As many weibo postings concluded, the SARFT requirements would have driven people from TV to the Internet and perhaps even to nowhere electronic. Internet TV is growing well but does not have the audience that conventional TV has.

Since advertising is one of the engines driving the domestic Chinese economy, if SARFT had reduced the number of TV viewers, especially the highly sought after younger demographic, there would have been two casualties.

First, the broadcast media would have been harmed because fewer viewers, and fewer desirable viewers in particular, would have resulted in less revenue for the channels. Second, and more importantly, there would have been fewer people receiving important information about goods and services they can purchase and that would have had a knock-on effect, lowering domestic consumption at the very time that the government seeks to increase it.

SARFT is right in trying to enhance the quality of Chinese TV programs. It is not in trying to do it in a way that would have stifled creativity. It is to be commended for withdrawing the ill-considered guidelines.

The author and broadcastor is a senior adviser to Tsinghua University and former director and vice-president of ABC Television in New York.

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