Chinese television group talking to regulator about national roll-out

According to Peter Li, vice president of finance at BestTV, the SMG subsidiary dedicated to IPTV operations, “We have a mass of contracts with both China Telecom and China Netcom [the two companies created from the 2002 break-up of the former China Telecom Group] for a national roll-out. Basically, the contracts cover all the major cities in China and we are discussing where we can go next.”

SMG is a significant regional media owner that already owns broadcasting frequencies and television channels delivered on terrestrial and digital cable systems. It has made no secret of its ambitions to become a national content provider and an international distributor for Chinese-speaking markets and it sees its national IPTV license as the means to achieve the first part of this vision.

Shanghai Media Group will also work with cable operators across China but with a diversified cable industry that includes multiple operators in all regions, the company believes IPTV provides the fastest route to becoming a national television platform provider.

SMG is the content aggregator and headend operator for the IPTV deployment in Shanghai with Shanghai Telecom (part of China Telecom), which covers two districts and 5,000 subscribers today. This service includes over 50 broadcast TV channels, VOD and an advanced network PVR system that records every TV service for 48 hours, making it available on-demand via a backwards-facing Electronic Programme Guide.

The Harbin system with China Netcom, meanwhile, was launched commercially last May and has attracted 50,000 subscribers to its television and VOD offer. The system in Shanghai is running standard definition television at up to 2Mbps on standard DSL lines and SMG is waiting for Shanghai Telecom to upgrade its network so it can introduce HDTV. “SMG has its own HD content available, like CCTV [China Central Television, the national broadcaster] so this is something we want to offer as soon as possible,” says Peter Li. Li says BestTV will expand beyond the current Pudong and Minghamg districts mid-year. The IPTV platform in these parts of the city have been put together by Siemens and UT Starcom respectively. He believes the service can attract 100,000 subscribers by year’s end.

An IPTV and broadband Internet package bought from Shanghai Telecom today will cost 100 RMB in a promotion, with the full price expected to be around 170 RMB. During the promotion, stand-alone TV services cost 60 RMB for a basic package and Pay Per View (yet to be introduced) will begin at 0.5 RMB for a television miniseries to 15RMB for a top sports event or concert.