Zhu Hong, spokesperson from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, announced that SARFT would like to develop IPTV services in cooperation with companies from other industries.

This announcement carried by local media heralds an end to the strained ties between SARFT and telecom firms, and it marks a beginning for them to cooperate on promoting IPTV and accelerating China's information services.

Shanghai Media Group, a SARFT subsidiary that received China's first IPTV license, has reached an agreement with Shanghai Telecom and Heilongjiang Netcom. With over 100,000 users, Heilongjiang Netcom has the largest IPTV user base in the country.

At present, China has about 400 million television users, which is a great attraction to telecom operators, which on the one hand struggle with SARFT for users and on the other hand want to join hands with SARFT to overcome policy and program resource limitations. The cooperation between SARFT and telecom operators is believed to be not only conducive for China's IPTV industry, but also the country's plans for informationization.