Sinosat Channel Renewals Continue Delay

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television, broadcasting, contract concerns, Sinosat, foreign broadcasters, CITVC

BEIJING --- Concerns over stipulations in the contract between foreign broadcasters and sole mainland agent CITVC have apparently delayed the announcement for the next round of approved channels on the Sinosat platform.

The Sinosat platform is the name given to the system whereby non-mainland channels are distributed in China into 3-star and above hotels as well as foreign compounds.

According to a number of reports in the press, the main issue has been terms in the contract that do not define liabilities for the transmission of 'sensitive materials'. The terms in the contract state that the foreign partner will 'bear any responsibility and loss' that arises out of censorship issues should they transmit any programming that is deemed 'not suitable' for broadcast in China.

Much to the chagrin of foreign channel operators, the 'responsibility and loss' sections are intentionally left vague. CITVC officials contacted by CMM-I noted that the penalties for such transgression are considered internal 'neibu' and are only between CITVC and the foreign broadcaster.

Additionally, it seems that a number of foreign broadcasters are unhappy about the clause in the agreement that stipulates CITVC as the sole agent for the foreign channel in China. Given the new regulations released earlier this year allowing for joint venture TV program production companies (CMM Passim), there exists some concern that the Sinosat contract would preclude other ventures, or might allow CITVC to claim that the foreign companies on the SinoSat platform can not sign separate agreements since the agreement with CITVC for signal carriage notes that CITVC will act as the sole agent for the channel in China.

CITVC's response to this issue, which was beginning to be brought to them last January was for the broadcasters to simply sign the contract as it was and worry about the issues later. This, obviously, was not an option for a number of the channels with corporate lawyers on the pay-roll.

The situation now is that the issue has been generally worked through, and CITVC has shown some flexibility on their part by actually modifying some of the contracts.

It is still anyone's guess when the new channel line up will be actually announced, but all signs point towards this month: just in time for next year's round of applications to begin.