China warms up to big tech but stays cool on Hollywood

While Streamlined doesn’t want to focus too much on any one market, there are several questions swirling around China that impact the global content industries and would be good to address before Cannes gets underway. This week’s edition of Streamlined will touch on two of these issues – Beijing’s clampdown on Big Tech and Hollywood films in China – as they’ve been in the news this week. Next week’s edition will look at the participation of Chinese films at international film festivals and the Chinese industry presence in Cannes.

Another burning question – what is China’s zero-Covid exit strategy – was definitively answered by Chinese president Xi Jinping yesterday. There is no exit strategy. China is doubling down on zero-Covid, which for people in some parts of China means severe lockdowns, daily PCR testing and restrictions on movement. For the rest of the world, this means several months of economic and global supply chain disruptions. Nothing is likely to change until the National…