Shares of China Digital TV Holding, the mainland's largest supplier of smart cards for digital television access, rose strongly on their debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The stock hit a high of US$35 before sliding back to US$29.87 by midday trading. More than 12.37 million shares were traded. The Beijing-based company raised US$192 million in its initial public offering of American depositary shares, after pricing the shares at a higher than expected US$16 each. Last month, the company said it planned to raise as much as US$156 million by selling 12 million shares at US$11 to US$13 each. Each depositary share equals one ordinary new share, which means the stock sale represents a 21.6 per cent stake in the company. China Digital TV may expand the offer by up to 15 per cent if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option to meet demand and stabilise the share price. The company said it would use the proceeds from the stock offering for research and development, sales, marketing and acquisitions. Credit Suisse Group and Morgan Stanley arranged the initial share sale. China Digital TV, whose smart cards allow digital television operators to control access to their programming, conducts all business through Beijing Super TV, its operating subsidiary in the mainland, and Beijing Novel-Tongfang Digital TV Technology, a mainland company it controls. At the end of June, China Digital TV had installed its systems at 130 digital television network operators in 26 of the country's 32 provinces and municipalities. The company sold 2.8 million smart cards in the first half, compared with 1.3 million a year earlier. First-half sales more than doubled to US$21.67 million from a year earlier while net profit rose 257 per cent to US$12.16 million. In 2003, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said all television broadcasts would be digital by 2010 while cable-television networks would end analogue transmissions by 2015. Analysys International, a telecommunications and media consultancy, said a third of the nation's viewing households subscribed to cable-television programmes, against 3.5 per cent for digital at the end of last year. Smart move China Digital TV offered 12 million shares in its listing on the NYSE The price of the digital smart card supplier's depositary shares, in US$: $16