Shanghai Daily: Business - shanghaidaily.com
CHINA has granted a 400-million-yuan (US$54 million) government fund to develop mobile phone-based TV technology in the next three years, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday on its Website. Chinese firms are developing homegrown mobile TV standards so that they do not need to pay high royalty fees to Western firms if people use their standards instead. "The fund is to finance the development from system research to end-equipment design and test process. That will help China establish a self-innovated mobile TV industry chain," the statement said. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will be responsible for the project, according to the statement. That indicated SARFT and media groups will dominate the mobile TV technology, industry insiders said. Debate has raged on for a long time on whether media groups, such as Shanghai Media Group, or telecommunications operators, like China Mobile, should dominate the potentially big mobile TV