That has become a pattern. As talent competitions became more staid, producers turned their attention to dating shows, churning out programmes that encouraged bitchiness. Last summer one stepped over the line. A contestant on "If You Are the One declared that she would rather cry in a BMW than smile on the back of a boyfriends bicycle. The host was promptly replaced by a psychology professor, but it was too late. SARFT has promulgated rules banning lewd comments and other moral provocations Why are these troublesome, populist broadcasters allowed to operate at all? Because the Chinese government wants people to watch television. The living-room set is a crucial conduit between the state and the masses However ribald their programming at other times, at seven o' clock in the evening almost all channels carry CCtV' s starchy news broadcast, in which unsmiling anchors relay the latest utterances from party officials. If television becomes too dull, that show would lose its audience. After al many Chinese can go elsewhere for entertainment. Data from the Chinese Marketing and Media Study suggest that the internet accounts for 33% of all media use among 18-to 34-year-olds in Shanghai compared with just 28% for television. Shanghai is an unusually forward-looking city, and people tend to underestimate their television watching. But internet video is undoubtably bigger in China than elsewhere. Victor Koo, chief executive of Youku, a video portal, says the average user spends an hour each day on his website. In contrast, people spend less than ten minutes each day on the America-based You Tube Some Chinese use online video as a way of catching up on programmes that they missed (very few have digital video recorders). But many use it to gorge on pirated Hollywood shows. Subtitled versions of programmes like Gossip girl" circulate in China just a few hours after they are broadcast in America. So widespread is pirated television that it has created stars. Wentworth miller who is best-known for his role in the Fox television show "Prison break, is mobbed when he visits china,, and is the face of General Motors in the country. Yet Prison Break" is not shown on any Chinese television network. Broadcasters are thus caught between the state and the market, between conformity and populism. Both of their audiences are fickle: regulators clamp down on shows with little warning, whereas viewers are liable to switch off and watch pirated videos online or on DVD. Yet in some ways the business is settling down. Searching for the X factorThat has become a pattern. As talent competitions became more staid, producers turned their attention to dating shows, churning out programmes that encouraged bitchiness. Last summer one stepped over the line. A contestant on “If You Are the One” declared that she would rather cry in a BMW than smile on the back of a boyfriend’s bicycle. The host was promptly replaced by a psychology professor, but it was too late. SARFT has promulgated rules banning lewd comments and other moral provocations. Why are these troublesome, populist broadcasters allowed to operate at all? Because the Chinese government wants people to watch television. The living-room set is a crucial conduit between the state and the masses. However ribald their programming at other times, at seven o’clock in the evening almost all channels carry CCTV’s starchy news broadcast, in which unsmiling anchors relay the latest utterances from party officials. If television becomes too dull, that show would lose its audience. After all, many Chinese can go elsewhere for entertainment. Data from the Chinese Marketing and Media Study suggest that the internet accounts for 33% of all media use among 18- to 34-year-olds in Shanghai, compared with just 28% for television. Shanghai is an unusually forward-looking city, and people tend to underestimate their television watching. But internet video is undoubtably bigger in China than elsewhere. Victor Koo, chief executive of Youku, a video portal, says the average user spends an hour each day on his website. In contrast, people spend less than ten minutes each day on the America-based YouTube. Some Chinese use online video as a way of catching up on programmes that they missed (very few have digital video recorders). But many use it to gorge on pirated Hollywood shows. Subtitled versions of programmes like “Gossip Girl” circulate in China just a few hours after they are broadcast in America. So widespread is pirated television that it has created stars. Wentworth Miller, who is best-known for his role in the Fox television show “Prison Break”, is mobbed when he visits China, and is the face of General Motors in the country. Yet “Prison Break” is not shown on any Chinese television network. Broadcasters are thus caught between the state and the market, between conformity and populism. Both of their audiences are fickle: regulators clamp down on shows with little warning, whereas viewers are liable to switch off and watch pirated videos online or on DVD. Yet in some ways the business is settling down. Searching for the X factor