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Foreign
cartoons will no more be a source of entertainment for Chinese kids.
From 1 September, cartoon series produced outside of China will
be banned from local broadcast between 5 pm and 8 pm. The move is
an effort to give a boost to the local animation sector.
According
to reports, the ban, which hasn't been formally announced yet, is
said to be in response to the popularity of anime in the Chinese
market, and comes from other efforts by regulators to clamp down
on international content.
It
also follows a 2004 edict mandating that Chinese cartoons had to
account for at least 60 per cent of a channel’s animation output.
The
State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has told
stations that prime time TV, from 5 pm to 8 pm, will only be allowed
to show Chinese cartoons. Among those banned are The Simpsons,
Teletubbies, Mickey Mouse, Blue’s Clues and popular Japanese
animation will take a back seat to Chinese animation.
The
first major step was taken in 2000, when SARFT requested that all
foreign animations get its approval before being broadcast on Chinese
TV. Since 2004 the administration has also built 15 animation industry
incubators around the country.
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