China internet cafes to get BUZZ TV

Buzz Technologies Inc has finalized negotiations to launch Free Sat TV to 150 000 PC's in the Buzz Internet Cafe program
currently sweeping China ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this will increase the pressure on rivals China Digital TV Baidu and Google.

The software features over 500 channels, in more than 100 languages, broadcast on Buzz TV for free, the company says.

With 378 million TV households and 152 million cable TV households at the end of 2007, China is the world's largest TV market. Its cable TV industry generated þ3.4bn in revenue in 2007 and is expected to grow at over seven per cent year-on-year to be worth Euro 4.8bn by 2012.

Cable dominates the multi-channel industry as satellite reception is banned and IPTV is in its infancy. As a result 40% of all homes have cable TV, and it accounts for 99% of the pay TV market.

With significant investment in the technological infrastructure across the country, the cable industry is rapidly converting to digital in time for the planned analogue switch-off in 2015. The Olympics is acting as a catalyst for this - as the Beijing Olympics will be the first all-HD Olympic Games. Digitization and a raft of interactive TV services will drive average revenue per subscriber up.