Television stations won’t be allowed to broadcast shopping programs for more than five hours a day on non-shopping channels, starting January 10, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) announced.
The effort is to crack down on deceptive and fraudulent television advertisements.
A notice by the administration says certified TV operators can start operating a shopping channel from their existing ones, or broadcast shopping programs for less than five hours in non-prime time.
Shopping channels that are broadcast nationwide should have at least 100 million yuan ($14 million) in capital, and those that are broadcast only within a single province should have at least 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) in capital.
Miao Di, a professor at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times that the new regulation is aimed at curbing rampant fraud in TV shopping programs seen in the past two years.
Taiwanese host Hou Xingzu had ignited a controversy by selling diamonds that he said were worth almost 1,000 yuan ($146), but some Internet users claimed the diamonds were only worth a few yuan.
313tz.net, an online complaint site run by the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, received 637 complaints related to TV shopping in October, three times more than the same time last year.
“The rise is associated with the new regulation; as the deadline approaches, some operators take a risk to rake in more money,” the website said.
The website said the products, mainly ranging from 500 ($73) to 1,000 yuan, have deceived consumers as being alleged “high-end products with a low price,” such as a 799- yuan ($117) laptop or mobile phone offering free calls.
The notice also asked infomercials to sell only genuine products and avoid fake and exaggerated promotions.
A label of “shopping” should also be on the screen during the broadcast of infomercials.
Many broadcasters are running shopping channels without permission.
At present, only 10 were approved by SARFT among more than 100 TV shopping agencies, according to China Business News.
“I doubt the new rules will help television stations rather than hinder them because they only eye short-term gains and ignore long-term development,” Miao said.
Many infomercial companies reported deficits, and some even went bankrupt after SARFT began regulating the market in September.
Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily reported earlier that a TV shopping channel named Guxi went broken because of the regulation, and the company owed suppliers ranging from 50,000 yuan ($7,321) to 5 million yuan ($732,176).