China is reported to launched its own technology standard for mobile TV broadcasting this week.

The country’s State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) has introduced the Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multi-service Infrastructure (STiMi), developed by the SARFT-affiliated Academy of Broadcast Science.

Local press reports that there is a possibility that all service providers will be required to use the standard when it is commercially introduced next month.

The news has echoes of China’s attempts to push its home grown 3G technology, TD-SCDMA, as the domestic standard for the country. The government appears to have buckled to pressure however and it now looks like China’s mobile operators will be largely free to choose how they use their 3G spectrum, perhaps with just one licensee being forced to roll out TD-SCDMA.