Homemade digital videos can now be broadcast on TV screens along the city's Metro Line 2.

The company behind the service, Shanghai Digital Media Group, said flash cartoons or personal portraits can also be beamed through the program called "I Like Show."

"We hope the program will provide a stage for common people to present themselves as well as their ideas about life," said an official from the marketing department of the company.

"The short videos enable people to send greetings, make wishes or reveal their personality in front of millions of others."

She said the company was inspired to produce the program late last year when a young man who wanted to show his love to his girlfriend submitted a self-made DV and asked to have it broadcast on the screen of a Metro station.

The man finally got his wish, and his video drew warm applause from Metro passengers.

A local man named Lu Weifeng said the new trend is likely to gain rapidly in popularity.

"It is really eye-catching to see ordinary people talk and act in a film made by themselves," he said.

The company official said two flash cartoons have been on show recently as a trial, but many more candidates are on the way.

"Two videos to be broadcast next week are about a newborn baby and a pet cat," she said.

Each film will be transmitted every 30 minutes throughout a week.

Anyone interested in participating can apply by calling a hot line (5404-0601), and more information is available on two Websites (www.sina.com and www.ilikeshow.com).

The service is free now, but participants are likely to pay in the future.

"The charge won't be high so that ordinary people can afford it," the company official said.

(Shanghai Daily January 27, 2005)