They are probably paying a billion and a half a year to get to broadcast to us. They will spend another 400 million to hire the best and brightest admen and marketers and propagandists. In a year or two the channel will not look Chinese, will not sound Chinese, will be as slick and polished as any of our nets.
There will be enough Chinese on screen and enough features of China, for sure, but the guys directing the overall nonpolitical content will be Americans.
When Nikon, Toyota, Hundai, Mitsubishi and Nippon want to sell goods here, they hire American marketing and advertising firms who really do understand us, who conduct focus groups and surveys, who know how to sell to us. They do not show Japanese actors showing off their Sentras and Kubota tractors, and I expect the Chinese to do the same with the flow of data to us.
First of all, the Japanese aren't the Chinese. Far from it. And, most importantly, this is not some 60 second commercial. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was completely out of the ordinary as far as a commercial success for anything over 60 seconds. The rest of the films from Asia that have been successful have been, for the most part, laughed at or had cult martial arts followings -- nothing deeper.
And the Chinese are a long way from even that. They'll be seen for what they are really quickly with their state-run news. Again, that's JMO. I don't see a boogey man here. I see a joke -- and the best way to defeat something is to riducule it.