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EU Adopts DVB-H as Mobile-TV Standard

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Tue Mar 18, 4:43 PM ET

The European Commission has added the DVB-H mobile-TV specification to the European Union's list of official standards. Tailored to the specific requirements of handheld, battery-powered receivers, DVB-H is an offshoot of the terrestrial DVB-T system already employed by digital-TV broadcasters in Europe. ADVERTISEMENT

The EC believes deployment of a single technology across EU nations will give wireless operators the market scale they need to launch mobile-TV services in time for this year's broadcasts of the European Football Championship and the Summer Olympic Games.

The EC "is firmly convinced that 2008 is the right time to create conditions favorable to the rapid takeoff of mobile broadcasting," said EU commissioner Viviane Reding. "Without this certainty and predictability, it will be impossible to invest with confidence in new innovative technologies."

The Next Steps

Spearheaded by Nokia and backed by Motorola, Philips, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, DVB-H is the world's most widely used mobile-TV spec. Services based on the spec are currently between trials and commercial launches in 16 countries. A commercial service is also in the works for Russia.

However, several key steps are still needed to put DVB-H on the high-growth track. Reding said the main patent holders still need "to finalize an agreement over the licensing terms and conditions and the constitution of the patent pool."

Digital-rights management systems based on open technologies also need to be finalized, Reding said. "We also cannot allow commercial launches to be delayed because of legal vacuums or overly burdensome regulation," she added.

A Global Opportunity

Europe's move to embrace DVB-H is a setback for rival technologies such as Qualcomm's competing MediaFLO technology, which has already been embraced by U.S wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless. However, the EC's adoption of DVB-H as a standard is not compulsory, so EU nations still have the option of permitting the deployment of rival technologies.

Europe's largest cellular trade group believes it "is too early in the development of mobile TV for the industry to standardize around one technology," said GSM Association spokesperson David Pringle.

Nevertheless, the EC's decision may end up hurting rival technologies around the world, much as Europe's adoption of the GSM mobile-phone standard blunted the penetration of CDMA into many overseas markets.

The EC estimates the global mobile-TV market could be worth up to $31.6 billion by 2011, when it is projected to have 500 million subscribers. According to Reding, the early embrace of DVB-H means the EU will not miss an important global opportunity and let South Korea, Japan and the U.S. impose a model upon much of the rest of the world.

"Many other countries worldwide are going to share our choice, and I am convinced that we are going to create a new, immense market for this open technology of the DVB family of standards," Reding said.