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Hello and welcome to the March issue of the Mobile TV Forum newsletter!
March 2007
In March mobile TV got clear support from the European Commission. Mobile TV spectrum issues also made some headlines.
European Commission commits to the success of mobile TV
The European Union Commissioner for Telecommunications, Viviane Reding, expressed strong support for mobile TV and DVB-H in her speech at the CeBIT fair held in Hanover, Germany earlier this month. According to Reding, mobile TV is an exciting new platform for the distribution of audiovisual content that could generate new business opportunities for content creators and service providers, bring new value-added services to citizens, and create jobs in Europe.
Reding urged European countries and industry to agree on an interoperable mobile broadcast standard to ensure the rapid development of mobile TV. She also refered to the success of GSM for mobile telecommunications and DVB for digital television. "I am very confident that on the basis of DVB-H, mobile TV services can develop the economies of scale they need for take-up across Europe and around the world", said Reding.
In addition to policy-making, the Commission has invested some €40 million in mobile TV related research.
Spectrum needs to be secured now, says industry
The European Commission also initiated the setting up of the European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC) last year. EMBC, with its members from the hardware, software, broadcasting, and content industries, is providing the Commission with industry opinions on developing mobile TV regulation and standardization. This month EMBC released a report that stresses the importance of allocating an adequate amount of spectrum for mobile TV services.
Switching off the analog TV networks will free up spectrum for new services during the next few years. The industry organization bmcoforum notes, however, that implementation of mobile TV should not be delayed until after the digital TV switch-over. "Mobile TV should have the same access to spectrum as any other TV service", says Jouni Kämäräinen, Vice-Chairman of bmcoforum. Visit www.bmcoforum.org to download bmcoforum's new spectrum policy paper.
The European Commission is expected to disclose its more concrete approach to mobile TV spectrum and standardization issues in mid 2007.
Mobile TV spectrum in the US and Asia
While the Europeans are still working on defining a region-wide strategy for mobile TV spectrum, the situation in the US market is much clearer. Network operator companies such as Modeo and Hiwire have already acquired spectrum for mobile TV. Modeo's network is nationwide and Hiwire's network covers most of the country.
Modeo is already operating a DVB-H based mobile TV trial operation in New York City.
In Asia, spectrum availability varies from market to market. UHF spectrum has been or is being allocated for mobile TV transmissions in India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and China for example.
April will be a month of two major industry events - the MipTV/Milia content industry conference and exhibition in Cannes, France, and the broadcasting industry event NAB in Las Vegas. Read more on these in the next newsletter. Stay tuned!
Timo Argillander
Editor
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