China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will soon issue ten IPTV local-use licenses to Shanghai Media Group.

Zhang Yanxiang, COO of lmtw.com, tells local media that the IPTV licenses that SMG and CCTV received earlier this year only gave them operational rights, which enable them to run IPTV service in some local areas once they reach agreements with the local telecom operators and are approved by SARFT. These new local-use licenses are more targeted licenses that allow for IPTV businesses in only very specified areas.

These ten new licenses will cover both China Netcom and China Telecoms' service areas, including Heihe, Mudanjiang, Dalian, Shenyang and Panjin for China Netcom and Xi'an, Fuzhou, Taizhou, Xiamen and Hanzhong for China Telecom.