Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Digital Broadcasters | China | Bonanza Expected from DTH Policy Change

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notes that China is making a significant change in satellite TV broadcasting policy.

Xinhua News Agency is reporting that the PRC's first DTH (direct-to- home) satellite, SinoSat-2 will launch on October 29 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The wholly-Chinese, SinoSat-2 transponders will offer digital quality, radio, digital films, 'direct TV' and digital broadband.

Here is where the Xinhua statement gets interesting: "The satellite will enable every farming household to receive TV signals using a small dish, thereby bringing educational programs and even remote medical services to farmers, Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, said earlier this month."

This would indicate that the banning of direct satellite TV reception by individuals and work units under the 1993 law known as Decree 129 will need amending. The Decree's original intent was to ban residents viewing foreign TV programs.

A quick straw poll among industry specialists suggest that up to 100 million households could install dishes between now and and 2010 expanding the current national set count from the present 400 million.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News suggests that the result would be nothing less than a business bonanza for the broadcast industry, not just a boom for the electronics sector.

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