Digital TV makers reported leaning to foreign standards

After China failed to meet its own deadline for devising a digital television standard earlier this year, China-based equipment manufacturers have begin exploring the idea of adopting foreign standards, according to an Associated Press report. "Companies are just moving ahead anyway, though they understand that it's at the operators' risk," AP quoted Thierry Raymaekers, Beijing-based general manager of South African encryption device maker Irdeto Access, as saying. Beijing had earlier withdrawn a rule requiring mobile phone chip makers to conform to a homegrown mobile standard after foreign manufacturers balked at complying with the rule, arguing it would force semiconductor makers to reveal proprietary technologies. The AP report did not name any companies considering foreign TV standards.