Many of the cellular industry’s leading wireless and entertainment companies have formed a new organization to promote the growth and evolution of Digital Video Broadcasting—Handheld (DVB-H), an open procedure standard for broadcast digital TV reception on mobile devices. The organization, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, includes representatives from Intel Corporation, Modeo, Motorola, Nokia, and Texas Instruments (TI).
As mobile video entertainment gains increased awareness and achieves greater availability, the alliance will focus on promoting the best practices and open standards that deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices for the North American market, according to its mission statement.
“The mobile TV market is heating up, with both trials and deployments accelerating over the next 12 to 18 months,” says David Linsalata, research analyst for Mobile Markets at IDC. “The support of key industry players in promoting the advantages of the DVB-H standard will significantly aid mobile TV deployment efforts in North America.”
Using mobile devices capable of decoding DVB-H signals, users will be able to receive live TV programming from the mobile TV function directly on their phones and other devices. In addition, users will benefit from on-demand and interactive programming that would utilize the cellular network, thereby increasing revenue opportunities for operators. The DVB-H standard benefits operators by preserving cellular network bandwidth for voice and other data services. Furthermore, mobile broadcast TV, together with 2.5G and 3G networks, offers an exceptional user experience and more efficient utilization of operators’ spectrum and resources.
There are more than 10 DVB-H network trials that have either concluded or are currently underway around the globe, including ones in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries. By 2007, most U.S. major markets are expected to have DVB-H infrastructure built and ready for deployment.
