Shanghai Media Group, China's second largest media group by revenue after China Central Television, launched two new television channels at the beginning of 2008. The International Channel Shanghai, or ICS, and the Arts Channel have replaced the original Music Channel and Entertainment Arts Channel. Despite the expected loss of 100 million yuan in advertising revenue, the bold step marks a shift toward quality and sophistication. Let's follow Wang Jing to get a closer look.

Reporter:

Like most of her peers, pop music and entertainment shows are among 20-year-old Jennifer Sun's favorite TV programs. On hearing the news that the music channel she always tunes into would be canceled starting in 2008, she felt let down.

"At first, I was quite disappointed over the disappearance of the music channel. However, the International Channel Shanghai took me by surprise, and I'm already a fan of the new channel."

The International Channel Shanghai is the first foreign language channel in Shanghai to be broadcast in English and Japanese, catering to foreign viewers, students and white-collar workers. The metropolis has an expatriate community of more than 150,000 people, and sees 6 million foreign tourists arrive every year.

After years of preparation, Li Yi, vice director of ICS, says the time is right for Shanghai to launch its new foreign language service.

"This year, in the year of 2008, Beijing will host the Olympic Games and Shanghai will host the World Expo in the year 2010. Shanghai is such an international city, so Shanghai has all kinds of conditions for this channel."

As a comprehensive channel, the ICS provides programming covering eight genres: news, information, sports, lifestyle, talk shows, fashion, entertainment, foreign TV shows and movies, which makes it quite different from the international channel of China’s central TV station, which is a news-oriented channel. Some shows like the "Mr. X," a man's fashion program, and "More than Jazz," a professional jazz music program have become forerunners in the domestic TV industry.

To attract more local audience, Li Yi said several measures have been taken.

"Currently what we've done is all the programs have to be subtitled in Chinese, so lots of Chinese audience can understand the programs. One more thing we have done is corner logo with Chinese and English to show what the program is about. Also we will do lots of promotion on Chinese printed media, just try to make sure all the audience in Shanghai know there is an English channel."

"The programs are easy to approach. They don't cater only to English-speaking people; those who don't understand English, like the elderly, can easily enjoy the programs, too. My family likes the imported reality shows very much: The language is simple and the plots are fun."

"Generally speaking, all the feedbacks are very positive. As far as I know the rating performance is quite good. They are encouraging for ICS. We have two third party companies. One is AC Nelson. The highest rating so far is one percent. Some TV shows for example the "Funniest Home Video", the "You Are the Chef", the "Live Songs", lots of reality TV shows imported from oversea media companies. Among those are best rated TV programs."

In addition to the launch of the International Channel Shanghai, the Arts Channel, which replaces the former Entertainment Arts Channel, began airing this year.

As China's first arts channel targeting a high-end market, the new channel features programs on classical music, folk culture, arts and Chinese opera. On the channel's opening day, the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year concert was broadcast live as a New Year's gift to Shanghai arts lovers.

The changes have reduced the entertainment content of the SMG's programming by two-thirds, but each individual channel has become more professional.

According to Li Ruigang, SMG's president, this is the new trend in the broadcast industry.

"According to our experiences, if a television channel's brand positioning is clear, it's more likely to succeed. Take our China Business News, on television and radio, and the Documentary Channel as examples. With the unique content and clear, precise positioning, they have proven quite successful, in terms of public praise and economic benefit."

"Before, several of our channels wasted resources producing similar entertainment programs, causing unforeseen competition. After the reform, the remaining one-third of entertainment programming is more concentrated and refined."

However, sacrificing two mature channels with steady advertisement incomes and viewership rates to release new, highbrow ones means the media group will lose advertising revenues of up to 100 million yuan.

SMG's counter-trend move has raised questions in the minds of many.

Li Ruigang gives his explanation.

"There's no denying that Chinese TV culture shows an increasing tendency toward vulgarity. Both the government's management and supervision and industry insiders should be blamed for the deterioration. It's time for us media people to stop the simple-minded emulation of our foreign counterparts and start creating a culture that nurtures us. SMG, as one leading media group, has taken the initiative. The new Arts Channel demonstrates our concerns toward art, culture and humanism."

Though the new channels currently suffer from a loss of audience and advertising income,  Li Ruigang believes it is only a matter of time before people's need for quality, culture-oriented TV programs increases. And SMG won't be alone for long, as more domestic media groups join in exploring a better future for the Chinese television industry.

The year of 2008 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the Chinese television industry.