China UnionPay has both formally launched a new kind of value-added service targeting digital television users and announced "Jia Yin Tong", the first digital television payment platform in China.

With China UnionPay's new services, users will be able to pay water, gas and electricity bills at home through their set-top boxes attached to their digital televisions.

In addition, China UnionPay has also proactively launched a "Home Bank" in cooperation with the Agricultural Bank of China. This service allows users to inquire about their bank card balance and complete other procedures such as remittance and account transfers.

China UnionPay says that it will first apply these services in Hangzhou and later promote them to other cities in China where digital television is developing rapidly.