At a work conference on the conversion of cable TV to digital format convened by Guangzhou city authorities, it was stated that the citywide conversion will be largely completed by 2008.

The conference envisaged the conversion being completed in four stages:

In Stage 1, conversion of the roughly 10,000 households at Jinbi Garden in Haizhu District will be completed by May 25, 2006;

In Stage 2, from October 2006 to January 2007, conversion of some 250,000 households, consisting of about 150,000 to 190,000 households in the downtown area of Haizhu District and a minimum 2,000 households each in all other districts, will be completed;  In Stage 3, from January 2007 to December 2007, about 1 million households citywide will be converted to digital format; and

In Stage 4, by the end of June 2008, citywide conversion will be complete and an inspection will be carried out by national authorities.

Currently, Guangzhou cable TV is able to provide over 50 program channels, but following conversion to digital format that number will increase to more than 500.

Editor: Yan