Matsushita Electric will provide technical support to China HuaLu Group and China Film Group as they jointly announced the establishment of a Blu-ray authoring center in China. The center initially will focus on releasing Chinese local content on the Blu-ray Disc format to the home market.

Established by the State Council of China and engaged in the development, manufacturing and sales of products ranging from key components, such as optical pick-ups, drives for DVD players/recorders and other audio/video products, the China Hualu Group is the only consumer electronics company directly under the Chinese State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of State Council.

For its part, China Film Group was established by the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Radio, Film, and TV. It is involved in the creation, production, distribution domestically and internationally of film, and TV series.

“With China Film Group’s vast stock of movie content and strong market position in working with overseas content owners, China Hualu Group is confident to provide world class HD movie on Blu-ray Disc format to the consumer," commented Chen Run Shen, Chairman of China Hualu Group. "The potential market the Blu-ray Disc format can offer is the main factor we decided to launch this initiative."

The China Film Group intends todrive the consumer adoption of HD, and will work closely with its partner "on the detailed schedule of release and selection of titles based on thorough market study."

“Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) is always committed to the Chinese market," said Kazuhiro Tsuga, Executive Officer of Matsushita Electric Industrial. "We are very happy to provide technical support to help China Hualu Group and China Film Group in creating a Blu-ray Disc Authoring Center in China. We will offer our world class expertise in Blu-ray disc authoring technology to this initiative."

It is not clear what the government's priority will be in implementing the next-generation format in China given that it is also pushing the HD DVD look-alike format – the Chinese High Definition DVD (CH-DVD) – launched with pomp in Beijing last week.

Story filed 17.11.07