THE EMPRESS OF CHINA EXECUTE ONE SERIES, TWO SATELLITE POLICY

In recent, many of entertainment news focus on the hottest TV series "The Empress of China". From "Technical Difficulties" to gossip between Actress Bingbing Fan and supporting actor Chen Li, to execute “One Series, Two Satellite” policy. 

“One Series, Two Satellite” policy which enactd by SAPPRFT in 2015. The policy means that new series can be carried maximum on two satellite channels at launch.

This policy aimed at curbing what SAPPRFT saw as excessive prices being paid for drama series that were driven up by multiple biddings from various national channels, while at the same time diluting ratings numbers as viewers could watch the same dramas on multiple channels.

In 2014, before the policy took effect, numbers for many of satellite channels were dropping as dramas were appearing across multiple outlets. For example, in 2014 the number of satellite channels that were able to maintain a 0.1% rating and above for certain shows dropped to 15 from 18 in 2013.

"The Empress of China" has executed “One Series, Two Satellite” policy, It has been sold to 7 “B List” channels following its launch on "A list" satellite Hunan TV. It will be broadcasted by Zhejiang TV for the second round. The “B List” channels are still purchasing second round windows at a healthy rate.

The policy has also made plain the difference between “A list” satellite channels such as Beijing TV, Hunan TV, Shandong TV, Dragon TV, Jiangsu TV and others and “B List” satellite channels.

The “A List” channels have the financial wherewithal to purchase first run rights for top quality series and have predictably been able to lock them in whereby “B List” channels are now mostly relegated to purchasing rights for second runs. 

Under this policy,TV series will be aired by "A list" broadcasters in the first round. Until it be broadcasted over half, the "B list" buyers could air it in second round. This a new scheduling way has became mainstream, which used by most of Chinese satellite TV. And they named it "1.5 round". 


At the moment, Hunan TV version is 30 minutes per episode, but Zhejiang version will be 45 minutes each episode. Zhejiang released new trailer of "The Empress of China", which include twilight years of the Empress -- Wu Zetian.


Most of broadcaster and experts believe that the move has certainly pushed up ratings for those channels that carry the first run of the series, but also made TV screen more healthy.