A Research On China's TV And Radio Regulation

Radio and TV industry is a special industry, how to effectively regulate it has been important contents of economics, Journalism, political, sociology. Public interest regulation theory holds that the existence of widespread market failure is the main course of government's intervention in economic operations and implementation of the regulation. Radio and television industry is an industry which has clear market failure features, because it has political and economic attributes, public goods attributes, externalities and network economy attributes. So radio and TV industry had been a regulated industry for a long time. However, interest group regulation theory demonstrates that government's regulation doesn't always promote public interests. Competitive markets theory presents that market failure can't provide adequate reasons for the government to intervene in the economy. Interest group regulation theory and competitive market theory directly led to the implementing of deregulation policy to traditional regulation industry in western countries, these industries include radio and TV industry.After the founding of New China, our country established a fully public radio and TV system. This system paid too much attention to the political nature of radio and TV but ignored its economic attributes. The awareness of the economic attributes of radio and TV started after reform and opening policy especially China established to build socialist market economic institution. Overall, there are both excessive regulations and inadequate regulation in China's radio and television industry. In the backgrounds of mixed bureau and station of radio and TV and too strong administrative forces, there will not be full vitality of radio and TV and it can't adapt to the competition after the entrance of WTO. So, it is of great importance for the development of radio and TV industry to make reasonable radio and TV development policy and reform the regulation institution of radio and TV.In China's radio and television industry development level, China should choose the path of deregulation and re-regulation in the light of the actual conditions. In problem of choosing radio and TV institution, economics path dependence theory tells us that current radio and TV regulation institution have a important role in the reform of radio and TV regulation and China's radio and TV regulation institution is similar to the state of England in the period of deregulation, so England's public and commerce radio and TV institution may suitable to China. In this base, China should change radio and TV agencies' current status, establish their corporate legal person status and relax radio and TV property rights regulation in order to form a pattern of effective competition and cultivate competitive radio and TV entities. As to the regulation means, China should construct radio and TV regulation law framework and use the legal regulation as the cornerstone. As to the setting up of the radio and TV regulation agency, China should separate the radio and TV bureau and station, government's radio and television authorities should change from present both referee and athletes into the purely regulator; reference to the western countries' regulation agency design, China can establish independent regulation which regulate radio and TV independently, justly and honestly; as an important social forces, the third sector can play it's information communication, Coordination and integration function and to be important regulation agency outside the government. At the same time, as an important transaction saving mechanism, informal institution could play it's active role in the radio and TV regulation in order to construction an radio and TV regulation institution in which formal and informal institution interact benignly.