CCTV blocked from Taiwan unless China airs Taiwanese news

CCTV programming is pretty hit-and-miss. For every decent food-quality exposé or Spring Festival Gala, there is a pile of shoddy propaganda and the occasional anchor who calls foreign reporters "bitches." The media behemoth is now looking to expand into Taiwan, but local authorities have given a strict requirement: CCTV can be aired in the country, sorry, province, sorry, island only if Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) is allowed to air freely in China.

"Air freely" is a pretty tough sell to Chinese authorities, and CCTV-style censored stories don't exactly resonate with the Taiwanese, as South China Morning Post reports:

"If the mainland grants our television channels landing rights, then yes, we have basis for discussion but if the other side does not allow us landing rights, then unfortunately, we have no basis for discussion," Lung [Taiwanese Culture Minister] said on the sidelines of a Legislative Yuan committee hearing on Monday.

The minister's comments came just a day after former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman and current Kuomintang vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung suggested Taiwan offer TV viewers "more choice" by bringing in Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV and the mainland's state-run China Central Television (CCTV) satellite channels. [...]

Chiang's suggestions drew widespread ire with critics expressing concern over the mainland's penchant for state-sanctioned programmes and censorship - content that would otherwise not suit Taiwanese audiences accustomed to a more democratic and open society, CNA reported.

It looks like it might be a while before Taiwan gets the provocative, hard-hitting, and occasionally really offensive and anti-Semitic news coming from the great underpants building.