Rural residents in some
of the most remote regions will soon be able to watch TV programmes, as the
government plans to launch two broadcasting satellites next year.
Guo Yansheng, deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee under
the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), said Tuesday that the
penetration rate of TV and radio broadcasting has reached 95 per cent through
cable TV and terrestrial broadcasting.
Speaking at a Satellite Industry Forum during the China Cable Broadcasting
Network exhibition in Beijing, he said further increasing this rate requires a
lot of investment, with satellite broadcasting likely to play an important role.
It is estimated that increasing the penetration rate by one percentage point
will cost between 3 and 4 billion yuan (US$360-480 million), so the total
investment needed for a saturation network would be huge.
Zhang Haitao, vice-minister of SARFT, said China will launch two
direct-broadcast satellites in the middle of next year to serve TV and radio
customers in remote regions.
The domestic-made SinoSat 2 satellite will act as a primary satellite, while
ChinaSat 9 made by Alcatel will be used as a backup. The satellites will be able
to transmit more than 100 channels of programmes.
He said China will also accelerate the pace of development of broadcasting
satellites.
While some cable TV operators are worried that satellite broadcasting will
lure away their customers, Guo said it will be complimentary to the current
broadcasting systems, as it mainly targets rural and remote regions.
The target of broadcasting TV and radio programmes to every village in the
country has been set.
Zhang said SARFT aims to provide a service to an additional half a million
people in 100,000 villages this year through terrestrial broadcasting, and to
increase the number of channels available to rural viewers to
eight.
