The Political Economy of Provincial TV Stations in China

My master thesis aims to examine how a Chinese political economy context has shaped the media landscape in China, especially in the domain of provincial television. The key issues are: 1) what the role of private profit accumulation is for provincial TV stations in China; 2) Whom the ownership of provincial TV stations in China belongs to; 3) how global capitalism influence provincial TV stations today; 4) how government regulation influence provincial TV stations today. Theoretically, we follow a political economy framework developed by Wasko (1994), Meehan (2005), and Mosco (2009) and relate western theories to a Chinese social context, by referring to a range of academic works focusing on the Chinese media and a political economy context in China (e.g. Bai, 2005; Zhao, 2008). Based on a case study of Hunan provincial satellite television (Hunan PSTV), the results show that: 1) advertising is the main contributor to the total income of provincial TV stations; 2) provincial TV stations are state-owned according to the party-state’s definition, but they have started to gain some capitalistic characteristics as they are increasingly driven by audience-rating and advertising revenue; 3) party-state can support the commercialization of provincial TV stations by taking a series of reforms, and at the same time, it can readily suppress the development of provincial TV stations, by issuing legal decrees