China will make favorable policies to nourish the growth of digital television industry that has a huge market potential in the next five years, said a senior official in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on Thursday.

Deputy Director of the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) Zhang Xiaoqiang said at a forum held on the sidelines of the six-day China Hi-Tech Trade Fair that forceful measures will be taken for the industry.

The annual fair kicked off on Thursday in Shenzhen, south China.

The development of high definition digital TV has been listed as one of the 13 key information industry projects in China's development plan for the coming 15 years.

A number of Chinese cities have launched the digital television on a trial basis over the past five years. China has made a set of national technical standard for high definition digital television monitors.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2006)