In the wake of cultural consumption, Asian television content and consumption have long
been subjected to Western influence. In recent decades, however, we have seen the trend of cul-
tural globalization being disrupted by the rise of regional television program exporters in Asia,
which includes television stations in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The regional flow of televised
content along with its consumption also gives rise to emerging culture imaginaries in East
Asia. Based on existing studies, in this chapter I identify three trajectories that have gradually
emerged side-by-side with the globalization of TV programs in Asia: (1) local program modi-
fication or cloning, (2) transnational content transfer, and (3) bordercrossing televised content
among Asian countries.
This chapter begins by defining the concepts of this inter-Asia cultural flow of TV programs,
followed by empirical examples of how these phenomena have taken place among East Asia
countries and regions, such as between China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Finally,
I examine how China domesticates American TV dramas to suit the tastes of its local audience
and the state government, while at the same time approaching a hegemonic and hybridized
modernity.
After decades of television studies in the literature during its heydays—which typically look at
television text, audience, organizational structure, ownership, programming, and production—in
recent years, there has been a rejuvenation of them (e.g. Gray and Lotz 2011; Butler 2011; Miller
2010; Casey et al. 2007). Graeme Turner and Tinna Jay proposed the concept of “Television
Studies after TV” in 2009. Although they did not draw any definite conclusion for the “after TV”
phenomenon, the book pointed to some rather unexplored and new directions of television
studies, which include media globalization, new television production, commercial exchange
of TV format, rules and regulations of new television technology, and the structure of localized
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
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