Amsterdam is a beautiful city and is well-known for its many attractions, such as the historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House and so forth. However, for broadcasting insiders, the biggest attraction every year is IBC, the largest broadcasting show in Europe. It is an annual grand gathering, an opportunity for broadcasting colleagues to get together, exchange technology information and seek cooperation with each other. If we compare the international broadcasting community to a big family, China, being a big country with the largest number of broadcasting users, should be an indispensable member of the family.

As the top-level broadcasting technology research institute affiliated with SARFT, and also the organizer of the CCBN Exhibition (which is largest broadcasting show in Asia-Pacific region), ABS has been playing an active role in communication and interaction between the Chinese and international broadcasting industries.

We participate in IBC every year and have established good and close relationships with IBC¡¯s organizers. Beginning in 2006, we have held a CCBN party three times at IBC, each time with very good results. This year, we will hold the 4th CCBN party at the Sea Palace at Amsterdam. The CCBN party has already become our routine event at IBC. In addition, the first China Session at last years¡¯ IBC conference also helped to attract more attention to China¡¯s broadcasting development. Of course, we also hope to learn about the latest technologies and products from IBC every year. We¡¯d like to say that IBC has become a vital window for us to promote Chinese broadcasting to the world and to help us keep up with the development of the international broadcasting industry.

 

It is my third time attending IBC. Since IBC is the largest broadcasting show in Europe, it obviously attracts many enterprises. What impressed me the most is the effective combination of the exhibition and the technical conference. In other words, besides its overt commercial aspect, the numerous technology forums serve to spotlight the academic acter of the IBC. I attribute this to the outstanding organization of the IBC committee, and as a result, many international giants come, bringing with them the most advanced technologies and the ideas that will guide industry development forward. Because of this, I believe IBC is a barometer for international broadcasting development.

China is in the st of an overall conversion to all-digital broadcasting. We hope we can learn more about international trends in broadcasting development from IBC this year. We especially look forward to seeing the latest technologies for digitalizating TV production equipment, HD TV, the three networks convergence, and mobile TV. 

I think that on one hand, which content is provided should be based on the features of the mobile phone TV. Since most viewers of mobile phone TV are people on the go, the operator should provide short-time programming, especially the informational programming such as news reports, traffic guides, stock information, weather forecasting and sporting events.

On the other hand, new technologies for higher efficiency signal compression are needed to support the high quality transmission of the content.

As for whether or not small screen size will limit the development of the mobile phone TV, I don¡¯t think so. At least in China, it won¡¯t be the limiting factor. China has the largest number of mobile phone users, and the demand for mobile phone TV programming is tremendous. We are very confident in the ongoing rapid development of mobile phone TV in China.

 

I think what you¡¯re referring to is the China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting, the CMMB.

CMMB is a new mobile multimedia broadcasting technology with Chinese independent intellectual property rights. It was invented by the Chinese Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) and its subsidiary company.

CMMB is a supplement to and extension of existing broadcasting technologies. It can provide digital radio and TV programming and information services through a wireless broadcasting network for a various portable and small-sized terminals, such as mobile phones, computers, etc. CMMB features good quality TV image, applicability to various receiving terminals, as well as economical and practical functions. It is especially designed to meet people¡¯s need to watch TV anytime and anywhere.

At present, there are 180 cities in China which have CMMB signal coverage. Next, we plan to add another 150 cities with CMMB coverage in the second half of the year.

As for content, CMMB currently provides 6 TV programs and 4 radio programs, and we will successively provide stock information and traffic guide services.

In terms of marketing operations, there are more than 100 kinds of terminals with CMMB functions, and over 100 enterprises involved in the R&D and operation of CMMB now. So, up to now, the industrialization of CMMB has been moving smoothly.

Additionally, in March of this year, the main investor of CMMB - China Satellite Mobile Broadcasting Corporation - signed a cooperation agreement with China Mobile for the CMMB¡¯s marketing, brand building, and user development operations.

By combining the marketing resources of Telecom with the advantages of broadcasting in terms of network and content, we can accelerate the popularity and development of CMMB in order to make it more convenient for people to watch TV and receive a variety of information in a timely manner.

 

China¡¯s internet video service started in 2005 when the first Chinese internet video website, Tudou, launched on the internet. After that, many Chinese internet video websites emerged successively. However, after the three years of competition, there are now only several video websites which remain up, such as Youku, Tudou, Baidu, Sougo, etc. Most websites haven¡¯t turned a profit. For most investors, video websites are a high-risk business. People¡¯s TV habits, limited programming, image quality, and other aspects block development, and the market is still too immature for most advertisers, so, up to now, the websites haven¡¯t made a profit. However, some statistics show that the situation is changing.

The latest statistics show that from the March of this year, the flowing rate of access to video websites is close to the access to portal websites. By this March, the flowing of effective access to YouKu, the largest Chinese video website at present, is similar to the largest Chinese portal websites. Meanwhile, some traditional broadcasting websites are turning to internet video operation as well. Take the CCTV.com for example.

CCTV.com is traditionally a value-added service to CCTV broadcasting. However, now it has started to extend into the internet video industry by integrating existing resources and taking advantage of their superiority in the broadcasting industry. Meanwhile, some portal websites are enhancing their explorations into the internet video business. All of these developments show how Chinese internet video businesses are getting on the right track now and will make benefits in future.

With regard to technology, most of the Chinese net video companies currently adopt international advanced technologies, so we hope to find some new technologies in this field at IBC this time.

 

Yes, China is certainly affected by the global financial crisis, and China¡¯s economy is down as well. However, Chinese broadcasting revenues have been increasing, even in these adverse circumstances. Ad revenue last year was 70.175 billion Chinese yuan, 16.85% higher than 2007. The global financial crisis has inevitably negatively affected the Chinese economy. Facing a global recession, many Chinese export-oriented enterprises have turned their eyes to the domestic market, and the broadcasting industry is one of the major domestic sectors they have targeted. Therefore, the Chinese broadcasting industry is maintaining a healthy year-to-year rate of increase, even while the global economy continues to be poor.