2006 CCBN Report: PRC now has 10m Digital TV subscribers

March 22,

Beijing -- Coinciding with the China Cable and Broadcasting Network Exhibition 2006 now taking place in the capital, the current edition of the Radio and TV Information (R&TI) magazine quotes Zeng Huiming, president of the R&TI under the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) that there had been good progress recently in the move to digital broadcasting, with 10 million subscribers constituting a tipping point for the market.

"When the number of subscribers breaks the 10 million mark, economies of scale will have an effect," said Zeng.

According to R&TI, which has been tracking the development of digital TV over the past four years, 4.4 million Chinese households had access to digital TV broadcasting last year, compared with 1.1 million in 2004. Zeng believed the increase was partly due to the move of all TV broadcasting at the city level from analog to digital in one step.

Zeng noted that in Qingdao, Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Foshan, local operators already provide digital broadcasting to all residents.

This year, the migration will be conducted at the provincial level.

Zhang Haitao, vice-minister of SARFT, said on March 20 that the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the provinces of Guangdong, Shanxi and Hunan; and the city regions of Shanghai and Chongqing will all start promoting digital TV.

Zeng, of the R&TI said also that the attitudes of local operators had changed and the digital move was no longer only driven by SARFT.

[Radio and TV Information (R&TI) is an officially sanctioned publication within SARFT - Editor]