Challenging assumptions that have underpinned critiques of globalization and combining cultural theory with media-industry analysis, this book gives an account of the evolution of television in the post-broadcasting era, and of how programming ideas are creatively redeveloped and franchised in East Asia. In this study of television-program adaptation across cultures, the authors argue that adaptation, transfer, and recycling of content are multiplying to the point of marginalizing other economic and cultural practices. This is happening in television, but also in many other media and related a ... More

Challenging assumptions that have underpinned critiques of globalization and combining cultural theory with media-industry analysis, this book gives an account of the evolution of television in the post-broadcasting era, and of how programming ideas are creatively redeveloped and franchised in East Asia. In this study of television-program adaptation across cultures, the authors argue that adaptation, transfer, and recycling of content are multiplying to the point of marginalizing other economic and cultural practices. This is happening in television, but also in many other media and related areas of cultural production. Looking at China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, the study details practices that are variously referred to as formatting, franchising, imitation, adaptation, hybridity, bricolage, and even emulation. The authors show that significant re-modelling of local TV-production practices occur when adaptation is genuinely responsive to local values. Examples of East Asian format adaptations include Survivor, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, The Weakest Link, Coronation Street, and Idol. The book offers alternatives models of media flow that demonstrate how Hollywood is losing its global grip. It deals with the history of the TV-format trade, a movement that has coincided with the rise of alternative centres of television production and distribution outside the US.