June 30 is the deadline set by the China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television for designated cable TV operators to switch from an analogue signal network to a digital cable network, the Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday, citing the regulator.

Otherwise, these companies will lose their qualifications to test the switchover and they will no longer be able to enjoy the preferential policies they do now, said the administration.

The urge is a result of the tardy progress of the switchover, the newspaper said.

More than 40 operators in China were authorized to switch to digital TV network on a trial basis. But the switch work is going slowly in many cities except Qingdao, Dalian and Taiyuan.

The high prices of set-top boxes and costly Video-On-Demand charges are the major barriers to the spread of the new service, the Post said.

Viewers, who want to watch digital-TV programs, need to purchase a high-definition TV set or buy a set-top box that converts the digital signal.

China, expected to switch off analogue signal transmissions by 2015, now has about 650,000 digital pay-TV subscribers, compared with 115 million analogue network TV watchers.

(Shanghai Daily February 7, 2006)