SARFT Develops Internet TV Industry Standard
National Business Daily, 5/07/10
Xia Xiaohui, deputy GM of CCTV's online TV station China Network TV (CNTV), said that the company is working under the guidance of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to draft industry standards for internet television. Reports from a number of industry sources say that SARFT will formulate a complete set of industry standards based on feedback from a select number of participating trial companies, while taking into consideration the internet TV industry's current overall state of development. The industry standard will cover video-on-demand, live broadcasting, content distribution, as well as administration models and oversight mechanisms. Xia said he was unclear as to whether or not any other enterprises would participate in the drafting of the standard.
Li Feng, director of marketing and promotions at Shanghai-based IPTV operator BesTV, said that BesTV, CNTV, and Wasu had not received "paper licenses" for internet TV last month; rather, they had received approval from SARFT to begin trials of integrated internet TV broadcast and control platform services - more of a "permit" than a "license," he said. BesTV is currently in the process of technical integration for its internet TV technology, as well as joint development and testing for its television systems and program broadcast trials. BesTV will only be eligible to receive a formal license and start developing related services if its platform passes SARFT inspection in late May.
An industry source said that no more "integrated control platform" licenses will be issued this year, but revealed that a number of internet content service providers will receive permits from SARFT.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "China's SARFT Asserts Full Control over Internet TV," MD 4/27/10 issue.
Keywords: regulation Li Feng industry standard license television Internet TV SARFT BesTV Wasu CNTV Xia Xiaohui
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