The Enlightenment from Contention and Channel Dispute in American TV Industry to China's TV Industry

First, the "broadcasting fee" dispute and "must be broadcast"

On August 2, 2013, due to the inability to reach an agreement on the rebroadcast fee standard, TimeWarner Cable of the United States suspended the broadcast of 13 television stations owned by CBS in 8 regions, affecting 3.2 million cable TV subscribers. . Analysts said that CBS's broadcast tariffs in 2013 are roughly 75 cents to 80 cents per cable subscriber per month, and the company’s target value is $2. Five weeks after the stalemate, the two companies finally reached a consensus in early September 2013. Although the dispute finally settled, the crux of the problem has not been eliminated. The root of disputes between content and channels regarding broadcast fees lies in the “must play”.

The United States was the first country to legally require “must-carry”. In 1992, the "Cable Protection and Competition Act" passed by the US Congress stipulated that "must be broadcast" and has been implemented so far. "Must be broadcast" is directly related to the order of competition in the US TV market. In the early development of the American television industry, some cable TV operators in the United States have their own cable television channels. For example, TCI, the largest multi-system operator in the United States, has multiple cable television channels, including those held in Discovery Communications. More shares. Without regulatory restrictions, cable TV system operators will give priority to broadcasting their own TV stations, and local TV stations will not be able to broadcast on local cable television systems. In response, smaller local television stations protested, arguing that this deprived them of the opportunity of broadcasting their programs to local audiences and was not conducive to the diversification of local television programs. Moreover, once the choice of television channels is handed over to cable television system operators, the order and fairness of the television advertising market will be seriously impaired. According to "must play", once the cable system's channel space exceeds 12, there must be one-third of the channel space to broadcast those channels that meet the "must air" condition. With the popularity of the digital age, the "must play" rules have also been adjusted accordingly. Operators of cable television systems must broadcast analog or digital signals from television stations, but they must ensure that the television station's program signals cover all aspects of the "cable television system." For each user." For satellite platform operators, the main legal basis for "must be broadcast" is the "Satellite Home Watch Bill" passed by the United States in 1988. Satellite platform operators do not need to broadcast the channels of local television stations in each market. However, if a local television channel is broadcasted in a certain area, other channels in the area that must comply with “must be broadcast” must be aired.

The "must aired" initiative is on local television stations. Cable TV system operators cannot broadcast a local TV station according to the "must air" rules. If the local television station does not choose to "must play", it may request the cable television system operator to pay for it, or negotiate other interests. According to current U.S. regulations, the content of a contract is updated every three years between television stations and cable television system operators. That is, it is an opportunity for television stations to select “must play” or “retransmission consent”. If the TV station selects "must play", the operator does not need to pay for any program fees for the television station. If the television station chooses to “agree to broadcast,” the operator will need to pay for the television station’s fees or meet other requirements in accordance with the agreement of both parties, and it is more common for broadcast fees to be paid. In the United States, the broadcast fee is a cable company, a live-to-home satellite television company, and a telecommunications company operating a television broadcasting platform to directly obtain a certain amount of cash or other money from a local television station to obtain the broadcast rights of a TV station program in the local TV market. The compensation method, or indirect payment, is paid to the national television networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox Broadcasting Corporation.

With the sluggish advertising market in recent years, television stations have gradually increased their appeal for rebroadcast fees. In 2001, U.S. television broadcasting fees totaled 11 million U.S. dollars, in 2002 it was 15 million U.S. dollars, in 2003 it was 20 million U.S. dollars, and in 2004 it was 27 million U.S. dollars, with an annual increase of 30%-40%. In 2005, the broadcasting fees suddenly increased dramatically. The total amount of the country reached 128 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 374.1% year-on-year. Since then, the broadcast fee has risen. In 2010, it reached US$1.034 billion. In 2011, it was US$1.445 billion. From 2003 to 2011, the broadcasting fee actually increased by more than 70 times. In 2016, it is expected to reach US$3.686 billion. The proportion of broadcast fees in TV stations’ revenue was also almost zero from 2002 to 0.1% in 2003. It accounted for a breakthrough of 1% in 2008 and 3% in 2011, and is expected to grow to 5.7% by 2016. SNLKagan has a bolder prediction: In 2018, broadcasting fees will account for more than 20% of TV stations' total revenue.

In the United States, when a television station is willing to broadcast in a local cable television system according to the "must air" regulations, operators must broadcast the channel. The “must aired” provision requires not only the cable television system operators to be passive, but also the cable television system operators cannot charge fees for channels that meet the "must air" rules; on the contrary, once the channels want to receive "relay fees," Cable TV system operators can not refuse. It is precisely for this reason that the contention and channel debate in the American television industry will be a long-term phenomenon.

Second, the "ad filtering" dispute

In terms of traditional television operations, the programming of television stations is used to attract viewers. Advertisers pay the television stations to obtain audiences, and the viewers are then handed over to advertisers. Advertising is the main source of income for television stations, and viewers are reluctant to watch advertisements. In order to win the audience, TV operators need to greatly increase the attractiveness of channels broadcast on the platform while enriching the content of services, such as providing multi-screen services such as “TV everywhere”. DishNetwork has seized the psychology of viewers' dislike of advertisements and launched an "Automatic Filtering Advertisement" set-top box to strengthen the company's market competitiveness. For this reason, the Dishwire company and the television station have vilified each other and even caused multiple lawsuits.

For TV operators, set-top boxes are important equipment for providing TV services, and they are also the main channel for carrying out value-added services. The U.S. Dish Line Company is the second largest live-to-home satellite platform in the United States. In March 2012, the U.S. Dish Line Company introduced a set-top box called Hopper, which has an AutoHop function, and provides convenient functions such as video and network search, and is compatible with remote sites. Play and other technologies. The built-in hard disk can record 2,000 hours of programs, and can automatically record the programs of the main channel prime time, and can automatically filter commercial advertisements during playback. In the past, these functions were only visible in professional video data databases. In contrast, most domestic TV stations still have Manually included. The function of automatic filtering of advertisements has caused many controversies. TV stations such as ABC have brought the company to court, claiming that skipping advertisements is detrimental to the interests of television stations, and demanded that the court ruled that disc companies cannot provide users with this. Set-top box. In September 2013, the Federal Court of New York dismissed the request of the American Broadcasting Corporation, which was the third local federal court in the United States to make the same ruling.

Third, the "content piracy" dispute

The allegations of “content piracy” by the American company Aereo and television are another high-profile legal dispute in the TV industry in 2013. Aereo launches a service to watch local TV channels online, that is, to receive TV channels through the company, to provide TV programs to various terminals through the Internet, and to turn users' mobile phones, computers, and tablets into TV sets. In front of it, the set-top box is no longer useful. In 2013, the company expanded its business to 22 U.S. cities and currently offers two price standards of $8 and $12 per month. The $8 standard service includes 20 hours of cloud storage in addition to the channel. The $12 standard service expands cloud storage capacity to 60 hours. The service supports iOS terminals, Youku set-top boxes (Roku), Apple TV set top boxes (Apple TVbox), and mainstream web browsers. Because the company broadcasts programs of major TV stations without paying royalties, lawsuits were brought against major media companies including CBS, Comcast, News Corporation and Walt Disney Company.

In April 2013, the court ruled that the Airui company won the lawsuit, saying that its provision of television programs to individual users did not infringe copyright laws. After the legality of the Airui business was confirmed, some television stations launched similar services. For example, in May 2013, Disney/ABC launched the online broadcast of the national television network and its local affiliated stations live broadcasts.

IV. Enlightenment of U.S. Experience on China's TV Industry

China's television industry is becoming increasingly standard and competition is becoming increasingly fierce. According to data disclosed by the Media Division of SARFT, as of the end of 2012, China had set up 1,334 TV channels, including 30 sets at the national level and 289 at the provincial level. In 2012, the average household in the country received 54.3 channels. At the same time, with the reform of the radio and television system, the separation of bureaus from Taiwan, the separation of Taiwan and the integration of networks, the majority of cable TV system companies at all levels in China have transformed themselves into independent market operators. After the integration of cable TV system operators, the scale has become larger and the market position has become more and more powerful. The dependence of TV stations on cable TV system operators has been further strengthened. In some provinces, the local provincial television station landed in the province and it is also necessary to pay the transmission fee to the cable TV system operating company. With the development of television technology and the intensification of media competition, it is an arduous and long-lasting task for China to better regulate the market and fully promote the healthy development in various fields.

While promoting the healthy development of the television industry, it is also necessary to ensure the party’s absolute leadership over advocacy work. In other words, China needs to ensure the broadcast and coverage of national channels and public channels from top-level design and laws and regulations. China does not stipulate "must broadcast" in the form of legal provisions. It only states in the State Council [2006] No. 79 that the first and seventh programs of the Central Television Station must be broadcasted at all levels of television transmitters. With the continuous weakening of the industry management functions of the National Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television Administration on the coverage of channels, cable TV system companies at all levels have greatly strengthened the choice and autonomy of channel landing from the perspective of market operations. In 1998, Anhui Satellite TV took the lead in adopting a pay-per-use model and achieved significant results. The landing mode of “Spend money to buy coverage” was quickly followed by local TV stations. At present, a provincial-level audio and video channel has landed in 71 major cities in China, with an average annual investment of over 100 million yuan. The radio and television cable systems companies at all levels in China have broadcasted a large number of channels for the broadcast of CCTV. There is no “floor fee”, and cable companies at all levels need to raise funds to purchase receiving equipment and invest a lot of human and financial resources. If the interests of cable TV system companies cannot be satisfied for a long time and there are no relevant laws, regulations or policies to ensure the broadcast of national channels or public channels, the content and channel competitions in the US television industry will sooner or later Staged in China.