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| K-pop singer Rain, left, and Chrystal pose in a promotional poster for the SBS TV drama "My Lovely Girl." A Chinese broadcaster recently bought transmission rights for the 16-episode drama starring the two K-pop musicians for 3.2 billion won ($2.96 million), or $200,000 per episode. / Korea Times file |
By Park Si-soo
The success of Korean TV dramas in China could face a major hurdle as reports indicate the Chinese government plans to regulate drama imports and tighten pre-screening censorship.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing will soon unveil new regulations on foreign dramas available on Chinese video-streaming websites.
The full details of the rules are still unknown, but the news outlet reported that a cap will likely be put on the number of foreign dramas imported into China each year, as well as making pre-release censorship more stringent.
Should these rules come into being, the number of foreign dramas imported into China is expected to fall by 70 percent.
The Chinese daily added that the "Sept. 3 notice on strengthening of supervision on foreign dramas available on the Internet" was a warning of the upcoming regulations.
In early September, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that China's top broadcasting regulator said it must approve all foreign television shows before they can be posted on Chinese video-streaming sites. In addition, sites must pull all unapproved content by early next year.
The U.S. daily added that the censorship standard for streaming foreign shows will be based on rules already applied to TV programming. Existing TV rules dictate that whole seasons of shows must be reviewed by censors before any episodes can air.
Chinese video sites have so far depended on self-censoring of content, according to the WSJ.
Prescreening would likely mean Chinese audiences will have to wait to see new episodes of shows like the Korean hit drama "My Love from the Star," which often appears online with Chinese subtitles one day after airing here ㅡ and sometimes even simultaneously without the subtitles.
Korea's drama exports into China reached $161.5 million in 2012, and experts believe this number grew again last year amid the increasing popularity of Korean pop culture across Asia. China is one of the biggest importers of Korean dramas, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
In September, a Chinese broadcaster purchased the transmission rights of SBS TV's 16-episode drama "My Lovely Girl" ㅡ starring K-pop musician Rain and Crystal ㅡ for 3.2 billion won ($2.96 million) or $200,000 per episode, the highest ever for a Korean drama sold to the neighboring country.
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