A team composed of Samsung Electronics, MobiTV, Nokia Siemens Networks, Rohde & Schwarz and SES (News - Alert) AMERICOM's IP-PRIME are demonstrating a joint solution at CES this week. The companies came together create a national distribution platform that enables complete mobile TV services in the United States, utilizing local broadcast TV spectrum.

 

The technology used to create this platform creates a vision for how entertainment and wireless connectivity can be integrated. The trend is toward enabling broadcasting, along with access to TV and video content, to be offered to mobile customers. This development motivated the companies discussed here to create the new platform.

 

The New Mobile Broadcast TV Technology Platform is a joint activity designed to act as an open standard and deliver local and national programming and interactive applications to consumers on mobile devices "in-band," through local TV stations' existing transmitters and spectrum.

 

The platform is also expected to improve significantly new business opportunities to the broadcasting, advertising, wireless, digital media, interactive services, and consumer electronics industries.

 

It uses Advanced Vestigial Sideband (A-VSB, a DTV broadcast system for mobile purposes under review by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). It is backward-compatible with the existing U.S. digital TV broadcasting system. The system allows local TV stations' broadcast spectrum to reach mobile audiences.

 

In combination with the global application standard OMA BCAST, the platform will enable broadcasters to deliver digital media, such as entertainment, news, sports, children's shows, and public safety notifications, to phones, PCs, portable media players, car entertainment systems—anything equipped with an A-VSB receiver chip.

 

“As the inventor of A-VSB, Samsung (News - Alert) is proud to have shown the way forward to empower U.S. local TV stations for mobile broadcasting,” said John Godfrey, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, Samsung Electronics, in a statement.

 

Alan Moskowitz, director of strategic alliances for MobiTV (News - Alert), Inc., mentioned that the company sees A-VSB as complementary, not competitive, to wireless services. He also promised that MobiTV's interactive application and VOD delivery platform will enable a new class of services combining broadcast TV and mobile data networks.

 

"Nokia Siemens (News - Alert) Networks will deliver an open standards- and OMA BCAST-compliant service platform for mobile broadcast TV as part of the cooperative demonstration to enable a high quality end-user experience," said Harald Braun, Head of Convergence Business Team, Nokia Siemens Networks, in a statement.

 

"Rohde & Schwarz (News - Alert) will provide broadcasters with the required exciters, transmitters and test solutions to easily convert their existing ATSC transmission infrastructure to enable A-VSB services," said Eddy Vanderkerken, Director of Broadcast Sales, Rohde & Schwarz America.

 

Delighted about the collaboration, Bryan McGuirk, President of North American Satellite Services for SES AMERICOM said, "By integrating our partners' standards-based technologies and software, we expect to demonstrate a robust, end-to-end mobile broadcast TV solution that will accelerate its commercial launch in 2009."