Samsung MobiTV to Launch New Mobile TV Standard A-VSB

• Posted: Wednesday, January 09, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Mobile TV, Samsung

Digital broadcast service provider MobiTV, electronics firms Samsung and Rohde & Schwarz, communications solutions provider Nokia Siemens Networks and satellite communications company SES Americom jointly announced the launch of a new mobile television solution utilizing local broadcast TV spectrum.

The platform, scheduled for live demonstration at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, will deliver local and national programming as well as interactive applications to mobile devices "in-band" -- i.e., on local stations' transmitters and spectrum -- via Advanced Vestigial Sideband (A-VSB), a Samsung-developed, backward-compatible enhancement of the existing U.S. digital TV broadcasting system, and is based on open standard specifications defined by the Open Mobile Alliance BCAST 1.0, a globally interoperable mobile TV service layer specification suite.

The firms in question said they will announce A-VSB consumer trials later this year, with a commercial rollout planned for 2009. A-VSB is currently under consideration by the international broadcasting standards organization Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) as an open standard for mobile broadcast TV.

"We see A-VSB as complementary, not competitive, to wireless services," said MobiTV's director of strategic alliances Alan Moskowitz in a prepared statement. "By relying on existing TV spectrum to deliver bandwidth-intensive video to mobile devices, wireless service providers have a new option for providing TV to their subscribers. In addition, MobiTV's interactive application and VOD delivery platform will enable a new class of services combining broadcast TV and mobile data networks."

“As the inventor of A-VSB, Samsung 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. “Since proposing A-VSB to the ATSC in 2005, we have never wavered in our commitment to set an open standard for the benefit of broadcasters, manufacturers, and consumers. The all-star team announced today will enable mobile broadcast TV to reach American consumers sooner and at less cost than anyone dreamed possible only a short time ago.”

“The success of any new technology depends on the level of interoperability between suppliers and the ease-of-use for consumers. Using open standards is a catalyst for rapid adoption of new technologies,” said Harald Braun, Head of Convergence Business Team, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Nokia Siemens 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.” [FierceMobileContent/FierceWireless]

Related News:
Samsung Makes Progress On A-VSB Digital Mobile Video
Samsung premieres new mobile TV standard
Mobile TV interoperability deal for Nokia, Samsung
MobiTV Goes Live on BlackBerry
Yahoo, MobiTV team on mobile ads

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