United States’ Movie and Television

American television accounts for more than half the programs in many countries around the world .This have a cultural as well as an economic effect .American TV heroes become global heroes. People may have little idea of their own legal system, but know about American courts of law trough television programs like Law an Order. In addition, because everybody in the United Kingdom watches American TV programs, British English is becoming more like American English.

Some countries have “fought back” quite successfully. Britain’s BBC has always been a significant producer and exporter of programs of all kinds. France’s Canal Plus has grown into a billion dollar industry, Japan is globally known for its cartoon programs like Pokémon. And Brazil and Mexico, among other Latin American countries ,have had TV export successes with some of their movies and soap operas.

The big American TV companies have introduced strategies to reduce foreign competition. One of their new strategies is to produce programs for local markets. An example is Columbia Tri-Star’s Chinese restaurant. It is about Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles, but is made in Beijing with actors speaking Mandarin Chinese, and it is shown only in China. National television companies will now have to fight not only to get onto global screens, but also to stay on local ones.