China Central Television (CCTV) on Friday announced it was to launch a comprehensive high-definition channel on May 1 to offer a better Olympics broadcast service and start a new era of TV technology in China.

"Chinese audiences will enjoy a brand-new audio-visual feast when Olympic events are broadcast in August," said a CCTV spokesman.

The channel, called "CCTV-HD", will air sports, TV plays, features, documentaries, entertainment, music and financial programs 24 hours a day. It aims to be a high-quality channel to promote Chinese culture, the spokesman said.

Before the Games, the audience in China can enjoy the live broadcast of the UEFA European Football Championship on the HD channel in June. During the Games, the channel will broadcast as the "Olympic HD Channel" and offer live broadcasts of all events and the opening and closing ceremonies.

By 2015, China plans to cover the whole country with wired, wireless or satellite HDTV signals and end analog broadcasting, according to officials. About 90 percent of the population is to receive HD channels via wireless digital TV technology within a few years.

At present, only eight cities, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, can receive HDTV programs.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2008)