Chinese authorities have clarified new regulations for online audio and video services, originally announced end December 2007.
According to Marbridge Consulting, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has indicated in a notice that existing companies offering online services legally as well as permissible content will be allowed to re-register and continue providing services. New entrants would have to be subject to the regulations, while those that are found to run afoul of the law would be punished or severely regulated.
The original announcement, co-published by SARFT and the Ministry of Information Industry, stated that all online audio and video service providers will need to apply for an "Online Audio-Visual Broadcasting License", and only a state-owned or state-controlled Chinese company will be eligible to receive such a license.
Rajesh Sreenivasan, a partner at Rajah and Tann, told ZDNet Asia the new set of regulations is not so much a prohibition of existing players but a form of control mechanism to keep investments within the economy.
The new rules, noted Sreenivasan in a phone interview, are also consistent with China's level of control over the media. "Businesses want certainty; [the Chinese government] has never made it a secret that it wants a high level of control over the Internet," he said.
The recent clarification by the Chinese government, added Sreenivasan, is a signal that the authorities do not want to put in jeopardy the investments that existing businesses have made.
Associate professor Ang Peng Hwa, dean of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), pointed out that the Chinese authorities are regulating the Internet not so much because they are "afraid" but because they "want to own that space as much as possible".
"Chinese regulation is strategic… They do want to dominate the Internet in a way that is consonant with their economic rise," Ang explained in an e-mail. "China wants to flex its muscle in as many arenas as possible."
According to Ang, the tight regulation could be temporal. With the Beijing 2008 Olympics taking place in August, it is only natural to expect the Chinese to want to keep their dirty linen out of public eye and "project a good front to the world", he said. The rules, he added, "may be loosened after the Olympics".
Rajah and Tann's Sreenivasan however, does not expect the rules to change.
"What China is trying to do is have the same set of rules for the online world as they do with traditional media," he said, adding that the move to regulate online audio and video content is "a recognition and pat on the back" for the Internet in China for being able to have as much impact in shaping people's opinions as traditional media.
Business users unfazed
Companies such as Sun Microsystems are still digesting the new guidelines to see if they would be impacted. No stranger to using online videos as a mode to reach out to its users and potential customers, Sun in 2006 announced a contest to encourage rank-and-file employees to produce videos promoting the company's products on YouTube.
YouTube is technically not affected by the regulation as it operates from servers outside of China, but Sun did not say if it has any links with China-based video sharing sites.
Paul Li, Sun's marketing director for the Greater China region, told ZDNet Asia that the company "is currently studying the new regulation". He said in an e-mail that the company, which has operated in the Chinese market for 20 years, will continue to comply with local regulations.
Lenovo, on the other hand, does not expect the regulations "to have much of an impact", according to a spokesperson.
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