Comment: Is the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's restrictions on American TV series a big help for piracy?

From license plate restrictions to breast cutting, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has never stopped. On April Fools' Day, it issued an "ultimatum" to video websites: starting April 1, unregistered foreign films and TV series will be banned from broadcasting online.

In fact, as early as January this year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television’s “Notice on Carrying out the Registration of Information Related to Overseas Films and TV Series Online” was exposed, stipulating that imported dramas must be registered, and the proportion must not exceed 30% of the domestic dramas broadcast in the previous year. Although this proportion is not too low, it has also seriously damaged the vitality of video websites that mainly broadcast overseas dramas. For commercial purposes, video websites have been rushing to introduce popular sources such as American dramas, British dramas, Korean dramas, and Japanese dramas in the past few years. Not only have the copyright fees further increased, but viewers have also found that they are all following the same drama when they circulate on major video websites. Alas.

If this is still considered a "minor test", then the "major test" is "review before broadcast". Video websites must wait until a season is finished, add subtitles and submit for review, and obtain a license before broadcasting. This means that watching TV series on video websites at the same time is a thing of the past. Take the rhythm of American TV series, for example, it takes at least 3 to 6 months to shoot a season, which means you have to wait until the daylily is cold.

Therefore, one netizen commented: "You can ban your broadcast, I will still download and watch it." This response reflects the current habit of most netizens to watch dramas, no longer relying solely on the resources of video websites. Once upon a time, video websites collected and distributed genuine dramas that could not be watched on TV, and diverted netizens who were accustomed to looking for pirated resources on BT sites to video websites, which was a heavy blow to the piracy industry chain.

Over the past few years, lawyers who used to make a living by handling video copyright lawsuits have almost no cases now, and the market share of piracy in China's Internet video field is almost negligible, leaving only a few small and scattered "Peach Blossom Springs". The supervision of video websites by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has made it more difficult for domestic audiences to watch foreign dramas, which is likely to become a god assist in the "hotbed" of piracy.

Of course, whether the supervision of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will be effective remains to be seen. Last year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television cracked down on Internet TV boxes, causing panic among the public. Users discovered that the Administration could not perfectly control the OTT boxes that had been sold before, and only reminded them that "the application you downloaded violated the rules" and they could continue to use it after selecting "OK".

If the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television can really control video websites perfectly, then will the resource sharing communities and forums inspired by the public protect themselves like Renren Films, or "let go" like Sagittarius Subtitles?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.