The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Central Propaganda Department of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterprises engaged in the

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

industries. Its current director is

Cao Shumin Cao Shumin (; born July 1966) is a Chinese politician, who is currently serving as the director of the National Radio and Television Administration. She also served as the deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, from 2021 to 2023. ...

. It directly controls state-owned enterprises at the national level such as

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

China National Radio China National Radio (CNR; ) is the national radio network of China, headquartered in Beijing. CNR forms the national radio service of the state-owned China Media Group (also known as the "Voice of China"). History The infrastructure began wi ...

, and

China Radio International China Radio International (CRI) is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of China. It is currently headquartered in Babaoshan, Shijingshan, Beijing. It was founded on December 3, 1941, as Radio Peking. It later adopted the pinyin fo ...

, as well as other movie and television studios and other non-business organizations. The administration was formerly known as the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) from 2013 to 2018, and the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) from 1998 to 2013.

History

In 1986 the Ministry of Culture Film Bureau and the Ministry of Radio and Television merged to form the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television (MRFT). On 25 June 1998 the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television reorganized as the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. In 1998, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) began the Connecting Every Village with Radio and TV Project, which extended radio and television broadcasting to every village in China. Then successful implementation of this project subsequently influenced the

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is the sixth-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireles ...

's Connecting Every Village Project, which developed telecommunications and internet infrastructure in rural China. In March 2013 the State Council announced plans to merge State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television with the

General Administration of Press and Publication A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online ...

to form the State Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film, and Television. In March 2018, the SAPPRFT was abolished and its functions of the movie, press and publication industry regulation were moved from the State Council to the CCP's Central Propaganda Department as part of the

deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions The deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Shēnhuà dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé, s=深化党和国家机构改革) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Peopl ...

. In July 2021, the NRTA entered into an agreement with Russia's

Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, often abbreviated as ''Minkomsvyaz'', is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for telecommunications, media and the post. History The Mi ...

to cooperate on news coverage and media narratives. In June 2022, the NRTA and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a code of conduct for online hosts of live streams and podcasts banning any content that "weakens, distorts, or denies the leadership of the CCP."

Technical details

In its role of providing the physical infrastructure for broadcasting the NRTA plays a similar role in China as

TDF Group TDF (which stands for ''Télédiffusion de France'' officially renamed ''TDF'' in 2004) is a French company which provides radio and television transmission services, services for telecommunications operators, and other multimedia services � ...

plays in France, or

Crown Castle Crown Castle Inc. is a real estate investment trust and provider of shared communications infrastructure in the United States headquartered in Houston, Texas. Operating with 100 offices worldwide, its network includes over 40,000 cell towers and ...

plays in the US or Australia. It owns and operates, as well as manages many thousands of MW, FM, TV and Shortwave relay transmitters in China (as well as those leased abroad for external broadcasting).

CMMB deployment

China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) is a mobile television and multimedia standard developed and specified in China by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT). It is based on the Satellite and Terrestrial Interact ...

(CMMB) is a mobile television and multimedia standard developed and specified in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT). It is based on the Satellite and Terrestrial Interactive Multiservice Infrastructure (STiMi), developed by TiMiTech, a company formed by the Chinese Academy of Broadcasting Science. Announced in October 2006, it has been described as being similar to Europe's DVB-SH standard for digital video broadcast from both

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s and terrestrial 'gap fillers' to handheld devices. It specifies usage of the 2.6 GHz frequency band and occupies 25 MHz bandwidth within which it provides 25 video and 30 radio channels with some additional data channels. Multiple companies have chips that support CMMB standard - Innofidei who was the first with a solution March 28, 2007, Siano Mobile Silicon(with the SMS118x chip family, which support diversity and have superb performance) and more.

Role in regulating film, television, and internet content

The NRTA issues mandatory guidelines for media content. In 2011 and 2012 (when still SARFT) it limited the number of

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

programs and of historical dramas expressing particular disapproval of programs with a plot twist that involved

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

back to a Chinese historical era. This decree resulted in cancellation of a number of planned films with historical drama plots. It issued a directive on 30 March 2009 to highlight 31 categories of content prohibited online, including

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, content which may "incite ethnic discrimination or undermine social stability". Some industry observers believe that the move was designed to stop the spread of parodies or other comments on politically sensitive issues in the runup to the anniversary of the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

. It issued a directive named " SAPPRFT's Opinions On Strengthening The Programme Management of Satellite Television Channels" in 2011, aiming at over-turning the over-emphasis on purely entertainment programmes in the satellite television channels in China. In September 2021, the NRTA prohibited broadcasters from displaying what it termed " sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics."

References

External links