China to announce terrestrial digital TV standard soon

MUMBAI: China will soon unveil a locally developed terrestrial digital TV standard, Xinhua News Agency has reported.

Wang Xiaojie, director of the technology department of State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), said the new standard will be promoted for one year before it is fully implemented.

Broadcasting systems operating with other standards will be forced to embrace the new standard after the promotion year ends, Wang said.

Terrestrial digital TV is designed to replace the existing analogue system through which the majority of viewers in China watch the TV networks.

The number of households with digital broadcasting facilities rose from one million in 2004 to 4.13 million in 2005.