CHINA: More investment needed to develop digital TV
06/10/98
BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1445 gmt 9 Jun 98/BBC Worldwide Monitoring/(c) BBC
Excerpts from report by Xinhua news agency
Beijing, 9th June: China's electronics and information technology (IT) enterprises should combine their resources to form large-scale high-tech companies to compete in its huge potential market, local experts said.
However, an official from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said that, at present, major electronics firms in the country are spending limited resources on a large number of duplicated products...
An official from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFTV) said that, at present, he cannot see any single company in the country that has adequate resources to develop and market such high-tech products as digital TV (DTV).
Wang Lian, director of the Research Management Department of SARFTV, said that the Chinese government has spent millions of yuan in sponsoring the development of the country's first DTV model. However, he said that the commercialization of this model will require several times the current investment. He said that the government, research institutions and enterprises have to pool efforts in developing and marketing DTV.
Major electronics companies such as Changhong, Panda, West Lake, Konda, Skyworth and TCL have put hundreds of millions of yuan into developing their own DTV. However, sources from the industry said that these companies still lag 15 years behind their international rivals in terms of technology.
Some other electronics companies have already joined hands to bridge the gap. Haier, one of the most well-known household electronic appliance firms in the country, has funded a DTV development project of the Academy of Broadcasting Science.
On the other hand, the Chinese government has formulated a strategic plan of DTV development. It supports central and provincial TV stations to broadcast digital signals to promote market demands for DTV. China's DTV market is expected to be worth 200 billion yuan in 2010.
Wang said the government should adopt flexible policies in financing, taxation and market regulation to encourage the expansion of large-scale IT companies that serves as leaders of IT products in the country.
The government [has] given priority to the growth of an integrated receiver decoder (IRD). The signal converter can enable the country's 200 million analogue TV sets to receive digital signals. However, only a few companies in China have the capacity to produce this product at present.
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