Shanghai Special Focus
BEIJING/SHANGHAI --- Shanghai has long seen itself as the natural media and entertainment center for mainland China and has embarked on determined plans to become the new Asian communications hub in the 21st century. In this exclusive report to be published in the TELEVISION ASIA STVF SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT, China Media Monitor offers international delegates an introduction to the internal developments supporting Shanghai's ambitions.
Consider a few base indicators and, after a slow start, Shanghai's belief that it can become the new media center for 21st century Asia starts to become infectious. Although Shanghai TV was established in 1958, the entire Shanghai television industry was able to produce a total of just 5 hours of daily programming by 1978. But, in the last twenty years that figure has risen 40 fold to over 200 hours a day.
Per capita television ownership was not even an issue in 1978, but by 1998 there were 1.38 TV sets in the average Shanghai residence and penetration had reached 98% of all households. Terrestrial services can now reach a population of 200 million people in eastern China.
Growth in advertising has been equally spectacular. Shanghai TV only broadcast its first commercial in January 1978. But by 1997, Shanghai's four TV stations (Shanghai TV, Oriental TV, Shanghai Cable TV and Shanghai Education TV) generated combined ad revenues of Rmb 1.14 billion (US$137 million).
As for cable TV, it may as well not have been invented as far as viewers in 1978 Shanghai were concerned. Now, Shanghai Cable TV has over 2.45 million subscribing households, making it the biggest single cable system in the world.
Even the huge symbol of Shanghai's commitment to media, the Oriental Pearl Broadcast and TV Tower, makes the same powerful statement - it is still one of the tallest buildings in Asia and will long dominate the new Shanghai skyline emerging in the Pudong District. But, considering the zero base and the fast track growth seen across many Asian markets over this period, skeptics may downplay these numbers.
But Shanghai only really got going after Deng Xiaoping singled the city out during his historic tour in 1992. Almost all the significant development above has been concentrated into the last five years, which surely makes Shanghai one of the most remarkable TV markets in the world.
A deeper look might be expected to reveal that the gains are unsustainable, but development in Shanghai has been far more consolidated and has deeper roots. The city was the center of film making before the founding of the People's Republic of China and the first to re-introduce foreign entertainment in the early 1980's.
Its cultural renaissance in the 1990's is far broader in nature. To start with, communications infrastructure development has been co-ordinated under the direction of a steering group comprising all relevant departments and reporting directly to the Mayor. As a result, Shanghai has avoided much of the in-fighting that continues to plague the development of integrated communications networks in other Chinese cities.
The Shanghai Radio, Film and TV Bureau (RFT Bureau) has also made a series of strategic rationalization decisions that have largely succeeded in preparing state assets to compete in the commercial market. In the same year that Deng Xiaoping's visit revitalized thinking in Shanghai, the RFT Bureau here established a high technology and service center which has greatly enhanced the news gathering and distribution systems in the municipality.
When more competition was needed in the local TV industry, the RFT Bureau oversaw the successful separation of Shanghai TV's second channel to become a rival terrestrial broadcaster, Oriental TV. Both are now among the most profitable broadcasters in the country. (See Statistics 12.3) Shanghai has also led the way in the separation of production from broadcasting responsibilities, a process with which many other places are only now coming to terms.
Three years ago, five separate production units were combined into two independent production companies - Shanghai Film and the Yongle Group. As a result, production among the enterprises has expanded from 80-100 episodes before the changes to over 700 episodes last year. The full separation of production and broadcast in the fields of sports and entertainment is now one of the central short term goals.
Media investments are also conducted differently in Shanghai. The construction of the city's impressive range of new production and broadcast facilities (such as the Broadcasting Mansions, Shanghai International News Center, Shanghai Film City and Oriental Pearl TV Tower) have all been funded through commercial loans - the strongest argument for allowing them to operate commercially as well.
The total capital of Oriental Pearl exceeds Rmb 1.6 billion [US$193 million] and, like CCTV's Wuxi Production Base [located in the city of Wuxi close to Shanghai], it has issued "A" shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In all, the Shanghai RFT Bureau manages companies with total assets of over Rmb 8 billion (US$941 million) AND manages to keep out of the day to day operations.
Even the hosting of official international television and film festivals in Shanghai is co-ordinated under a separate organisation formed for that specific purpose. Other fairs held in Beijing, Sichuan and Guangdong are still organized by the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), RFT Bureaux and local TV stations, a massive strain on these organizations and a major distraction from their core obligations.
If more were really needed, Shanghai even enjoys strong backing from central and local government that other centers do not. President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji are both former Mayors and former Shanghai RFT Bureau chief Gong Xueping is currently serving as the municipality's Deputy Party Secretary.
Shanghai's future emergence as a Chinese media center to rival Hongkong (the first goal) will rely on many factors beyond its own control, but the groundwork is certainly being done. The launch of mainland China's first 24 hour satellite entertainment channel from Shanghai on October 1st was also the 40th anniversary of Shanghai TV, the oldest of all TV stations in China (along with CCTV).
With these manifold historical and contemporary advantages over all its mainland competitors and with plenty of new hardware and software to show off, it is no wonder that Shanghai has always enjoyed hosting the bi-annual TV festival. In China today, Shanghai is without doubt as good as it gets.