BEIJING - China relaxed new rules limiting Internet video sharing to state companies, saying private competitors already operating in the arena may continue, the government said Tuesday.
The rules, which apply to all new video-sharing companies, took effect Jan. 31.
The rules announced in
December reportedly were established to extend China's
Web censorship ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing and prevent "unflattering" videos
from popping up. However, analysts said regulators were reluctant to enforce the
rules in a strict manner because they did not want to risk damaging a promising
industry.
"Companies that began
operation legally before the regulation was issued and have not violated laws
or regulations can be licensed and continue operating," said a statement
issued Tuesday by the Ministry of Information Industry and the State
Administration of Radio Film and Television, the agencies that imposed the
rules.
The government's statement gave no indication of whether amateur videos would be
allowed.
There reportedly are hundreds of video-sharing sites in China. The most
popular, such as Tudou.com, 56.com and Youku.com, claim to have as many as 100
million viewers a day, which rivals China's state TV channels. Some
offer full-length TV programs, but many popular videos are created by amateurs.
Online video revenue in China,
mostly from advertising, nearly doubles each year, and investors are pouring
money into sites. The government-sanctioned Internet Society of China predicted
that video-sharing sites would draw $22 million this year and $40 million in
2009.
The eight top companies in the field have taken in $190 million from private
investors since 2005, according to BDA China Ltd., a consulting firm.
China, with 210 million people online, is expected to
surpass the United States
in 2008 to become the country with the largest population of Internet users.
