Discuss the Similarities and Differences between China and UK TV Industries

Introduction

Discussing media and its various aspects can be a daunting task, especially when the television
industry is involved. In the modern era, we all live in what McLuhan terms a ‘global village’, a
space in which it is possible for every person to contact others via various communication media
irrespective of location (McLuhan and Powers, 1992). Media has been defined as a message
carrier – carrying or transferring messages between senders and receivers, or between external
environments and audiences (Littlejohn, 2002). Meyrowitz (1993) insists that media is channel,
language and environment. But what does the term ‘media’ mean exactly? To date, there is no
one or simple definition (Littlejohn, 2002). Television (TV) is a form of mass media that helps to
transport communication openly and at a distance to many receivers within a short space of time.
According to Lu (1999), Peng (2004) and Zhou (2004), in a narrow sense television is a
subsidiary industry appertaining to the entire media industry as well as the industrial cluster
comprising the corporations or organizations participating in investing, producing, selling,
transmitting or broadcasting and investigating television information or programmes, and the
relationship between them in the market.

This paper deals with various aspects of the Chinese and the United Kingdom (UK) television
industries and enumerates the similarities and differences between them. Television has
overpowered most other forms of communication and mass media and it has reached a huge
number of audiences of the years. However, there are glaring differences and similarities
between Chinese and UK TV industries. The following sections of this paper deal with the
history and development of TV industry in China and UK, to the media philosophy in the two
countries and the current scenario of the TV industry prevalent in the two countries.

Motivation behind Comparing China and UK TV Industries

The reason behind comparing China and UK TV industries is to showcase the culture and control
of the government over mass media in the two countries. Though the two countries are situated
in two extremes of the world, yet, there are certain similarities in the way people perceive

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television. China and the United Kingdom (UK) have totally different cultures but yet there are
some unique similarities and several dissimilarities between the TV industries in the two
countries. Comparing China and UK helps us to perceive the extreme differences in culture and
government control over media in the two countries. It also helps us understand the spread of TV
and its importance in today’s world. Though the advent of the TV industry in China was late
compared to UK, yet, it soon became one of the most popular industries in China (McKenzie,
2006). Over the years China’s media industry has boomed and overtaken most other countries
including UK. China has more internet users and is the largest country on the internet. Today,
China’s largest creative industry is Television (TV) and it has spread to over 400m TV homes
with over 2000 channels (UK Trade and Investment, 2004).

On the other hand, the spread of TV in UK homes has also been significant. Television spread
into UK homes between 1950s and the 1970s. In 1957, 7 million out of 15.8 million homes in the
UK had a TV. By 1978, of the 20 million homes, 19.5 million had a TV (Hilmes, 2003). The
reach and extent of television in imparting news and entertainment has been overpowering in
both UK and China and it is for this reason that these two countries have been selected for
comparison.

History of China and UK TV Industries

Television (TV) started way back in 1831 when Michael Faraday, for the first time, discovered
electromagnetic induction and developed the theory behind TV (Thompson, 1990). The
television industry in China experienced fifty years of development since its inception in 1958.
Over the past five decades, China’s television industry experienced major alterations with the
development of Chinese politics, economy and Chinese society. On the other hand, in UK,
television started around the 1930s, but at that time, television was hardly a promising
entertainment prospect (Curie, 2004).

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The political influence over UK television industry was not that prevalent when it started in the
1930s. However, in stark difference, China TV industry has always been under political
influence. The first period of TV in China was also known as Naissance and it started with the
experimental broadcast of Beijing Television Station, China’s first television station, on 1st of
May, 1958. The station broadcast for twenty years until the reform and opening up of China in
1978 but during this time all television stations were non-profit institutional units (Yang, 1999).

Television in China was deemed only to belong to the political (or ideological) institution. It was
viewed as part of Chinese socialism, a tool used to disseminate political propaganda – to educate
the general public across the country – and the mouthpiece of the Party, the government and the
people (Keane, Fung and Moran, 2007).

In UK, the first television show was aired by BBC in 1930, called the National and Regional
scheme for radio as it was simple synchronization of sound and vision. Public television
broadcasting started in UK in 1936 with BBC analogue terrestrial transmission VHF. The first
official broadcast was in 1929 (Wheatley, ). The working class generation of UK, viewed the TV
as a source of entertainment and this is also similar with the way the Chinese crowd first
perceived the television. China’s reform and opening up policy started towards the end of the
1970s brought rapid economic progress as well as considerable changes to its political, cultural
and social fields. Television in China no longer could be seen as having only a single political (or
ideological) attribute under the socialist command economy system. Rather, it gradually became
endowed with dual attributes, i.e. political (or ideological) and economic (or industrial) (Lin,
2002; Wen, 2002).

According to A. Smith (1995), television caught on in the UK, but its expansion was slow, as till
1951 only 9 percent of British homes owned a TV. However, UK was the first country to
introduce regular TV programs (Smith, 1995). So, more or less, TV started in UK much earlier
compared to China but these days both these countries have a fair share of audience who watch
television regularly.

China and UK TV Broadcasting System

In the initial stage of television development, television firms were confronted with the difficulty
of finding an efficient means of gaining profit through broadcasting TV programmes. At the
time, there was no feasible approach to ascertain whether audiences who accessed television
broadcasting services should be charged for them. This is because in the interests of the common
good, its price and supplied quantity were determined by a matching supply and demand in the
normal market. Thus for television commodities in the early days, there was no available
approach for audiences to deliver their demands and preferences to television producers (Doyle,
2002b).

The China television industry started off under a socialist command economy system but over
the years it has grown into a complete system with high-tech program production, transmission
and coverage. Today, China Central Television (CCT) has developed into one of the most
powerful national television channel around the world and it has also established business with
over two hundred and fifty television organizations in over one hundred and thirty nations and
regions around the world (McQuail, 2005). However, China broadcasting of programmes is still
largely controlled by the government. As Schramm (1984, quoted in Shen, 2004) claims, media
are always controlled by multifarious forces. In China, most programmes have to be screened by
the government before they can be broadcasted. Even news channels are not allowed to
showcase news freely.

Compared to Chinese control over the broadcasting of events, UK TV industry enjoyed fair
amount of discretion in broadcasting all kinds of events without any actual government control.
It was only in 1937 that the UK government decided to discontinue the first Baird system of
broadcasting TV in favour of the Marconi-EMI's electronic system which gave a far superior
picture (Burns, 1998) and it also allowed the population to enjoy all kinds of programmes.

TV broadcasts in London were on the air an average of four hours daily from 1936 to 1939 and
this continued for a long time. On special occasions restaurants and bars had more than 100
viewers for sport events (Abramson, 1987). Today, UK enjoys over a thousand channels and
broadcasters showcase news, entertainments and sports events throughout the day. TV has
become an integral part of the UK life.

China and UK Media Philosophy

Since Mao’s Communist Party took over China in 1949, the Chinese TV industry has found it
hard to place a grip on the free transmission of information and entertainment. The communist
party held a monopoly over all power and resources including press and television. China media
philosophy has been largely guarded by the state and only in the late 1970s when economic
reforms took place in China, did the TV industry and media open up a bit (Hong, 1998).
Substantial changes have taken place since 1970 and today there are several broadcasting
channels in China but still media is considered the ideological apparatus of the state. Today
media is often caught in deep-seated contradictions between political control by the Party and
increasing commercialization of the financial structures and this has resulted in a two way
system in the media industry (Ma, 2000; Zhao, 1998). Firstly, the media has to serve the
Communist party, while at the same time they also have to cater to the needs of the audience.
Ever since China entered the World Trade Organization, Chinese media philosophy has altered
to allow inter-media and trans-regional media groups so that China can maintain competition
with foreign media groups.
UK media philosophy on the other hand believes in freedom of speech and expression. The
media is free to disseminate all sorts of information in UK and the government has no control
over it. Further, in UK, media is developed in all fronts, be it Print media, Internet or the
Television and Radio. However, in China, TV and other media forms are still developing and
there are not many shows to be broadcasted. Radio and BBC have been present in UK for
generations but Radio is not that popular in China (Zhou, 2004). The UK media is mainly
dominated by the print media and the internet. There are several magazines too that are printed
weekly or daily. People in UK are concerned about the developments in the government and they
take a keen interest in various aspects of life. UK media philosophy allows easier dissemination
of information compared to China. In UK, freedom of speech and expression is enjoyed by the
citizens and they can watch any news from any part of the world. However, this is not allowed in
China (Curie, 2004). In China, TV viewers have restricted access to world channels.

Control and Regulation of TV Industry in China and UK

McQuail (2005) observes that most media belong to one of three categories of ownership: (1)
commercial companies; (2) private non-profit bodies; and (3) the public sector. In the United
Kingdom (UK), TV industry is regulated by Ofcom. Ofcom is an independent regulator that
controls all forms of communication. Ofcom makes sure that all channels adhere by the
Broadcast Code that came into effect on 25th July 2005. Most of the rules guide how advertising
is to be maintained and how complaints are to be filed by viewers. They also control the
licensing of portions of the spectrum for television broadcasting.

Recently, Ofcom formed the Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) to maintain the codes of
practice governing television advertising. This body mainly regulates compliance of progammes
and advertising, political and controversial issues as well as various other issues related to law
and order (Lecomte & Scriven, 1999). The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is another
independent body that deals with complaints relating to the advertising industry. These bodies
are not funded by the government and thus it shows that the government does not have much
control over regulation of the TV industry in UK.

On the other hand, television censorship and control in China is conducted by the State
Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. Further, receiving signals in China without
permission of the government is against the law of China. There have been several occasions
when Hong Kong SAR news broadcast was banned in China and even CNN have to pass through
a regulatory Chinese controlled satellite before they can broadcast their news in China. Chinese
TV is largely controlled by the governed but nowadays, enforcement in television censorship is
increasingly getting difficult and ineffective with the advent of satellite signal hacking systems
(Lu, 1999). Compared to the UK TV industry, China government exercises a far greater control
over what is being broadcast over the TV.

Current TV Industry Scenario in China and UK

China launched its first television-broadcast satellite in 1986 and ever since the TV industry has
moved ahead making tremendous progress (Lu, 1999). China Central Television (CCTV) is in
control of managing China’s television programs. Today, there are around 3,000 television
stations across mainland China which showcases different types of programs. There are also
several large international TV expositions, such as the Shanghai Television Festival and the
Beijing International Television Week which occurs frequently in China (Zhou, 2004). Some of
the free to air television channels in China include Anhui Satellite Television, Bingtuan Satellite
Television, Beijing Satellite Television, CCTV, Chongqing Satellite Television, Gansu Satellite
Television and several others. CCTV produces its own news broadcasts three times a day and is
China’s most successful television producer. In the evening CCTV broadcasts a thirty-minute
evening news that is called Xinwen Lianbo (News Simulcast), which is a very popular show
amongst the citizens of China. Focus is another popular discussion programme that regularly
exposes the wrongdoings of local officials is a major hit in China. CCTV’s New Year Gala
programme is the most successful show in the history of CCTV. CCTV is also regulated by the
State Administration of Radio, Film and Television which has been in control since the inception
of the media industry (Lu, 1999). CCTV is the oldest and most reliable TV producer and that is
why they receive maximum audience though recently its viewership went down and CCTV
received only about 30% of audience share all over the national territory due to the biased
Chinese viewers who favored local TV programs compared to national or even international
programs (Hong, 1998). Recently, in China there has been an onslaught of Singing competition
shows and other reality shows that allows several participants to fight on screen. This has vastly
changed the viewership of China and increased the popularity of TV in China (Zhou, 2004).

Compared to this in UK, the TV industry has undergone major changes. Some of the major TV
providers in UK are Analogue Terrestrial, BT Vision, Freesat, Sky TV, Virgin and others.
Analogue Terrestrial has up to 6 channels while Sky TV showcases over 300 radio and TV
broadcasting channels. Sky TV enjoys maximum viewership and though there are several local
providers, such as T-Mobile and Vodafone, who have sprung up into the TV scene, but, Sky TV
still remains the dominant market player in the TV industry in UK. Compared to China, UK
enjoys several different kinds of transmission such as satellite television, cable television,
internet television as well as IP television and mobile television (Curie, 2004). Some of the most
favored programmes in UK include Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who, Brideshead Revisited and Blue
Peter. The media coverage in UK is much higher compared to China and it is not so strictly
regulated by the government. However, with the advent of internet, even China internet
television has boomed in recent years (McKenzine, 2006).

Conclusion

From the time the television industry emerged in the last century, its process of development has
differed from other media industries in certain economic respects. Television firms and
organizations have experienced various difficulties throughout the development process of the
television industry, notably the number of market failures that have constantly beset television
broadcasting (Donald, Keane & Hing, 2003). From the above discussion it is clearly evident that
there are a lot of differences in the way TV industry operates in China and UK. The glaring
differences are evident when we see that the government controls the China TV industry
vehemently and cuts down several broadcasts, while the UK TV industry has to follow the
general norms of freedom of speech and expression.

From this paper it can be concluded that though China and UK differ largely in culture and
population. Yet, there are certain similarities in the TV industry in both the countries.
Dissemination of information and news is the most important broadcasting programme in both
the countries and national events such as the Gala New Year festival in China and the World Cup
in UK drew maximum audience to the screen. Apart from this, UK and China have vastly
differences in media philosophy and due to China’s large population; China TV industry is
largely different from one region to another (Donald, Keane & Hing, 2003). Whereas in UK, TV
viewership is largely homogenous and the audience has similar taste for programmes. However,
in recent times, with the advent of mobile television and internet television, the TV industry has
undergone rapid changes and the effects have been quite similar in both UK and China (Keane,
Fung & Moran, 2007). The future of TV industry in both the countries is bright and progress
would definitely open up new vistas of imparting and communicating views and ideas.

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