A recent announcement by the Chinese Government to axe more than two-thirds of prime time light entertainment shows and replace them with news broadcasts came as a shock to many, and was met with concern about further curbs on the freedom of the Chinese people. This law to curb "excessive entertainment" on television is designed to reduce the number of scheduled entertainment programmes from 126 a week to just 38. However, after looking at Spanish television’s uninspiring offerings for the current week, I began to wonder if this was actually quite an inspired move. www.barriemahoney.com and www.thecanaryislander.com