DIGIAL TV'S 100-METER DASH CHINA'S HUGE TV INDUSTRYY FACES A 2008 DEADLINE

摘要

Elsewhere in the world, plans for the transition to digital TV are being thrashed out among telecommunications authorities nudged along by politicians who want decisions to be made. In China, there are feuding ministries, too, striving to negotiate details of a local digital broadcasting standard. But those in the consumer electronics industry do not underestimate the government's power. Nobody doubts that the deadline will be met. The stakes are huge. It's not just about showing China's high-tech face to the world-it's also about getting a piece of the local market for television receivers, already the world's largest, with some 40 million new TV sets sold to Chinese consumers annu- ally. Most of China's 350 million households already have at least one TV set, generally a basic analog one made by a domestie manufacturer. It is an article of faith among TV makers that a sizable fraction of the country's big and burgeoning mid dle class will soon be buying more sophisticated receiver as fast as they can get them. And the high-end market according to Anne Stevenson-Yang, managing director of the U.S. Information Technology Office in Beijing "is bigger than most people would think," with sets being installed everywhere from karaoke bars to subway cars The competition for the hearts and minds of the Chinese consumer pits multinationals like Matsushit Electric Industrial Co., in Osaka, and LG Electronics Inc., in Seoul-by various measures Japan's and South Korea's leading or second-leading consumer electronics companies-against each other. But also in the fray are home-grown Chinese TV manufacturers such as Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., in Mianyang, and TCL International Holdings Ltd., in Hong Kong, which are big exporters as well [see photo, "On the Shelf"].