China Telcos Wants IPTV Deregulation

China Telecom and China Netcom called for the deregulation of the IPTV market in China. They stated that there is a worldwide trend to deregulate IPTV; however, they stated that it is not happening in China. For example, regulators have only allowed China Telecom to offer IPTV commercial services in only six cities.
The two firms hope that IPTV can provide them with a major source of broadband revenue, but broadcasting authorities are concerned that IPTV could hurt cable TV operators. In December 2005, the broadcasting authorities in Quanzhou, in East China's Fujian Province, ordered the closure of an IPTV service jointly run by China Telecom and the Shanghai Media Group, despite the fact that the Shanghai Media Group had been granted a license to operate the service by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

A new law is being developed to address this issue but is not expected to be passed before March 2008.

China Telecom has 210,000 IPTV subscribers with 150,000 in Shanghai. China Netcom has more than 140,000 IPTV subscribers.

The short term prospects for IPTV in China are cloudy at best. There is still a lot of uncertainty that is based on how the government will sort out the conflict between the cable and the telephone companies. It is likely that this will be sorted out in the next year or two, but it is wise to take a conservative approach for now.