By Wuyue Sanren (五岳散人), a well-known media commentator
Economic Observer Online
Oct 25, 2011
Translated by Zhu Na
Original article: [Chinese]

The following is a translation of an excerpt from a longer commentary piece that Wuyue Sanren wrote for the EO's website

New "entertainment restriction orders" have finally been published, they come courtesy of the The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).

The major details of the new rules are as follows:

Each satellite channel cannot broadcast more than two slots of certain types of entertainment programs (talk shows, dating programs, talent contests, game shows and reality TV shows) a week during the prime 7.30 to 10pm evening slot.

None of the stations can broadcast more that 10 "American Idol" style programs that pit contestants against each other each year, and it's forbidden to broadcast more than one of a certain type of such a program.

Each channel has also been required to create a regular segment devoted to traditional values.

These rules only apply to the provincial satellite TV stations, CCTV is not subject to these restrictions. If we take a paranoid approach, we could say that these new regulations attempt to give space to CCTV's entertainment programs to flourish. Of course, when it comes to entertainment, we all know that CCTV is as stupid as they come.

To take a more serious approach, we might begin by asking who has the right to decide what kind of entertainment people can watch. But I've already made this point many times before, seems a bit too much to keep banging on about it.

....

This time i want to try a different approach, I'm going to approach the question from the angle of a conspiracy theory that explains why the biggest losers from these new regulations are not ordinary people but rather the powerful government department that announced them.

So according to this conspiracy approach, we can say that CCTV has never been any good at producing entertainment programs, however some of the satellite stations have produced very popular programs.

Similar measures aimed at putting pressure on these popular programs have been announced many times before, with Hunan TV's popular "Super Girl" program being forced to change its name being one prominent example.

However, the measures haven't been at all succesful in reducing the popularity of these programs. In the end, the authorities had to release these new rules that limit the development of these programs by limiting the numbers of such programs, and by doing so, creating ample space in the market place to allow the non-restricted CCTV to flourish.

But we all know that the era of television has already passed and that people can watch all kinds of programs online, including shows from Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as foreign TV shows for those who have the language skills.

If you crush the best domestically produced programs, everyone is simply going to start watching more foreign programs online. Audiences that have already grown used to watching high-quality programs, will no longer be interested in watching crap.

No doubt, those high-minded moral educational programs will offer viewers a good excuse to visit the bathroom.

...

More importantly, if no-one is interested in watching the entertainment shows that they are being forced to watch, then we will have to find something else to do. If they don't allow us to watch entertainment, then let's shift our attention to current affairs.

Once they begin paying more attention to current affairs, then people might soon start to think for themselves, once they've started thinking for themselves, then perhaps they might begin to have doubts about how harmonious Chinese society really is.

....

Think about it, if this really is a conspiracy, then the interests of a certain department are hindering the maintainence of overall social stability. By not allowing anyone to be entertained and forcing them to think deelpy about current affairs, this decision fails to take into account the overall state of affairs.