at foreign-based media groups-who are so eager to participate in the China market-that the communist authorities have slowed the pace of media liberalization only because of recent excessive imports of cultural goods in the form of internet content, books, records, and satellite TV programming from Europe, the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, which have resulted in a sudden "crisis of values" in Chinese society as it opens to the outside world.
Demand vs. media control
Protection of the local industry has become a leitmotif of the communist authorities' video policy since 2000. Fostered by the government, TV series have indeed seen rapid progress. Not only have they developed a distinct dramatic style native to China, they have also taken control of the viewership, and the high rate of return on investment is driving the development of the entire TV industry. Stations in every province are forming into groups that are capable of holding their own against the CCTV.
Limiting incoming cultural influences has already positively impacted the goal of fostering the domestic entertainment industry. But one senior Shanghainese media professional who longs for media freedom does not accept the concept of "excessive imports of cultural goods" as an excuse for slowing the pace of media liberalization. "In this country, the media is used to inculcate values, and not to serve the people," he complains. One can see the difference between the audience's keen interest on the one hand, he says, and the extreme caution of the communist authorities on the other, from the following scenarios.
Scene 1: September 11, 2001. As the 9/11 terrorist attacks occur in New York in the US, the global media boils over with the drama. Meanwhile, Chinese TV is dead silent. Masses of people flow into three-star hotels in every city, paying exorbitant hotel room fees just to watch Phoenix TV's onsite broadcasts.
Scene 2: Early February 2002. Shanghai has applied for and won the right to host Expo 2010, and the entire city is dancing for joy. The local TV stations interrupt their regular programming to broadcast the strongly patriotic celebration activities. People on the street hold high the five-star flag of China, exclaiming: "This is not just something for Shanghai people to be proud of. This is a reason for pride among all Chinese. We must be faithful to the party leadership and make a contribution to the country's development."
News must be filtered, and the national mood can be manipulated. Faced by the dilemma of when to follow the market force and when to impose strict controls on TV industry, the communist authorities reveal their doubts and caution about the application of this political tool to society. In the light of this sort of political consideration, it isn't hard to see where the difficulty lies for Taiwanese TV groups who wish to compete for the China market.
The entertainment leaders
In this politicized climate, Taiwan TV stations possess inadequate resources to compete. In order to reduce the gap between them and their counterparts in Hong Kong, which has been reunited with China, Asia Plus Broadcasting and Eastern Broadcasting are each plugging away on their own, trying to achieve a breakthrough in this volatile and treacherous environment, so as to accumulate useful bargaining chips for future landing rights negotiations. Asia Plus Broadcasting, owned and run by Taiwanese, has chosen to locate its head office in Hong Kong. Its sister station, Era, and another Taiwanese TV group with its eye on the China market, Eastern Broadcasting, seek to act as agents in Taiwan for programming aimed at overseas audiences, in the hopes of building a basis for mutual benefit and winning the confidence of the communist authorities.
Asia Plus Broadcasting and Eastern Broadcasting are also exploiting Taiwan's leading position in Chinese entertainment circles by using "content" to increase their influence and level of exposure.
"Content supply is Asia Plus's tradeoff, and a basis for its landing rights guarantee too," says Sammy Yang, managing director and president. He finds satellite TV professionals often see things from the satellite's perspective, i.e., the greater the area covered, the bigger the business opportunity. But the actual strategy employed must be the inverse of that: Look at things from the audience's point of view, meaning that the real business opportunity lies in using programming content to attract the viewer to one's channel.
Brand recognition
The plentiful resources available to Asia Plus are the result mainly of the efforts of its president Kei Fu-hung and general manager Chang Hsiao-yen. Under their umbrella are affiliates including relatives of the latter who act as agents for performers; Forward Music Company; Asia Plus Communications, a firm which produces TV programs; Super Dome, a concert agent and organizer; and broadcaster Asia Plus Broadcasting. Asia Plus Broadcasting's positioning is distinct, with high brand-name recognition, and when marketing to China where Taiwanese performers are highly esteemed, both the stars and the TV stations where they appear both benefit.
According to Sally Yen, program supervisor for Asia Plus Broadcasting in Taipei, the firm makes programs in three versions: two for Taiwan and one for the rest of the world. Since much of the content is shared, costs are not high. The programs that sell well to Chinese globally are all made in Taipei, such as Tao Ching-ying's Asia Entertainment Network, Swallow Time, and the idol-based Love Affair of the Eighth Storm.
Asia Plus concentrated its entertainment resources and began broadcasting just a year ago, but it has already made a name for itself. There isn't a youngster on the mainland today who doesn't consult this station's entertainment news when engaged in "star-chasing." That is especially regarding programs custom-made to showcase pop idols such as F4 and the Comic Boys.
In order to cut costs and stay more in tune with the pace of local life, Asia Plus established a production base in Shanghai in autumn 2002 where variety shows that meet China's legal regulations are made and sold to local TV stations for broadcast.
"The China Broadcasting Bureau stipulates that you cannot do more than four variety shows annually, and each show must not feature more than two stars from Hong Kong or Taiwan," says Joan Sun, program producer at Asia Plus. Even the qualifications of the local host are strictly defined-the host cannot be married to a person who is not a citizen of the PRC, for example. Touchy topics such as one's horoscope or religion cannot be mentioned, and so the scope for creativity is quite narrow. But on the positive side, that kind of content is not time-sensitive, so such variety shows can be broadcast anytime during a given four-month period. Once they have passed the censors they can be sold directly to local stations and broadcast without further ado.
Exchanging content
Another Taiwanese TV group, Eastern Broadcasting, also excels at exploiting content in a way that is similar to Asia Plus Broadcasting. However, its entertainment resources are not comparable to those at Asia Plus, and it outsources virtually all variety show production to producer Wang Chun. Eastern Broadcasting takes a different path, exchanging news with Phoenix Satellite TV, which already has landing rights in China, and each shows the other's logo when broadcasting, thus accomplishing rapid brand-name recognition on the mainland.
"Many Taiwanese businesspeople point out that most of the news items from Eastern Broadcasting that Phoenix Satellite TV chooses to air are about criminal cases, giving Eastern Broadcasting a poor image, but we respect one another's right to edit as we see fit," says Mel Chen, vice president of the overseas department at Eastern Broadcasting. The key, he explains, is that the TV station has already achieved good brand-name recognition, while the matter of image can be handled in other ways: Eastern Broadcasting has established sister relationships with 12 mainland TV stations with which it exchanges programming. Since programs that feature history, scenery, and cultural topics do not need to be vetted on either side of the Strait, they are the main currencies of such exchanges. For example, Taiwanese Tribes: In Search of the Bizarre, a program from Eastern Broadcasting, has earned a good name for itself in China. Mainland TV stations have a strong interest in variety shows and in the future such shows may first be re-edited, the image of the Taiwanese host deleted, and then the repackaged program will be sent to the censors in the hope that they can thus get "past the checkpoint."
Unlike Asia Plus Broadcasting, whose shareholders are mainly in performing circles, Eastern Broadcasting's owner Gary Wang is accustomed to retailing operations. The firm's TV shopping channel has seen profits in the ascendant for two years running, and it may also become a "new product" to be launched in the China market. The group is now researching in-house the feasibility of setting up an outlet in Shanghai in 2003.
"During the initial phase six people will be dispatched. We are budgeting an investment of NT$15 million for the first year," says Mel Chen. Shanghai already has a TV purchasing channel that is doing quite well, so there is clearly a big business opportunity. But a TV shopping channel involves logistics, cash flow, and so forth, and the firm has not yet decided whether to use hardcopy catalogs or to collaborate with a local TV station in broadcasting the program.
Unified platform
Market liberalization is the trend, and membership in the WTO makes opening media to foreign investment difficult to avoid. Mel Chen makes an optimistic assessment given the pressure on the Chinese authorities under WTO rules-at the latest, by 2005 they will permit Taiwanese satellite TV to "land" in China. At present, because ATV and ATB broadcast in Cantonese and their coverage does not go beyond the Pearl River Delta, and because local systems operators frequently "insert" their own advertisements, actual advertising revenues for these Hong Kong broadcasters have seen no breakthrough to date. Besides news and chat shows, Phoenix Satellite TV mainly broadcasts reruns of foreign TV series. The time for variety shows is not yet ripe, because despite Hong Kong's reunification with China, Hong Kong artists are still not treated the same as Chinese performers, so new stars must be cultivated on the mainland itself.
Despite the more rigorous restrictions on Taiwanese broadcasters operating on the Mainland, they are not far behind Hong Kong's satellite TV groups that already have landing rights in China. At present, Asia Plus Broadcasting undertakes sideline business, such as production and agency work, to balance expenses, while Eastern Broadcasting is tightening its belt as much as possible. Both are making conservative moves, and neither has opened its purse strings completely. "Beginning in 2002, the communist authorities founded the Overseas Satellite Agency. All legally authorized satellite TV stations will broadcast via the SinoSat 3 satellite which will be managed in a unified manner," says Asia Plus Broadcasting's Sammy Yang. In the future, all foreign-based satellite TV stations will have to play under the same set of rules and equal access, thus giving Taiwan a relatively fair opportunity to compete.
A fair and transparent environment will offer an advantageous basis for competition to Taiwanese satellite TV stations that already possess a strong operating base in the entertainment industry. But commercial considerations aside, as mainland media professionals are hoping, media from outside the mainland should not just play the role of furthering business. A more exciting question and one worth waiting for and answer is: Can the media culture fostered in the free environments of Hong Kong and Taiwan capable of stimulating mainland China in a positive way?
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Taiwan's lively and funny variety shows are a useful tool for satellite TV broadcasters who want to open up the mainland market. Here Food Masters of the World is being shot in Asia Plus Broadcasting's Shanghai studio.
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Economical entertainment box: A TV goes for only 2000-plus renminbi in Shanghai.
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Mainland market strategist: Sammy Yang, managing director and president of Asia Plus Broadcasting, has comprehensive operations experience in the USA, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
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The first stop for Eastern Broadcasting in its voyage to the mainland is landing rights in Hong Kong and Macau. Gary Wang (left), Eastern Broadcasting's managing director, and Antonio A. Silva Aguiar, finance director of Macau Cable TV, sign an agency agreement. (courtesy of Eastern Television)
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TV screens installed in public areas like buses and train stations gets a large audience-a key factor in driving satellite TV professionals to obtain "landing rights" on the mainland.
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The TV variety show is still virgin territory in the mainland: Here are the producers Chang Chih-peng (second from right) and Tsang Wei-nian (first from right), who, with four other colleagues, went to China in the summer of 2002 and became the first Taiwanese variety show troupe bound for China.
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Asia Plus Broadcasting's program producer Joan Sun (left) and Liu Chi-ying, program production center supervisor, consider their time in China as an important life experience.
