Foreign TV Fever

“It can be embarrassing if you don’t know about American TV when chatting with friends nowadays，” remarks Xue Mei， who first became interested in American TV during college and continued watching after he began working in Beijing. “It’s a good way to learn English in the first place，” he adds. Many fans would agree.

Today， more and more Chinese young people are showing great interest in foreign TV， particularly in American and British shows. “Each show is so perfectly constructed that we’re eager to see the latest episode online，” declares one viewer.

Fading of Pirates

The first episode of season three of Sherlock aired on BBC’s Channel 1 at 9 p.m.， January 1， 2014， London time， which was 5 a.m. on January 2 in Beijing.

Only two hours later， China became the second country in the world to see Sherlock， Season 3. Within two earlymorning hours after the broadcast， the video on one Chinese website was viewed 190，000 times. Twelve hours later， its view count had soared to 3.75 million， a click rate of over 1，000 per second.

“The people who first watched foreign TV in the early 1980s， such as Garrison’s Gorillas， which was made in the 1960s， couldn’t have imagined seeing British TV earlier than American viewers，” commented People’s Daily.

Unprecedentedly， BBC even provided official Chinese subtitles. BBC had never before authorized any simultaneous broadcast in a foreign country.

Along with China’s massive audience， copyright protection is another reason behind BBC’s move. The regulation of copyrights for foreign TV in recent years has changed the landscape of Chinese viewing.

In the early days of online TV， choices were limited， so a generation was stuck with juggernauts such as Friends and Sex and the City. Like many peers， Liu Fang， who is working on a master’s degree， was introduced to American TV by Friends.“It was love at first sight when I first discovered Friends in English class，” recalls Liu. “I then hunted for other American shows online， downloaded almost every episode of entire seasons， and saved my favorite episodes on DVD or external hard drives.”

Thanks to the internet， any such product on the planet became a simple click away.

Flocking to Video Websites

As Liu Fang remembers， DVDs went out around 2009 and suppliers of American TV transitioned gradually from small websites operated by non-governmental translators to big video websites.

Xue Mei recounted the transition with Liu Fang. “It’s even hard to find torrents today， not to mention DVDs，” Xue asserts.“It’s due to the intensification of intellectual property protection of American TV.”

“It’s both good and bad，” Liu Fang opines. “We don’t have to worry about missing episodes when big websites secure the copyright. However， it’s impossible to download and save my favorite parts.”

Those who discovered such programming as English learning tools continue to watch purely for enjoyment. “We’re now attracted to the plots，” explains Xue Mei.“Each episode lasts only 20 or 40 minutes and features a stand-alone story， so we don’t have to worry if we miss one.” Now a father， Xue watches American shows during his free time.

As for the growing popularity of British TV， Western TV fan Li Qi remarks，“I usually choose shows similar to the American ones. As copyright protection of American TV intensifies， Chinese distributors have shifted from DVDs to requiring downloaded software to handy video websites and apps.

Despite all the changes， Li Qi has watched thousands of hours of American and British television over the last dozen years， and all that has really changed is that he can no longer tolerate relatively slowpaced Chinese and South Korean TV.

Inexpensive Copyrights

In 2010， Chinese video websites realized world-wide simultaneous broadcast of American dramas Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. House of Cards was highly acclaimed in Chinese political circles. In early 2012， Youku， a Chinese video website， applied to buy the right to simultaneously broadcast BBC programming. BBC didn’t acknowledge its exclusive strategic cooperative relationship with Youku until March 2013.

“We’ve had many successes importing TV from the United States，” reveals Zhu Xiangyang， Chief Editor of Youku Inc.“BBC recognized the increasing potential of the Chinese market. We introduced Chinese viewers to simultaneous broadcasting， the best way to open our market.”

British TV， represented in no small part by Sherlock， is an up and coming star comparatively， recently winning favor with Chinese audiences. During his visit to China last year， British Prime Minister David Cameron was asked by Chinese netizens to urge BBC to speed up season 3 of Sherlock. “I’ll try my best，” the Prime Minister pledged on Weibo （Chinese Twitter）.

Surprisingly， the copyrights for many of the most popular British and American TV shows， including Sherlock， are much less expensive than some of their Chinese counterparts， although demand may differ drastically.

“The price advantage will boost the introduction of even more American and British TV， which makes me excited，” grins Liu Fang.