Censor booking success in struggle against video hosts

SARFT made many victims
by Getty Images via DaylifeThe efforts of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), the official censor, has been booking serious advances in trying to curtail the booming video hosting services. Initially people made fun about the efforts of SARFT to issue regulation after regulation without booking any effect. Those days might be over and not surprisingly. For SARFT this is a matter of survival and should not be taken too lightly.
Market leader Tudou was first slapped on the wrist when it was taken out of the air, but the number three of the market 56.com is now already out of the air for weeks, showing that SARFT is using its muscle to regulate the sector.
The latest move, here in a report by Danwei, says SARFT has been issued 247 licenses for almost all video hosting services apart from the largest three, including Tudou and 56.com.

The list includes privately-funded Youtube clones such as 6.cn and Ku6.com, and websites that do not yet exist, such as Sarft.com, which of course belongs to the industry regulator SARFT itself. Established Chinese portal websites such as Sina, Sohu, Netease and Tom also all have approval, as do websites that provide downloads of TV programs, such as PPlive.com and Uusee.com.

The move comes after CNNIC issued a report saying that China has 160 million internet users using video, making it into a true mass medium. Danwei expects:

SARFT may just let these websites run dry and expire. Or perhaps they will reach an accommodation soon enough to make sure some of the money, technology and know-how invested in Youku.com, Tudou.com and 56.com remains for the good of Chinese netizens, and for the Chinese government's own nation building purposes.