Mainland China's television industry, a bastion of information control for the country's ruling Communist party, is slowly transforming from within because of pressure for commercial success, according to the head of one of the few privately owned broadcasters operating in the market.

“The rise of the internet and the upcoming convergence between broadcasting and telecom networks in China will turn our industry upside down,” said Liu Changle, chairman and chief executive of Hong Kong-listed Phoenix Satellite Television.

Mr Liu told the Financial Times that he did not believe the Chinese government would loosen the rules banning private and foreign investment in broadcasting or cross- provincial consolidation among domestic state-owned broadcasters in the near term. But he said Beijing was tolerant to deals that went against the spirit of its own restrictions.