Newsletters
Hello and welcome to the June issue of the Nokia Mobile TV Forum newsletter!
June 2006
I am pleased to take over editorial responsibility for this newsletter and keep you all informed of novel developments in this exciting field.
This June many of us have been and will continue to be glued to our television screens in support of our favorite team in the FIFA World Cup. As always, big sporting events catalyze the development of new media technology applications such as mobile TV and the World Cup is no exception. In Italy the first commercial DVB-H transmissions are now on air while in Germany, the host country of the World Cup, we are seeing some very interesting developments. Read on to find out more.
German mobile operators launch a joint DVB-H initiative and field trial
Germany's leading mobile operators have joined forces and launched a joint initiative to foster the uptake of mobile TV. E-Plus, O2, T-Mobile, and Vodafone announced their intention to invest in DVB-H network technology. The group of operators also stressed the importance to allocate adequate spectrum for mobile TV transmissions. Certainly, sharing spectrum and network costs between four operators makes the mobile TV business model more lucrative.
The group of operators has also launched a DVB-H-based mobile TV pilot project, which started on the eve of the FIFA World Cup 2006 and continues through the summer. The pilot transmissions are on air in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, and Munich.
Nokia N92 in the German pilot
Nokia has provided Nokia N92 handsets for the German DVB-H pilot. Nokia's first commercially available DVB-H device, the N92 is expected hit the market in various countries during 2006. The device will be available via local delivery channels during this summer.
Director of Nokia Multimedia Juha Ronkainen stresses Nokia's commitment not only to deliver DVB-H-enabled devices where there is already demand, but also to proactively support the development of the mobile TV ecosystem. According to Ronkainen, mobile TV functionalities will be standard in Nseries mobile phones in coming years.
The N92 boasts good reception quality of video and sound and ease of use-essential features for a mass-market device. At the end of the day, however, the success of mobile TV is directly dependent on the quality of TV content, reminds Ronkainen. Therefore the growing interest among media companies towards mobile TV content is definitely good news.
Technical standards for mobile TV are maturing
The technical standardization of DVB-H is well under way. Currently there are two sets of technical standards that define DVB-H broadcasting: CBMS and BCAST. The broadcaster-initiated Digital Video Broadcasting organization (DVB) published their CBMS specification in late 2005, while mobile industry organization Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is about to present their BCAST standard this summer. Most parts of both specifications are interoperable, but differences remain in some areas such as how electronic services guide (ESG) and service protection and payment functionalities are specified.
For its part, Nokia has built its DVB-H solutions based on the BCAST specification. In addition to this, Nokia announced plans to provide support CBMS-based ESG as well, with CBMS/ESG support to be commercially available in early 2007. Support for both ESG specifications gives operators the freedom to choose the one that suits their needs better.
Main
Newsletter
Subscribe to have the latest information on from the Nokia Mobile TV delivered to your email inbox.
Syndicate this siteWhat is this?
