CHINA UnionPay and Shanghai Media Group signed an agreement yesterday on a payment service on multi-platforms, including TV -- the latest expansion under the national "Three Network Convergence" policy.

In January, China released a statement encouraging cross-industry operations among telecommunications, broadcast and Internet firms. It aims to fully converge all networks by 2015.

According to the agreement, both sides will cooperate on digital TV, mobile TV, Internet protocol TV (IPTV) and TV shopping as well as related payment services on various devices.

The cooperation will allow users to "use" TV, instead of only "watch" TV, through various kinds of interactive services such as TV games, IPTV and e-commerce, according to SMG, the country's second-biggest media conglomerate behind CCTV.

SMG has so far attracted 17 million users for its paid TV service and 3 million TV shopping users. The company's revenue is expected to hit 5 billion yuan (US$732 million), said SMG.

UnionPay is China's No. 1 payment platform.

Under the national policy, Chinese broadcasters are no longer banned from providing value-added telecom services and basic communication and Internet services. Telecom operators are now permitted to operate TV and radio production and transmission.