Nearly 9000 episodes of TV series cannot be broadcast every year? What is the reason behind this?

Rumors of movie withdrawals are often seen in newspapers. Why can't these dramas be broadcast? TV dramas often require a series of complicated approval processes from production, distribution and broadcast. Every change in the process can determine the "life and death" of a drama.

Original title: Copyright expiration, policy risks, poor quality, nearly 9000 episodes of TV series cannot be broadcast every year

. Recently, a tweet on the Weixin Official Accounts titled "The Behind the Scenery of 'The General' was withdrawn by Satellite TV is more exciting than a blockbuster" has become popular on the Internet.Among

them, the most puzzling thing is that this big ip film, which brings together the best movie stars of the Golden Horse and Horse movie stars, may be withdrawn by Jiangsu Satellite TV and the broadcast platform changes owner?

In response, its production company Xingge Media issued a statement on the 20th, denying the above information and saying that the show did not negotiate replacement with other online platforms. He said that legal responsibility would be held against the publisher of the news.

Regardless of whether the news is true or not, this incident once again brought problems such as TV series cancellations, backlog, and cancellations to the forefront. In fact, there are many TV series on the market that have encountered these problems. For example, the recent online "Happiness of Angels" has been backlog for six years. In addition, the dramas that have been broadcast include "Huaxu Yin","Song in the Cloud","Legend in the Wind","Auspicious Tianbao","Lan Ling Princess" and "Meeting Wang Lichuan" have also been backlog for a long time.

Some people say that a TV series is actually a kind of destiny. TV dramas often require a series of complicated approval processes from production, distribution and broadcast. Every change in the process can determine the "life and death" of a drama.

There is a shortage of porridge, a large inventory, and supply exceeds demand.

Long Tong, head of the Matthew Effect International Television and Film Program Trading Center, said that a drama "can only truly enter the market after multiple layers of review such as script approval and filing, shooting license, and distribution license." After that, we faced a fierce battle of oversupply in the market, a double attack from big productions and big IPs. There were really not many TV series that could really survive.

According to Long Tong,"In 2015, more than 30,000 episodes of dramas were approved, and only more than 10,000 episodes were approved. Without a distribution license, there is no possibility of broadcasting at all." After entering the market, TV dramas faced the problem of overcapacity. It is understood that my country produces more than 15000 episodes of TV series every year, but only 9000 episodes have the opportunity to be broadcast, which means that one-third of TV series may not be able to see the light of day after being filmed.

Industry veterans said that TV stations have limited broadcasting capacity. CCTV focuses on news, sports and feature films, and rarely pays high fees to purchase TV series. Provincial satellite TVs, which have strong purchasing power, regard TV dramas as the main battlefield for ratings.

In recent years, with the development of variety shows and the popularity of reality TV shows, the original TV series broadcast space has been squeezed. Take Hunan Satellite TV as an example. In 2016, the broadcast duration of Hunan Satellite TV's weekly TV series was shortened from 870 minutes to 730 minutes. The number of TV series premiered on TV screens in 2016 decreased by at least 10% compared with 2015. It is estimated that the backlog of TV dramas in 2016 may reach more than 70%.

"The reality is that the supply of TV dramas far exceeds demand." Industry insiders introduced. The production and sales rate is too low, the number of works is large but the number of works is low, and the distribution channels are relatively limited, which has become a real problem in the purchase and sale of TV dramas. Due to the severe inventory, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has changed "one drama with four stars" to "one drama with two stars" since 2015, intending to increase the total broadcast volume by restricting the premiere platform of a single series. Helpless, the snowball of overcapacity has been rolling for many years, and it is not easy to go away.

Nowadays, under the attack of online video websites, in order to ensure ratings and advertising volume, many satellite TV stations have adopted the "innovative" model of "1.5 rounds of follow-up" to play the ball of policy. To be on the safe side, competing for popular dramas is the first choice for TV stations, while high-quality dramas that gather advantageous resources such as big stars, big directors, and big companies are still scarce products among thousands of troops.

There are various reasons for withdrawing films from policies, copyrights, and quality. There are many variables in the licensing of satellites

. Even if the license is already collected by TV stations, the film may be withdrawn due to quality or other flexible reasons. If you want to broadcast it in prime time, it will be even more difficult.

Previously, it was reported that "The Story of the Sea's Herding Clouds" might be withdrawn due to quality problems. In March last year, the show released its first early taste version of the film, which won praise from the industry for its excellent production. However, as the number of visible content increased, its negative voices became stronger and stronger. Hunan Satellite TV, which originally took a fancy to it, withdrew the film due to the large gap between the film and the trailer, and the poor quality.

In addition to quality issues, TV dramas may also be rejected due to the expiration of their copyright. Zhou Yanran, the procurement center of Yunnan TV Station, revealed,"I have been suppressed and never broadcast. When the copyright period reaches, I will return the goods." For example, CCTV has policy restrictions. For example, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has not reviewed it. For example, there is a limit on the number of episodes on ethnic minority themes to be broadcast in one year. If it exceeds that and there is a new one next year, the drama will be withdrawn. If it is in Party B's film and television company, there is absolutely no way to do it."

For some TV dramas that need to be broadcast in prime time on satellite TV platforms, they often involve the most core level and obtain the "satellite license" from the State Administration of China, and this link has many variables.

According to industry insiders, the reason why many TV dramas that were originally on the stars were temporarily withdrawn is mostly related to the fact that the State Administration has too many review opinions and the TV dramas have not been revised to keep up with the broadcast schedule.

"If you submit the case early and have few revisions, you can basically obtain permission to appear on the satellite early. However, nowadays TV dramas are all fast-food style. In addition, there are many TV dramas on the satellite at the same time, which leaves too little time for the satellite review. Many shows are only approved a few days before they start broadcasting."

Previously, the TV series "Different Town" was removed due to many revision opinions from the State Administration of China and had no time to pass the review. At that time, the director said in an interview with the media that the re-edited version would not have time to review, so the TV station could only change the drama. In addition, the tightening review standards of the General Administration of China and the sensitive content of the subject matter are the reasons that hinder the introduction of stars. Another industry insider pointed out,"In the past, dramas reviewed by local governments were generally highly consistent with the review standards of the State Administration, and the probability of failing to pass the approval for approval was very small. But this year is a little different."

The TV series "White Deer Plain", which had not been rebroadcast long ago, was urgently suspended one day after its launch due to "historical issues." However, another drama produced by Xinli Media,"Kite", was not so lucky and was still in a dusty state. The reason for this is that the policy scales that many films grasped during the creation period have changed by the time they are broadcast.

In 2014, relevant departments put forward three bans on the creation of spy war dramas, namely, no one is allowed to seduce the enemy by our military personnel, no one is allowed to obtain intelligence through money, and no red assassination. Unfortunately,"Kite" began to be created as early as 2012. There is a saying that this play has some plots that excessively beautify Kuomintang agents, which happened to hit the "red line" and was hidden.

Even if it is broadcast during prime time on satellite TV platforms, it may be cut in half, replaced or cut short and removed from the show due to low ratings. The costume drama "The Legend of the Jade Butterfly of the Beautiful Private Kitchen" starring Zheng Shuang and Ma Tianyu encountered ratings failure. The first broadcast in Anhui had a ratings of 0.26 and 0.18 in Zhejiang. Even the ratings of Zhejiang Satellite TV fell directly out of the top 20 and was finally changed.

Coincidentally,"Phoenix Totem", the new version of "Eight Parts of the Dragon","The Price of the Leftover Woman","Panda Man", etc. have all encountered this dilemma.

The withdrawal of TV dramas is just an exception for major satellite TV stations. Once this happens, both the film company and the TV station will face considerable losses.

Well-known drama critic Spenhand 2000 pointed out that sometimes it directly affects the annual bonuses and performance of the TV station's drama purchasing department. For filmmakers, if a play is withdrawn because of its quality, its subsequent works will also be affected.

The way out: Quality assurance + open source

Facing the backlog of TV dramas, from the industry's perspective, one of the breakthroughs lies in improving the quality of the dramas and the other lies in cooperation with video websites.

Previously, director Zheng Xiaolong once said,"More than 8000 episodes of TV series could not be broadcast last year. Based on an investment of 1 million yuan per episode, 8 billion yuan was wasted!" In his view, the entry threshold for filming TV series should be appropriately raised. By reducing the number by half and using the wasted money to the other half, China's TV series can be filmed better."The domestic TV series market has now reached the point. It is time to control the quantity of production and improve the quality of the works."

In addition, with the active capital operation of the video industry in the past two years, the concentration of video websites has become increasingly high. Video websites are the second battlefield of TV dramas, and their superiority cannot be ignored. With the rapid development of the Internet, especially the mobile Internet, we have entered the era of multi-screen communication. According to the 38th "Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China" recently released by CNNIC, as of June 2016, the number of Internet users in my country reached 710 million, with 21.32 million new Internet users added in the first half of the year, a growth rate of 3.1%; my country's Internet penetration rate reached 51.7%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared with the end of 2015. The huge user base provides an audience base for TV series diversion.

At the same time, video websites are non-linear broadcasts, with inherent advantages such as cross-time, cross-platform, and cross-space. They can also withstand infinite TV dramas. At a time when the backlog of TV dramas is serious, video websites have undoubtedly opened another door for TV dramas.

Works such as "Crossing the Enigma","Auspicious Tianbao","Huaxu Yin","Qianlong Secret Chamber", and "Meeting Wang Lichuan" all adopted the first method to be broadcast on video websites.

Several families are happy and others are sad. The immaturity of the market, the fanaticism of capital, and changes in policies have made the ecology of TV dramas unbalanced. Today, when the cultural industry is enthusiastically sought after, the transformation of the market has cruelly begun. Fortunately, the market is gradually returning to rationality, the trend of "content is king" is gradually becoming prominent, and the "golden rule" of big IP+ traffic stars is gradually failing. TFBOYS 'first science fiction online drama,"Super Junior Code", fell into a product of fans' self-congratulation, and "Qing Yun Zhi" starring Li Yifeng did not reach the height of the previous national debate on "Ancient Sword and Qi Tan", and it ended quietly. However, the high-quality anti-corruption drama "In the Name of the People" has exceeded eight in ratings and has become a boutique and hit.

As Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, said: "Today, China's film and television industry is in the mood to attract money. This is a blessing and a misfortune for the industry. Capital is similar to Alpha Go. It can be learned in depth, and it will gradually become rational amid various mistakes and lessons. Therefore, no matter how crazy the capital market has made today's film and television industry, people in the industry should remember: first, it will not be like this forever; second, it should not be allowed to destroy the feelings and core values that film and television dramas should have."

Editor: jessica