13. Hong Kong as a Stepping Stone into the Mainland Market

The Mainland, as the hinterland of Hong Kong, is a potential market for both local and overseas broadcasters. The broadcasting industry on the Mainland is a huge market with about 398 million households in 2007²⁷. Hong Kong, due to its proximity to the Mainland, is a springboard to this vast market. 

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Central People's Government agreed on further services liberalisation on 29 June 2007 under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). Under supplement IV to the CEPA, for any proposal of television dramas to be co-produced by the Mainland and Hong Kong programme production organisations, the minimum number of words in Chinese contained in the synopsis of each episode is revised to 1 500. The new measure took effect from 1 January 2008.

Some broadcasters have secured the landing rights in the Guangdong province of the Mainland. Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Movies Channel, and China Entertainment Television (CETV) were among the first to be granted the landing rights in 2001, followed by Xing Kong Wei Shi channel in 2002. The two domestic free television programme service licensees, ATV and TVB, also secured the landing rights in Guangdong province of the Mainland in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

Many channels of the non-domestic television programme service licensees were allowed to be broadcast to 3-star or above hotels and compounds for foreigners in the Mainland. These include CETV, Channel [V], CNN, Horizon Channel, National Geographic Channel, NOW, Phoenix Chinese, Phoenix InfoNews, Phoenix Movies, STAR Movie International, Sun TV, TVB Xing He, TVB8 and Xing Kong Wei Shi.