Shenzhen is planning to step up the transition from analog television to digital TV (DTV) to make DTV accessible to more city residents next year.

At the First International Cultural Industry Fair Shenzhen opening Thursday, Topway Video Communication Co. Ltd., a joint-stock company with Shenzhen Radio, TV and Film Group, signed a contract, totaling 500 million yuan (US$60 million), with five major set-top box manufacturers, including Skyworth, Coship, TOPTV, to purchase 1 million set-top boxes in stages.

"We're going to distribute about 600,000 to 700,000 set-top boxes, free of charge, to our cable TV users by the end of next year,¡± Li Hongbing, a Topway manager, said.

A set-top box, each worth around 800 yuan now, is the decoder which allows cable TV viewers to receive DTV programs without the need to replace their TV sets. Although set-top boxes will be free, users will have to pay for the DTV programs.

So far, Shenzhen has about 1.1 million cable TV users, of whom only about 30,000 receive DTV, according to Li.

Editor: Catherin