BEIJING, Sept. 23 -- Participants at a public hearing Wednesday on digital TV fees in Guangdong were generally against a sharp price hike for upgrading analog TV to digital.

    Guangdong's cable TV operator, the Guangdong CableTV Network Co. Ltd., plans to raise the monthly fee for each digital TV user by 13 yuan (US$1.6). According to the plan, residents in Guangdong, excluding Shenzhen, will have to pay a monthly fee of 30 yuan for the first TV set receiving digital channels. The price is among the highest in the country, higher than the price in Shenzhen, where 28 yuan is charged.

    The provincial pricing administration will make a final decision after the hearing, and ask for approval from the provincial government in late October.

    Thirty-three people from all walks of life provided their opinions at the hearing.

    Zeng Qiang, from the Guangdong Provincial Information Industry Department, said delaying the upgrade would harm the domestic digital TV industry.

    Zhao Yanhua, from the Yangcheng Evening News, said digital TV would enrich people's lives and help build a transparent government. She suggested lower prices for the underprivileged, and at public places.

    Pan Shasha, a political advisor, said the proposed monthly fee for digital TV was too high.

    Dong Shuqin, a consumer representative, said many people believed that Guangdong CableTV wanted to force them to use the digital TV by stopping the broadcast of analog programs. "That's why they don't like the digital TV," Dong said.

    Many residents, especially laid-off workers, thought the one-year transformation period from analog to digital TV was too short, said another participant Feng Haojun.

    "If low-income people turned to gambling to kill time because they cannot afford digital TV, it would destabilize society," said Feng.

    Consumers' rights cannot be protected when they deal with a government-backed company like the cable TV operator, said Chen Xiantang from Zhaoqing City.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)