China Daily reports the government is expected to release its standard for terrestrial DTV as well as draft standards for mobile (phone) broadcasting, satellite TV and Internet TV later this year. A draft of the terrestrial DTV standard has been submitted to the National Radio, Film and Television Standardization Commission.
Meanwhile, Agencia Brasil Radiobras reports that work continues on selection of a DTV standard for Brazil. Brazil's Minister of Communications, Helio Costa, will be traveling to other countries, including Japan and Korea, to investigate opportunities for a technology transfer that will make it easier to select a DTV standard.
Costa said, "In Brazil, 93 percent of the TV sets receive open TV broadcasting. What we want is a system that is robust enough to reach that 93 percent. What Brazil really wants is a format that will have zero cost for the Brazilian consumer."
Brazil is currently considering developing a standard based on the U.S. ATSC system, the DVB-T system, or the Japanese ISDB-T but modified to include technology developed in Brazil.
Microchip manufacturers are showing interest in Brazil. Henrique de Oliveira Miguel, coordinator of Microelectronics in the Ministry of Science and Technology said industries from the United States, Europe and Asia are interested in setting up semiconductor factories. According to a recent article "Brazil Attracts Attention of Microchip Manufacturers," the Japanese, Europeans and Americans are competing with one another to furnish digital TV technology to Brazil and have held out the prospect of producing semiconductors in the country as one of the potential advantages of opting for their respective systems.
For more information on China's DTV plans, see Digital TV standard handed in China Daily and China to launch satellite for digital TV services in Telecom Asia Daily.
For more information on Brazil's plans, see Digital TV format debate goes abroad.
