Regulations governing investments in China's cable television
network are set to be released by the end of this year; however, the
Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and State Administration of
Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) are fighting over which of them will be in
charge.
MII is in charge of everything related to postal and telecommunication
matters, while SARFT regulates the broadcast industry, but convergence
of services has clouded the issue.
The cable TV industry is often referred to as a secondary infrastructure
network, which attracts substantial investment because it is seen as
having the potential to bring together television, Internet and
telephony services through the use of convergence technology.
There are currently about 90 million cable subscribers in China and
there are plans for a national cable network.
SARFT's information network centre director-general Chen Xiaoning
estimated 120 million cable subscribers would be hooked up to the
network by the end of the restructuring process in 2001.
However, a temporary ban on new cable investment was ordered by the
central government because of disputes between cable and telecom
operators last year.
The government recently issued a directive which specified that telecom
operators should not get involved in the radio and television business
and that radio and TV companies should not become involved in the
telecom business. This has had the temporary effect of halting moves to
converge telecommunication and television services.
At the same time, however, MII and SARFT are working on new regulations
to be issued by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, analysts speculated that although China is all but assured of
being a WTO member, SARFT will likely prohibit foreign ownership.
