The switch was flicked on three channels yesterday afternoon to initiate the trail broadcasts of a new digital TV company in the nation's capital.

The three-month-long trial will provide free digital TV to local cable subscribers who have the technology to receive the signals. The new digital broadcasts cover all 18 districts and counties in Beijing.

"Together with the six digital TV channels that the China Central TV Station opened recently and 40 channels in the current cable TV network, these viewers can now watch 49 channels for free," said Yu Zhifeng, an official with the Beijing Radio and TV Administration, who is in charge of developing the city's digital TV service.

At present, 3,000 signal transformers have been lent to Beijing cable TV subscribers, and at least another 20,000 of them will be offered during the rest of the year, Yu revealed.

A 600 yuan (US$72) deposit is needed before receiving a transformer for three months from the latest digital TV operator -- a new company founded in July under the Beijing All Media and Culture Group Co Ltd.

If viewers are not satisfied with the service, they can return their transformers and get their money back, said Yu.

At present, the company has not decided on the monthly fees for digital TV subscribers or its promotion strategy.

"We will collect opinions from these people who have used the signal transformer appliances and who have watched digital television, so we can decide on important issues based on the results," said He Gongming, a senior manager with the company.

Among the issues, promotion of the signal transformer appliances will be critical as it can influence the development of digital TV, said He.

"If we let people choose whether to buy the appliance or not, the development of digital television will be rather slow," said He, adding people may be reluctant to buy the signal transformer, which costs from 600 yuan to 1,800 yuan (US$217).

Another way of promoting digital TV will be to let the government give subsidies to save digital TV subscribers from paying for the devices, "which will push the development at a faster speed," said He.

Developing digital TV in Beijing was one of the promises the city had vowed to fulfill when it put in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

(China Daily September 2, 2003)