Chinese IPTV hindered by regulatory issues

While the potential market remains huge, China's IPTV market is emerging slowly, held back by confusion as to which agencies actually regulate such services. With no specific law in place to govern IPTV carriers, it's still in question whether Chinese telecom regulators or Chinese broadcast industry regulators would have jurisdiction. So far, leading Chinese broadcasters Shanghai Media Group and China Central Television are the country's only IPTV license-holders. Leading fixed-line operators China Netcom and China Telecom are testing IPTV services, but they're reluctant to make major investments until the government establishes clear IPTV policies. Meanwhile, government researchers are developing standards for IPTV deployment, addressing key issues such as IPTV business requirements, system architecture, set-top boxes and system requirements for IPTV on DSLAM equipment.

For more information on China's emerging IPTV industry:
- read this Interfax China article