Digital broadcast and TV programs is a key mission in developing broadcast and television industry in China, said a senior official of the State Administration of Broadcast, Film and Television.

On "The 21st Century Broadcast Media Summit" held in Beijing on Sunday, The World Television Day", Chinese officials with the State Administration of Broadcast,

Film and Television talked withprivate and foreign media and bank representatives on the theme of digitalization.

Xu Guangchun, director-general of the administration, outlined the steps in digitalization of broadcast and TV services: The first step is the ongoing digitalization of cable TV; the second step is the operation of digital satellites and ground digital television experiments in around 2005, and the third step is the full implementation of ground digital television in 2008, when Beijing holds Olympic Games.

"Our goal is to end simulated broadcast and television by 2015 with the nationwide coverage of cable, satellite and wireless transmission," he claimed.

According to statistics, China now boasts 500 million radios, 400 million televisions and nearly 500 million VCDs and DVDs. The cable TV users number has exceeds 100 million. China has made breakthroughs in digitalizing the production and transmission of broadcast and television, while the terminals, the television in people's homes, are still only able to receive simulated signals. Therefore the digitalization of home televisions was the core step in the whole process, said insiders.

The country has been trying digital television in several cities. Qingdao in eastern Shandong Province, Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang Province and Foshan in southern Guangdong Province have realized entire transformation from simulated signals to digital broadcast and television. They provided free facilities to households for receiving digital signals on normal TV and the transformation had seen promising results.

In Hangzhou, the number of paid digital television users are soaring 2,000 per day and in Qingdao, the number is 1,500. In Foshan, paid digital TV users increased by 100,000 in less than a year, said vice-minister of the administration Zhang Haitao.

To date, the administration has approved 70 digital TV channels and 14 digital broadcast programs, and another 57 digital TV channels and 17 digital broadcast programs are under consideration, Zhang revealed. The digitalization also gained financial support from the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation.

What's more, China's first live broadcast satellite will probably be launched in the first half of 2006, a bit late than planned, with a coverage of 260 million households. The government is considering relevant regulations and policies at present, according to Zhang.

By the time the digitalization is realized, Chinese people will have been able to enjoy ordinary TV programs as clear as DVD and audio effect as good as in cinemas, and multiply channel choices from dozens to several hundred. They will also have enjoyed various personalized information services through broadcast and television like shopping, weather forecast, traffic report and stock business, said Zhang.

Nov. 21 is "World Television Day" set by United Nations in 1996.This is the first event marking the day in China. About 200 executives from domestic and overseas media companies and financial organizations attended the summit, including News Corporation, Sony Corporation, Time Warner, International Data Group and Citigroup.