Terrestrial/Cable Mergers Pass SARFT Approval
BEIJING --- Even before the crucial Lanzhou meeting of SARFT Bureau Directors in August last year (see CMM passim), the radio and television bureaux in every province, city and prefecture were "moving forward with" the merger of local cable TV stations and terrestrial TV stations.
Now, these efforts are starting to result in the ratification of real merger plans at an increasingly fast pace. By December 31, 2000, five provinces and four cities had received SARFT approval for their merger plans. The provinces are Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Gansu, Shandong and Jiangxi. The cities are Jinan, Shenyang, Dalian and Linyi (in Shandong).
As predicted by CMM-I, most of the mergers have resulted in the transfer of cable TV operations into new TV stations that inherit the same basic structures as the former terrestrial stations and are controlled by their leaders.
As may be expected, there are several exceptions to prove the rule in places where cable or telecoms factions have strong government backing (See 'Guangdong Cable TV splits Assets to Grab Telecoms Business' for Guangdong Cable TV's creative "divide and conquer" solution to the ban on its involvement in telecoms business).
As for the mergers that have received SARFT approval, Heilongjiang Cable TV and Heilongjiang TV have emerged as Heilongjiang TV, albeit with a new station logo and identity.
In Zhejiang, Zhejiang Cable TV, Zhejiang TV and Zhejiang Education TV have merged into Zhejiang TV. The three terrestrial channels operated by the former stations have been relaunched as: Variety Channel, Qianjiang City Channel and Education and Science & Technology Channel. The former cable channels are now broadcasting under the names, Economic & Life Channel, Drama & Culture Channel and Sports and Health Channel.
The merged Shandong Cable TV and Shandong TV are now named Shandong TV. Shandong TV's two terrestrial channels are now broadcasting as the News Channel and Qilu Channel, while the new Shandong TV cable line up includes the Film & Drama Channel, Variety Channel, Life Channel and Sports Channel.
Gansu Cable TV and Gansu TV are now known as Gansu TV. Gansu TV's two terrestrial channels are now broadcasting as the Variety Channel and Feitian Economic Channel, while Gansu Cable TV's three channels are now the Public Service Channel, City Channel and Film & Drama Channel.
Jiangxi Cable TV and Jiangxi TV have emerged as a new combined Jiangxi TV. The two terrestrial channels are the Variety Channel and Arts & Sports Channel, while the cable line-up is Economic Life Channel, Film & Drama Channel and Public Service Channel.
Shenyang Cable TV and Shenyang TV have formally re-merged as Shenyang TV (Shenyang was one of the only cities not to formally separate its cable operations). The terrestrial offering is now the Current Affairs Channel and the Variety Channel, while cable fare consists of the Film & Drama Channel, Sports Channel and Life Channel.
Dalian Cable TV and Dalian TV are now incorporated as Dalian TV. The terrestrial channels now showing are the News & Variety Channel, Life Channel and Public Channel with cable channels consisting of Sports Channel, Film and Drama Channel, Stock Market Information Channel and Teletext Information Channel.
Jinan Cable TV and Jinan TV are now Jinan TV. The six channels of the former stations are now the terrestrial Variety Channel and Economic & Life Channel and the cable delivered Film & Drama Channel, Arts & Sports Channel, Watching Guide Service Channel and Teletext Channel.
Finally, Linyi Cable TV and Linyi TV have merged into Linyi TV. The three channels of the former stations are now the terrestrial Variety Channel, the cable Variety Channel and the cable Film & Drama Channel.
Although proposals from many major cities have yet to be appraised by SARFT, the trend is clear. Indeed, the recent passing of the above merger plans in so many key provinces and cities is sure to be closely watched by administrators in the cities yet to make final decisions.
SARFT, meanwhile, is now able to point to specific examples of how they wish the mergers to be completed and is likely to re-inforce the December 2001 deadline for completion of mergers first set in Lanzhou just six months ago.