Television Across Asia: TV Industries, Programme Formats and Globalisation

Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia #1

by Albert Moran (Editor), Michael Keane

This book explores the trade in television program formats, which is a crucially important ingredient in the globalisation of culture, in Asia. It examines how much traffic there is in program formats, the principal direction of flow of such traffic, and the economic and cultural significance of this trade for the territories involved, and for the region as a whole. It shows how new technology, deregulation, privatisation and economic recession have greatly intensified competition between broadcasters in Asia, as in other parts of the world, and discusses how this in turn has multiplied the incidence of television format remakes, with some countries developing dedicated format companies, and others becoming net importers and adapters of formats.

234 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2001

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers a wide range of Asian countries and summarizes the importing or exporting history of foreign shows. The connecting thread of the book are TV "formats." The easiest example of a show format would be Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a show that is shown world wide, with similar sets, lighting, and all with only minor details from country to country. The problem is that not all countries have a clear connection to formats. For example, the chapter on Indian television, the author talks about how India usually does not use formats, but instead takes ideas from foreign shows and say that it is "inspired by."

The chapters about Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan are great for any fan of Asian dramas. The focus might not be on Asian dramas, but give interesting information about how television shows get made. The later chapters tend to become repetitive. And the New Zealand chapter seems that it may have faulty information. The book talks about the show Pop Idol, but that is an English show that was inspired by the New Zealand show Popstars. Perhaps I misread the article, or the author was just poor in clearly saying how Pop Idol was considered an exported show from New Zealand.

With any book of essays, some are much better than others. But the I enjoyed a few of the articles and found them very interesting. For that alone it was worth buying the book in paperback.