Broadcast Regulator to Tighten Oversight of Internet TV Programming

China’s top broadcast regulator is tightening oversight of Internet TV as the format gains popularity, in what analysts see as the latest step for greater control of online media.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has instructed Internet TV providers to remove any foreign television shows, “microfilms” and online-only programming they are not authorized to broadcast, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday. The state regulator has given Internet TV providers until Monday to comply or face having their licenses revoked, the news magazine Caixin reported on Thursday. Internet TV providers must hold two licenses issued by the regulator in order to operate: an integrated broadcasting license and a content service license.

Officials for the state regulator have held two meetings with representatives of the country’s seven major Internet TV providers over the past two weeks to discuss the instructions, Zhang Yanxiang, chief executive of the Internet TV information website LMTW.com, said in an interview.

Mr. Zhang said that this means that Internet TV providers will not be able to pass on content from the popular streaming websites Sohu TV and Youku, because those websites do not have a license to broadcast their programs on television screens. It also means that people who purchased set-top boxes in order to watch Sohu TV exclusives such as the American series “House of Cards” on their televisions would be out of luck.

For Chinese consumers, the growth of the online video industry in recent years has made available a far wider selection of domestic and foreign programming. American shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and British shows like “Sherlock” have gained avid followings among Chinese viewers, attracted both by their content and on-demand nature.

LeTV, a popular Chinese online video streaming website, introduced its first set-top box in 2010 and gives subscribers access to all of the website’s licensed content, which includes foreign television series like “Homeland” and “Community.” The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which is preparing for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, has its own Internet television set-top box and recently announced a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment to stream popular shows like “Mad Men.”

One concern of government regulators is “information security,” Mr. Zhang said. Connecting televisions to the Internet, he said, can allow unsanctioned material to be seen on television screens and provide new opportunities for hackers to communicate their messages directly to viewers.

“Especially in China, television has the ability to win public trust,” Mr. Zhang said. “It’s not like a personal computer. If you see some news about killings or arson on a computer, you can say ‘Oh, it’s just a rumor.’ But if it’s on TV, then ordinary folks would think it must be true.”

Most online TV providers in China have been skirting regulations and streaming content directly from the Internet, Caixin reported earlier this year. It said that the state regulator held an industry meeting in December with a focus on strengthening oversight of the market.

The makers of so-called over-the-top set-top boxes, which deliver programming from third parties, have been featuring content that has not been approved for broadcast for some time now, and increased oversight would have come sooner or later, Mr. Zhang said. He added that the government’s two recent meetings with Internet TV providers represented more of an effort to enforce existing regulations rather than create new initiatives.

The government is also moving to close the regulatory gap that now exists for online video, with industry sources predicting new rules to tighten control of the online video industry to come this year.

News of the content removal order was met with largely unfavorable reviews online.