Some new research out from IMS Research reveals some rare data on the Chinese digital TV market, suggesting – among other things – that digital cable is set to become the country’s dominant digital TV platform by the end of 2009, and the focus for its HDTV rollout. (Sorry, no link seems to be available as yet – I’m relying on the press release I’ve been sent).
The study, entitled The Worldwide Market for High-Definition TV Equipment & Services, reveals that 46 million homes in twenty-five Chinese cities have now converted from analogue to digital cable, and that 69 million homes will be passed by digital cable by the end of the year. IMS Research is forecasting that 3.2 million of these digital cable households will have the capability of viewing HDTV programming by the end of 2013.
The author of the study, Shane Walker, notes that the main driver behind adoption of HD programming and HDTV products in the Asia-Pacific region has been Japan, with over 12 million HDTV households at the end of 2007 – 90% of the region’s HD households. Other territories, including China, have been held back by lack of availability of localised HD programming and the high cost of consumer equipment.
However, China’s State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has been strongly promoting the concept of a national digital cable network, striving to digitise all cable networks by 2015. According to the latest figures from SARFT, the transition is behind schedule by two years, but China is already one of the world’s largest digital cable markets, surpassing the USA (which had around 37m digital cable subs at the end of 2007, according to the NCTA).
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