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China Television Apple

Apple Told Some Apple TV+ Show Developers Not To Anger China (buzzfeednews.com) 78

An anonymous reader quotes BuzzFeed News: In early 2018 as development on Apple's slate of exclusive Apple TV+ programming was underway, the company's leadership gave guidance to the creators of some of those shows to avoid portraying China in a poor light, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Sources in position to know said the instruction was communicated by Eddy Cue, Apple's SVP of internet software and services, and Morgan Wandell, its head of international content development. It was part of Apple's ongoing efforts to remain in China's good graces after a 2016 incident in which Beijing shut down Apple's iBooks Store and iTunes Movies six months after they debuted in the country.

A spokesperson for Apple declined comment.

Apple's tip toeing around the Chinese government isn't unusual in Hollywood. It's an accepted practice. "They all do it," one showrunner who was not affiliated with Apple told BuzzFeed News. "They have to if they want to play in that market. And they all want to play in that market. Who wouldn't?"

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Apple Told Some Apple TV+ Show Developers Not To Anger China

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  • by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @06:40PM (#59301220)
    Let me be the first to say Fuck Apple, Fuck China, and Fuck Hollywood
    • CHILDHOOD IN CHINA: https://m.wsj.net/video/20190919/091919aischool/hls/464k/464k.m3u8 [wsj.net]

      [Requires a media player such as VLC which can glob together an M3U8 stream from the constituent TS files.]
      • What page did you get it from? I want to see if I can youtube-dl it :p

        • Hit Ctrl-N in VLC, and paste that URL.

          Then change from "Play" to "Convert", and save the stream to your harddrive.

          Personally, I like to create a custom Profile which simply uses the original video & original audio encodings [with no remixing to different codecs], and I use ".ts" as the file ending.
          • Ugh so bad.

            Saving the raw stream didn't work, and converting to a video file not only never stops (it just keeps trying to save the file over itself) but it also pops up a window and steals focus.

            This is why I never want to use VLC to do anything but play a video. Even the things it does correctly, it makes annoying. I literally had to bring up task manager and kill it because it wouldn't take no for an answer. Tell it to overwrite and it happily starts all over. Tell it no and... it just tries again.

            • by poity ( 465672 )

              M3U8X will glue all the pieces together without converting. Clunky but works.

            •     Use ffmpeg to capture your screen, then you can edit it with kdenlive

                  I have a script on my laptop if used..

                  ffmpeg -f x11grab -s wxga -r 25 -i :0.0 -qscale 0 mycapture.mpg

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by antdude ( 79039 )

      So, fuck everything? :P

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      And fuck Capitalism, presumably. After all that's what this is really about: Profit.

      China is a vast and rapidly growing market. It's going to become the largest in the world soon. Apple and all the other companies have a responsibility to their shareholders to keep China happy.

      • Money before ethics. It's been apples moto since it was formed.
      • They also have an obligation to their stakeholders to uphold democracy, liberalism (both kinds), and all the other Age of Reason ideals that make their existence possible.

        Shareholder Capitalism is a very recent development, and an aberrant one at that. Want to know what real Capitalism was, the kind that caused Western civilization to grow out of barbarism? Look at how it used to operate before the 1970's.

    • Agree to the Nth degree.

      Greed has overtaken humanity and it's disgusting

  • by Dallas May ( 4891515 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @06:50PM (#59301238)

    I can't believe that this for-profit mega-international company, that is 99% owned by the same billionaires that own literally every thing else, has proven itself to have no better corporate ethics than all the other for-profit mega-international companies that are 99% owned by the same billionaires.

    • Even the blindest apple worshippers would have a hard time proclaiming that apple should just buy China
      • The answer is in TFS.

        Appleâ(TM)s Directive to their TV producers is apparentlyde rigueur in Hollywood.

        So why does Apple have to be the only ones called-out about it on Slashdot? (Oh, I know this one!)

        When you are producing content that is to be shown in a particular market, you have to abide by the laws and rules of that market.

        China isnâ(TM)t exactly unique in that regard. There are plenty of things that Apple couldnâ(TM)t show, especially on TV, in the U.S., too. And they are piling more an

        • by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @09:26PM (#59301564)

          So why does Apple have to be the only ones called-out about it on Slashdot?

          No one is claiming Apple is alone here, but the fact that everyone else does it too doesn't give Apple a free pass. And perhaps you've forgotten all those stories about Google and their China-friendly search engine? As for Hollywood... well, that's outside of what Slashdot normally reports on (thank goodness).

          China isnâ(TM)t exactly unique in that regard. There are plenty of things that Apple couldnâ(TM)t show, especially on TV, in the U.S., too.

          Oh, please. The US and nearly every other country has restrictions on what can be broadcast over the air, typically adjusted for sensitivities to cultural norms. That's hardly the same as what China has been doing, which is literally blackmailing companies who choose to air any unfavorable content, even outside their jurisdiction, by punitive measures on other aspects of their business in China.

          Any Hollywood studio that make a movie critical of China would likely find themselves with no access to the Chinese market for years in direct retaliation. The Chinese government has even designated specific actors "persona non-grata" if dare say anything unfavorable, like supporting the Hong Kong "riots", or wishing for a "Free Tibet". BTW, notice how Hollywood has quietly dropped that little crusade?

          To be fair to Apple and Hollywood, China is certainly placing them in a no-win situation. Apple, with it's enormous ties to China, is in an even trickier position than most other companies. Hollywood can only be denied a market, while Apple could lose access to their factories and manufacturing capabilities. But then again, one could argue that this is the bed they made many years ago when choosing to do business with a totalitarian state for the sake of cheap labor.

          • by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

            No matter how good you may think you are at playing the long game, China is always going to be better. It's how they survived the rise and fall of mercantile colonialism, allowing to to more or less pass through them and run its course rather than trying to suppress it. Y'all are fighting over here, they're digging a trench over there.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Ah, but they aren't all the same, are they? Look at Google. Thought about going in to China a few times but always decided not to in the end, on ethical grounds. Sure they could have made vast amounts of money and got one step closer to their ultimate goal of world domination, but they didn't.

      So don't excuse what Apple is doing by saying everyone does it, because everyone doesn't do it.

  • apple has no backbone.
  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Saturday October 12, 2019 @07:15PM (#59301294)

    ...not even Winnie-the-Pooh.

  • Strategy refinement (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Empiric ( 675968 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @07:20PM (#59301312)

    Soviet Union: "They will sell us the rope we will hang them with."

    China: "We will sell them the rope we will hang them with."

    So far, Soviet Union 0, China 1.

    • To be fair, we've put the rope around our own necks, and Russia's been doing a pretty good job of tugging on it of late. Oh look! I have a notification!

  • Who wouldn't? The people who are not treasonous to liberal democratic political philosophy, that's who.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Chromal ( 56550 )
      As an addendum, when exactly did the Apple that aired the 1984 Macintosh Computer TV advert ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] ) stop fighting for the colorful girl with the hammer and start fighting for the authorities implementing Orwellian dystopia? Was it when John Sculley took over? Was it when Steve Jobs died? What's "Insanely Great" about supporting oppressive regimes?
      • It was when they brought Steve Jobs back. Apple supporting the Orwellian isnt a new thing, at all. It was in full force even before the iPod.
        • by Chromal ( 56550 )
          Oh, that's new. So what Orwellian stuff did Jobs promote? Moving MacOS to a BSD-based kernel?
          • Becoming 100% dependent on China for their manufacturing, despite having such a huge profit margin that they could afford manufacturing literally anywhere else and still have turned out the most profitable electronics manufacturer in the world all the same.

            • by Chromal ( 56550 )
              The problem isn't necessarily just that they outsourced their manufacturing, but more pointedly that they failed to require US standards for worker rights/protections/compensation and environmental protections. But to sociopathically follow the sole interests of money is part of the base nature of Capitalism to exploit and enslave and extract value from lives, is it not? And all this was permitted by US Congress, was it not? None of this excuses Apple, but all of it describes systemic failures, corruption,
  • It will make torrenting their crappy shows all the sweeter.

  • by AHuxley ( 892839 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @08:07PM (#59301388) Journal
    censorship by a US brand to support a Communist government.

    What are approved plots?
    All content need to show Communism in a good light.
    A persons Social Credit going up after reporting someone?
    • They are not supporting a communist government. They are supporting their own business interests. Incidentally, those involve dealing with a communist government but believe me, they couldn't care less which political color they deal with, as long as money keeps flowing.

      • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        Again how will movies, drama and US content show Communist China in a "good light"? Or a not "poor light"?
        No talk of freedom? Taiwan? Cartoon bears? Tibet? Dont mention the famine?
        That would be the "poor light" plots that are not allowed by the Communists.

        So what is good content for Communists doing art in the USA to make for China?
        How the social credit score helped a US company find only good workers?
        • Again how will movies, drama and US content show Communist China in a "good light"?
          Or a not "poor light"?

          Rush Hour :) (the movies)

    • A persons Social Credit going up after reporting someone?

      I think a certain Black Mirror episode might not be allowed in China.... They portrayed a social credit system in a NEGATIVE WAY?!?!??!?! HOW DARE THEY CRITICIZE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT DEAR LEADER CAME UP WITH?!

      • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        The system used has to reward people for reporting other people. Thats the plus under the Communist system.
        The bad part is once reported its kept opaque as to ever work off, reset, remove the negative result of that reporting.
        It ends up like a North Korean Songbun report down generations and decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
        • The system used has to reward people for reporting other people. Thats the plus under the Communist system.

          Reminds me when California apparently had an app you were encouraged to use to report your neighbors for wasting water. (I'm not saying California = communist, just randomly remembered that) I wonder what ever happened to that..... but not enough to bother looking it up.

  • Can you tell me who isnâ(TM)t tiptoeing or sucking Chinaâ(TM)s hairy tiny balls? Netflix? Amazon Video?
  • to let corporations be the ones who decide on free speech limitations.
  • careful, Apple (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Saturday October 12, 2019 @09:02PM (#59301494)
    Dear Apple, you need to be consistent. If you're going to stand up to Uncle Sam (on stuff like phone cracking) you need to stand up to Uncle Xi as well (on stuff like freedom of content).

    If you wind up as a tool of Chinese censorship while simultaneously making like difficult for the CIA, it might not go so well for you..... in so many ways.
    • Uncle Sam will not crack down and remove them from the market, and Apple knows this. China will crack down and remove them from the market, and Apple knows this. What is missing is the courage to get kicked out of the market.

      • Uncle Sam will not crack down and remove them from the market, and Apple knows this.

        What Apple knows is their "tough stance on customer privacy" is legally defensible in the US. They stand up to the government because they can do so within the law. Trump might complain on Twitter about something they do or say, but that's about as far as it would go.

        If Congress were to pass a law requiring Apple and other companies to give the government full-time back-end access to UW citizen communications, I have no doubt Apple and the other companies would do so as soon as any court challenges played o

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You have misunderstood what is happening here. Apple is a Capitalist, it is doing what makes it the most money.

      In the US selling privacy is profitable. In China censoring content is profitable. Total consistency. Happy shareholders.

      • by poity ( 465672 )

        Government censorship does not represent market forces, which consists of the interaction between buyers and sellers. The greater the constraints on that buyer-seller interaction, whether through a censorious government (e.g. China) or through a censorious mob (e.g. religious right/PC left), the less market driven the system becomes, and the less capitalistic. Apple is a capitalist trying to get what it can in a strangled system.

  • Just another symptom of out-of-control capitalism.
    You can have capitalism and still have ethics and morals and respect the principles of the democratic republic that made your company possible. But we don't see much of that anymore, do we?
  • How would anyone know where this so-called the "red-line" of China that will basically "anger" the Chinese audiences actually drawn?
    I mean sooner or later even waving a non-China flag the Chinese audience will probably anger them

    Its not about "China limiting Creativity" anymore; China audience will just have to accept the world outside China; or they will have to learn this the hard way.

    • by ruddk ( 5153113 )

      Exactly, If everyone else is stupid then it probably isn't everyone else but yourself you have to look at.
      Last time I ran into a huge number of Chinese tourists, were out in the Valley of Fire, they were climbing all over the rock formations that had signs said "We want to preserve these formations for future generations, so please don't climb on them".

      But some of the blame has to be pointed at those that will do everything for a dollar. The fun part is that the hypocrisy of Hollywood finally are on full di

  • by ruddk ( 5153113 ) on Sunday October 13, 2019 @02:40AM (#59302078)

    Hey china. Go fuck yourself.

  • Perhaps shows by Hollywood that sell into China should carry disaimers: Warning, this movie is altered to be acceptable to a dictatorhip, and as such at least partially represents their viewpoint, and you have the right to know since foreign agents must notify.

    Movies have always done this -- an old Rambo changed its location and opponents in translation for sale in certain countries. But these things were always done only there, only in those countries. This modern evil is the companies are helping China

  • You can't force American values in other countries. You're there as guests.

1 1 was a race-horse, 2 2 was 1 2. When 1 1 1 1 race, 2 2 1 1 2.

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