08 June 2006

China TV producer takes gamble buying "Apprentice"
By Lindsay Beck
Reuters News
(c) 2006 Reuters Limited

BEIJING, June 8 (Reuters) - When producer Ruan Hao set out to make a Chinese version of a hit American television show, he did something that set him apart from his peers: he bought the rights.

Chinese audiences are already privy to "Win in China" and "Wise Man Takes All", reality shows similar to the U.S. hit "The Apprentice" starring tycoon Donald Trump.

But Ruan's Beijing Golden Sea Film & TV Production Company will soon be producing the official version with the blessing of Mark Burnett, the godfather of U.S. reality TV who was behind hits like "Survivor" as well as "The Apprentice".

That makes Ruan a rarity in a country where rampant piracy of everything from handbags to software has made a mockery of intellectual property rights, an issue that topped the agenda of visiting EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson this week.

"If someone else has thought of something that you didn't, it's a matter of respect," the soft-spoken producer told Reuters over the clatter of a Beijing cafe.

It's also a matter of money -- U.S. software and entertainment firms say piracy costs them $2.5 billion a year.

But in China's market, buying the rights is a gamble.

Ruan won't divulge how much he paid for "The Apprentice" and he's not even sure he can make any money.

China offers a potentially huge audience but its many broadcasters also have near-monopolies in most areas, so little television programming gets national distribution in the fragmented market.

IDOLS AND SUPERGIRLS

The benchmark for success is "Supergirl", a Chinese version of "American Idol" that amassed more than 400 million viewers for its final round and put its producer, central China's Hunan Satellite TV, on the map.

Analysts say that despite the hurdles, the official "Apprentice" just might succeed, and moreover that Ruan's purchase of the rights is a landmark in the piracy wars that U.S. and European entertainment companies will be watching.

"The demand for reality-driven entertainment based on U.S. formats is significant," said Vivek Couto, executive director of Media Partners Asia.

"If he's got Burnett behind him and if he's got a whole infrastructure behind him ... even though CCTV has more scale and has a national reach, he could do really well," said Vivek Couto, an analyst at Media Partners Asia. He was referring to state-run China Central Television (CCTV).

Cash cow or not, Ruan is betting on "The Apprentice" to help him raise standards of his future ventures, hoping that will make them shine in a market where the production quality of most local shows is relatively low.

"You finish watching a show and you think it's pretty easy to do yourself," Ruan said. "But the important thing is, you pay this money and they open their production. You need to study these things and you can learn the production values."

Even knock-off versions of hit American shows aren't guaranteed success.

In 2003, Beijing Television launched "Pink Ladies", China's answer to "Sex and the City", but it was panned by critics and viewers as being prudish and dull compared to the U.S. version.