Is TV in China Keeping Up With the Rest of the World?

Some people may think that television viewing in China is only for the wealthy and privileged. They are wrong. Television viewing in China is catching up to the U.S. in popularity: there are over 1.1 billion viewers in China, which has over 3,400 stations, twice as many as the U.S.

When I introduced television to China in early 1979, the conditions were almost unbearable. The equipment was old and it was very difficult to find trained, qualified people to use it. The programming that aired on the stations years ago was paltry compared to what Chinese TV produces today. It's interesting to note that nowadays young Chinese people watch almost as people much television as in the U.S. A recent study revealed that 15-24 year olds in China watch 162 minutes of TV per day versus 171 minutes in the U.S. The study also revealed that China now has 350 million TV sets and 90 million cable TV subscribers. These statistics have not gone unnoticed by TV executives who are trying to capitalize by expanding through commercialization, which often includes scrambling for advertising dollars and foreign investment.

Recently, the first digital TV station was launched in Beijing. The network, which required a US$2.7 billion investment, attracted 25 out of the world's top 500 companies as investors. Within 10 years, analog television will be replaced by DTV. China is responding just as quickly to new technology as in most western countries.

China's TV industry has advanced very quickly by adapting to Hong Kong and Taiwan's TV production standards mostly by co-producing with these territories. Today, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou TV stations have some of the best equipped studios in China. During the early days of television the only stations that were allowed to broadcast using satellites were CCTV and the China Education Ministry station in Beijing. These days, most of the provincial stations can utilize satellites to transmit programming. In each large city and province, there are usually two TV stations. The province has two channels, one terrestrial and one satellite, while each city has only one terrestrial station.

As with any progression, TV media execs face challenges. The China Central TV (CCTV) network, China's top TV network, only ranks 50 among the world's TV broadcasting corporations. Where is television going from here? It's about to change drastically. Think digital, interactive TELE-WEB. The viewers decide what to watch and how.

This is a considerable challenge to TV professionals. How do we create and deliver content in the new world? Think the unthinkable: let viewers create their own content.

For example, in a sports broadcasting, viewers (a.k.a. "participants") can change camera angles, zoom in on plays, pause, replay and get stats on demand. To the viewer, whether the data comes from TV or the Internet is irrelevant. Large digital screens will hang on the wall in every room, most likely controlled by voice commands. I can see it now: "TV, show me what's happening in Hong Kong."