The Chinese Government finally released the nation's digital TV terrestrial transmission standard yesterday, but it will take some time before digital terrestrial broadcasting becomes a significant business in the world's largest TV market.

The Standardization Administration of China said yesterday on its website that the proposal for the transmission standard was approved on August 18 as the compulsory national standard, and will be effective from August 1 next year.

Along with 3G mobile communications, the digitalization of China's broadcasting is regarded as a lucrative market, which could be worth over 1 trillion yuan (US$125 billion). Therefore, it will become a key area in which China wants to have its own standard in order to cut royalty payments and assume an advantageous position in the global industry.

Digital TV broadcasting takes place in three ways  cable, satellite and terrestrial, with China mainly following international standards in the first two areas.

Cable broadcasting is the only major transmission format currently in use in China, as the terrestrial standard was not decided until August 18 and satellites for direct broadcasting have yet to be launched.

At the end of last year, only four million households across the nation had access to digital cable TV broadcasting, with the number expected to reach 10 million this year.

But the country has more than 400 million households with TV sets and only 128 million had access to cable TV at the end of last year, meaning that the majority of digital TV transmission is expected to rely on the terrestrial method.

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