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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C. Niebucc who wrote (40947)	5/12/1999 6:18:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Remember Divi's 4 new offices in China? Here's whats up. More cable subs in China than in the US............................. eet.com China plans to run broadband network over cable-TV lines By Sunray Liu EE Times (05/12/99, 5:49 p.m. EDT) BEIJING — China's State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) has embarked on a plan to establish a broadband information network over cable television lines. The announcement came during an international cable-TV conference and exhibition here attended by more than 1,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors. SARFT officials want to tap into China's booming video market to extend cable capabilities. "There are 320 million TV sets in China, and nearly 80 million families have access to cable TV all over China," said Zhang Haitao, SARFT's vice minister. "Cable-TV systems cover more families than telephone lines." Zhang said digital-compression technology will enable service providers here to make better use of bandwidth. For example, one analog channel can carry eight to 10 compressed channels today. Emerging technologies such as direct-broadcast satellite and HDTV are expected soon to reshape traditional video services. SARFT officials said cable-TV operators' broadband pipes offer the most promise for the digital era. "Cable TV should be the chief choice for the Chinese information industry," Zhang said. China has long been a thriving market for TV peripherals. Cassette players and Video CD players have propelled TV-set sales here throughout the 1990s. Network connections to TV sets are expected to be the next big application as China seeks to build up its information industry. Zhang and other observers here said that foreign companies such as Microsoft Corp. have been attracted to the huge Chinese TV market. In March, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced the company's plan for Internet access via TV. The approach, called Venus, is based on the Windows CE operating system and is seen as part of a major effort to launch a digital-appliance market here. Other leading PC makers in China, such as Legend (Beijing) and Haier (Qingdao, Shandong Province), have announced reference designs for the Venus set-top box. Experts here said China's IT market should be larger and more stable than the Video CD (VCD) player market because the transition from analog to digital TV will boost demand for digital services. Cable operators are also expected to benefit by providing new digital services over their extensive systems. SARFT's plans for developing an information industry over cable TV include forging a common interconnection standard, a unified network and set-top-box standard, and uniform construction specs. China launched cable-TV service in the 1980s to improve the quality of terrestrial video signals. Separate cable networks were operated by regional or municipal governments. Many provinces established their own networks several years ago. New satellite-broadcasting and foreign cable services, such as ESPN, have added to cable's popularity here. Suppliers of hybrid fiber/coaxial cable and multipoint microwave distribution systems have earned large profits building provincial systems, observers said. New technologies and successful cable trials have readied cable networks for the move into information services, and local cable systems are being merged into larger, regional networks that can support digital services. Both SARFT and the powerful Ministry of Information Industry want to control the expanding cable network through franchises awarded by the central government. SARFT established the China Broadcasting Information Network Center to handle cable-network expansion. Cable TV is expected to be a $12 billion industry in five years, said Chen Xiaoning, the center's president. "The market for programs will be about $4 billion; the appliances and equipment will cost $3 billion to $4 billion; and communications, including data broadcasting and computer networking, will [total] $4 billion to $5 billion," Chen said. Nearly half of China's cable system uses the midrange, 550-MHz bandwidth; 20 percent uses advanced, 750-MHz frequencies; and the remaining 30 percent comprises mature, 350- to 450-MHz systems. A typical Chinese system can carry 45 analog channels, or approximately 300 digital channels. High-speed data communications will be another key application of the new network. During government tests in Shanghai, Qingdao and Shenzhen, viewers gained access to the Internet for a variety of electronic-commerce applications. Voice-over-Internet Protocol and video e-mail services are also being considered. Each will be based on two key improvements: a unified cable network and a Chinese set-top standard. The network center will focus on network service and management but will not produce set-tops, Chen said. "We must control the standard for the set-top box to ensure the whole network is state-of-the-art," he said. Such producers as Huawei and Zhongxin, both of Shenzhen, and Legend have formed an alliance to boost the fledgling Chinese set-top-manufacturing industry. Most producers are focusing on e-commerce and interactive applications, along with Internet access.