Respected business magazine Caijing has criticized the State Administration of Radio Film & Television (SARFT) for declining to take part in the national mobile TV standards bake-off.
After earlier saying it would participate in the testing f five mobile standards that began earlier this month, SARFT declared at the last minute it would not submit its CMMB technology. SARFT has already instructed the media and broadcasting sector to use CMMB.
This is an obstacle for national standards, and meant industry standards would boldly drive on in full view of the industry, Caijing executive editor Hu Shuli wrote. Mobile TV was an emerging global industry possibly worth more than $10 billion, and the sheer scale of the industry had set off a 'many-sided dispuite' over standards.
But the national standard exam was an open and fair platform that would enable the best mobile TV technology to be chosen. We consider that at this key moment in the industralization of mobile TV, every relevant [party] should respect the system already established by the national industry, Caijing said.
It can be foreseen that the mobile TV standards deadlock would be solved by a temporary solution by the senior leadership. But there is a long-term need to find a permanent solution.
It would be necessary to have a clear separation between major departments and the main parts of the market, Caijing says. Even more important was the need for strict government discipline to uphold the legal system and even stronger enforcement capability.