Foreign Media Ban Came Into Force In March 10Th, Foreign Fashion Magazines Feel Pressure.

Last weekend, China's Ministry of industry and information technology issued new regulations that stipulate that "Sino foreign joint ventures, Chinese foreign contractual joint ventures and foreign-funded enterprises should not engage in online content publishing business."

The ban will enter into force on March 10th, but no specific details are yet available and it is abroad.

And the actual impact of online media.

At present, most of the foreign fashion magazines include Hearst China, fashion group, modern communication and

The operation of the four major fashion media groups in China, with the declining influence of traditional print magazines, these fashion magazines rely more on online content businesses. The introduction of this regulation completely disrupts the pformation process of these fashion media, full of uncertainty.

Although some Chinese version of foreign news websites can not be accessed, some

And lifestyle magazines can still seek opportunities to collaborate with local publishing groups in content dissemination. The main current practice is that foreign publishing groups will authorize Chinese magazines to create local versions of China through joint ventures.

Citing JingDaily news, some fashion magazines believe that their business in China will not be affected.

The Chinese publishers of the times group, such as Yue you Travel+Leisure and golf Golf Magazine, said recently that their licensing agreements in China will not be affected by the new rules.

However, Hearst group, which owns Elle China, said it would bring uncertainty to fashion media magazines. Its CEO Duncan Edward said that the new regulations were rather frustrating. The company will further study how this will affect Hearst's fashion magazines.

Some fashion magazines have already felt the pressure.

As early as 2012, when New York Times life online version could not be accessed, it chose to launch its T magazine, which focuses on fashion style, as an alternative product in Chinese market.

The chairman of the publishing group emphasized that this platform focuses more on lifestyle rather than foreign policy or business.

Obviously, just seeing the name of New York Times is enough to let it enter an inaccessible list.

Although the scope of the new rules has been extended to video, e-books, Internet content, animation, games and so on, it is not clear that for foreign companies, such as apple or Microsoft Corp, all web content platforms, such as Apple Corp's Chinese

What do these Provisions mean?

Some analysts have pointed out that, on the technical level, foreign media will not be totally banned, because the new law allows foreign companies and Chinese enterprises to publish content in the form of cooperative projects, provided that their news, publications, audio, film and TV plays can be approved by the state Publishing Bureau.

However, the wording of the provision is equivocal and does not explain in detail the nature of the "project" and the way it is assessed.

According to a recent article by TechCrunch, the new regulation may not have a significant impact on the progress of projects that have been working with Chinese companies.

In addition, it may provide broader development space for digital media companies, clear the legal channels for market access, and find suitable domestic partners, but there is no doubt that, in any case, the content will face strict scrutiny mechanism.

In addition, industry analysts say that more than 95% of the foreign copyright fashion magazines have launched the WeChat public address. Under the new regulation of online publishing service management, the public numbers of these foreign fashion media will also face risks in WeChat, including the launch of the Chinese website and APP, because the new regulations define almost all the content of the Internet on the fashion media, including micro-blog, which is actually included.

As of press release, in addition to Hearst group's comments, three fashion media groups including modern communication group, fashion group and Kangtai Nash have not made public comments.