China will soon announce its own national terrestrial digital TV standard and those that fail to comply with the new standard will be ousted from the market, an official said.

There will be one year of promotion before the standard is fully implemented by digital televisions, said Wang Xiaojie, director of the technology department of State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Broadcasting systems with other standards will be forced to embrace the standard system after the promotion year ends, Wang said.

Terrestrial digital TV transmission can deliver signals to fixed TV sets and mobile televisions such as the ones on buses.

Digital TV broadcasting can be conducted by satellite, cable and terrestrial television, which increase the efficiency of operators and provide better quality pictures for viewers.

Terrestrial digital television is designed to replace the existing analog system through which the majority of viewers in China watch the TV networks.

The number of households with digital broadcasting facilities rose from one million in 2004 to 4.13 million in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2006)