China is on the move to clamp down on all DVD imports that Internet companies use to evade government controls on showing foreign TV shows and movies online.

According to Technology News China, Chinese officials are expected to implement the new rules in about a month. The move will mark the latest effort by China to tighten its clasp on what citizens watch as online video streaming sites surge in popularity.

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Internet companies have used a backdoor that gives Chinese video-streaming sites the right to stream extra foreign shows online that are not counted in the quota. In Beijing, this is limited by ensuring that no more than 30% of their content emanates from overseas.

Very soon, China's top media regulator will reduce the licensed number of import for physical media like DVDs. Currently, more than 1,000 titles each year are brought into the country. Importers are required to state whether the physical media being imported is also going to be posted online. It is not clear if this content will be counted as part of the quota, Wall Street Journal reported.

The new policy will take effect in January and is expected to be officially announced next month.

Among Chinese viewers, Western shows such as "Game of Thrones" and "The Big Bang Theory" are very popularity with explosive growth in online video sites.

In China, major movies are widely available through illegal downloading services and bootleg disks as well as a newer era of video websites that offer legal content.

According to Wopular, the new policies ]represent a problem for Hollywood studios which are looking to exploit the massive Chinese market as well as China's Internet companies. According to official data, more than 461 million people watch video online making China represent a vast audience. Among the biggest providers of online video content are Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc.

Earlier this year, censors yanked an environmental documentary titled "Under the Dome" after it became a hit. They also alerted a popular news site to clamp down on news that officials consider unreliable. Censors have even targeted popular television shows.

China's Internet big wigs are investing more money into video to reach the growing online audience.  Recently, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. paid about $4.6 billion to acquire a majority stake in Youku-Tudou Inc - a major video-streaming site.

China's opaque approach to censorship mostly leaves the big industry unsure as to what it can and cannot do.

Video sites are allowed to stream only content that has been examined and cleared to show in theaters, to be broadcast on TV or to be imported in the form physical media such as DVDs. Content approval for import on disk and other physical media is approved by the General Administration of Publication and Press, which two years ago was merged with the main film and television regulator.

TagsChinese internet companies, Foreign DVD Imports, Under the Dome, Youku-Tudou Inc, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Baidu Inc., Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, Chinese video-streaming sites