A few weeks ago I praised Shanghai’s laggard media for uncovering one of the biggest stories of the year, so it seems fitting that this week I take another look at our local media’s return to the spotlight for far less positive reasons.
For those who don’t follow the industry so closely, the rare moment of glory for Shanghai’s media I’m referring to came back in late July. That’s when undercover TV reporters from Shanghai Media Group (SMG) exposed that a range of unsavory practices at Husi Food, a US-owned meat supplier to such major global brands as McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), KFC (NYSE: YUM) and Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX). Read Full Post…
When the history books are written, “cybersecurity” will go down as one of the key buzzwords for Sino-US relations in 2014, following a nonstop war of accusations between Beijing and Washington. In the latest twist to this story, leading broadcaster CCTV is warning Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) fans to beware of security risks posed by data tracking functions on their iPhones. The implication seems to be that Apple is working closely with government spies in Washington to secretly collect data on the whereabouts of iPhone users throughout China. It’s not really clear why anyone would want such information, but that doesn’t seem to be important to CCTV. Read Full Post…
German luxury automaker BMW (Frankfurt: BMW) is in 2 sets of China headlines today, coming under a media attack for its high prices as it separately announced it will bring its electric vehicles (EVs) to the market. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might try to link these 2 pieces of news and say that BMW knew the media attack was coming, and made its EV announcement to try and deflect the negative publicity. But I really doubt these 2 pieces of news are related. Instead the new attack from leading broadcaster CCTV reflects one of the biggest and more unique dangers that major multinationals like BMW face in China. The EV announcement represents the kinds of counteroffensives such companies must launch to maintain a positive image. Read Full Post…
China’s online video sites, still reeling from a recent government crackdown on 4 of their most popular TV series, are gearing up for a second round of pain, with word that some of the nation’s top TV stations are launching a new assault on the group of media newcomers. The latest battle in this budding war between traditional and new media has big-name TV stalwarts like CCTV and Hunan Satellite Television reportedly preparing to stop allowing some of their most popular shows to be viewed over sites operated by major online operators like Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi. Read Full Post…
Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat has grown so quickly over the last 2 years that it was almost inevitable that the popular mobile messaging service would come under fire from China’s state-run media or Beijing regulators. The service briefly clashed with the telecoms regulator last year during a high-profile spat with leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), and now WeChat is coming under fire from leading broadcaster CCTV for becoming a hotbed for rumor mongering and fraudulent advertisements. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Hong Kong SFC Investigates Alibaba-ChinaVision (HKEx: 1060) Deal – Source (English article)
CCTV:WeChat Public Accounts Becoming Hotbed For Rumors, Fake Ads (Chinese article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
MIIT to Issue FDD-LTE Licenses on May 17 – Source (English article)
Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) Said To Take Steps To Open A China Sales Office (English article)
Home Inns (Nasdaq: HMIN) Reports Q1 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
Hunan Satellite TV, CCTV Fight Back Against Online Video Sites (Chinese article)
Where were you this past Saturday night? Most of us probably spent the evening having dinner out, or perhaps visiting friends. But for many of China’s tech executives, the date of March 15 has become for nervousness due to CCTV’s annual investigative reports broadcast that evening for Consumer Rights Day. The program often targets high-profile brands in its effort to uncover abusive business practices, and many of those names come from the tech sector. But this year’s program was a relative disappointment, with some observers cynically noting on their microblogs that CCTV seemed more interested in generating advertising revenue than protecting consumers. Read Full Post…
A yearlong explosion in new financial services from non-financial companies took a pause last week, when the central bank put the brakes on a plan by Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) to offer virtual credit cards in partnership with Citic Bank (HKEx: 998). The sudden rush into financial services by private firms has provided some much-needed competition for China’s stodgy traditional lenders, most of which are state-run banks noteworthy for their lack of innovation. Read Full Post…
Sales and marketing executives at China’s leading brands are almost certainly losing sleeping these last few nights, as they prepare for the Consumer Rights Day annual assault by state media each year on March 15. To their credit, Chinese media are usually relatively unbiased in choosing the subjects for their attacks, focusing on anyone with a big, recognizable brand name. But that often means the big multinational consumer brands are some of the easiest targets, since many are well known and highly respected by Chinese consumers. China executives from many of those companies will probably be spending this Saturdays in front of their TVs waiting to see if they’ve been targeted under a new attack this year. Read Full Post…
The worrisome “vampire” moniker heaped on Alibaba’sYu’ebao has died a quiet and appropriate death, with word that China’s top banker has no plans to kill the wildly popular investment product. The pronouncement from central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan caps a brief period of turbulence for Yu’ebao, beginning when an influential financial commentator branded the product a “vampire” nearly 2 weeks ago. That comment triggered a heated debate about new competition that private companies are suddenly posing for stodgier state-run banks, which until recently were the only low-risk option for most consumers to deposit their savings. But Zhou didn’t completely let Yu’ebao off the hook, adding that the fast-rising private banking sector needs to be more tightly regulated. Read Full Post…
