Dismay as Hong Kong TV dramas fall under China’s ‘foreign’ production censorship
Many dramas won't air first episodes until their entire series have vetted by the authorities
Many mainland fans of television dramas - already displeased after regulators tightened censorship of foreign productions airing on mainland TVs and video portals - are dismayed to discover that popular Hong Kong productions are also subject to the ruling.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said that, starting from this year, all TV dramas and telemovies produced overseas would need its approval before being broadcast online .
The ruling also states that the authority must first review every episode of a complete series before granting approval. Mainland audiences will no longer see new episodes of dramas from America, Britain and South Korea at the same time as viewers abroad.
However, many mainlanders were surprised to discover that Hong Kong dramas - many produced by free-to-air broadcaster TVB - were also included in the new regulation, the Shanghai Morning Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that they were no longer able to broadcast episodes of dramas until the whole series had first been approved by the authority.
None of this year's crop of new Hong Kong dramas have been shown on the mainland's main video websites.