Structure and reform in China's television industries

Television in China is a massive industry in terms of sheer scale. It employs an army of people and broadcasts to the world?s largest national audience. The industry is characterised by a few highly profitable media organisations?mostly in the big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, a small number of entrepreneurial provincial networks and satellite stations, and a multitude of low profit provincial, city and cable stations. This chapter discusses the role of industry structure and its impact upon performance and innovation. It argues that structure?as much as ideology?has constrained competition and development in Chinese television. The discussion shows how hybrid organizational forms such as clusters, networks and inter-firm projects are redrawing the television production environment in China. More stations are entering into co-production arrangements, together with sometimes innovative forms of revenue sharing. The impact of these changes will inevitably be felt in economic performance with China establishing greater rapport with international media markets and international practices. The chapter argues that institutional transition within the Chinese television industry embodies three evolutionary stages: the hierarchical period (?1990s), the proto-media market (1990s), and the network media economy (2000?now). Using these frames I show how enterprise models co-exist with non-competitive practices.