Mobile TV Group Formed To Drive Standards

Some of the world’s largest mobile technology firms have joined forces to create a new mobile TV alliance, promoting the technology and seeking to foster growth in the fledgling technology around the globe.

Promoting the growth and evolution of the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld) standard, the new organization, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, is comprised of companies including Intel, Modeo (formerly Crown Castle Mobile Media), Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments.

The alliance will initially focus its efforts on promoting best practices and open standards in the North American market, although its work has immediate implications for the wider world.

There are numerous DVB-H trials in operation world-wide, including one being undertaken by Arqiva and O2 in Oxford. The British study released its first findings last week, announcing that 83% of triallists were satisfied with the end-to-end service provided, signaling a large appetite for the technology (see UK Consumers Keen For Mobile TV).

The DVB-H standard delivers high quality video to mobile handsets using existing TV transmitters, rather than relying on comparatively slow mobile telephone bandwidth. This solution enables much more efficient transmission of data, with a true one-to-many solution rather than the one-to-one streaming offered by 3G video feeds.

The prospect of mobile digital TV does not end with streamed media, however. The BBC’s trial internet delivery system, the iMP (integrated Media Player), is also able to save video as a mobile format for use with handsets in the same way as podcasts and MP3 players (see BBC Enters Second Phase Of Web TV Trial). The Corporation are due to report the findings of their iMP trial in the next few months, following the completion of the pilot study next month.

Mobile DTV Alliance: www.mdtvalliance.org