BEIJING -- The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) has announced China will adopt a terrestrial digital TV broadcast standard by integrating two domestically developed systems.

The standard, coded GB 20600-2006, will become the mandatory broadcast signal for Chinese broadcasters on August 1, 2007.

The standard is a combination of two broadcast standards developed by Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiaotong University.

SAC called for the development of digital broadcasting standards in 2001 and the standard developed by the two universities were shortlisted.

Terrestrial digital TV transmission can deliver television signals to fixed television sets and mobile televisions found on some city buses.

The existing digital TV broadcast that is now in trial operation in some Chinese cities will adopt the national standard by next year.

Digital TV offers sharper pictures and better sound. Its compressed signal uses a narrower band of the broadcast spectrum, allowing for more channels to be carried at better quality.

China has launched vehicular mobile TV broadcast in more than 30 cities, and some 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, adopted a Europe-based standard, which the new standard will replace.

Terrestrial digital television is designed to replace the existing analog system through which the majority of viewers in China watch television.

China is the world's biggest television market, with more than 400 million TV sets in domestic households.

The national standard of mobile TV for portable terminals, such as cell phones and PDA's, has not yet been finalized. The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television plans to put Mobile TV into operation in 2008 in time for the Beijing Olympic Games.