Monday, 30 April 2007

Germany Supports DVB-H Mobile TV

Germany, ending a long drawn argument over broadcast mobile TV standards, has responded to a European Commission request to support a European-industry backed mobile TV standard.

BNetzA, the German network regulator is taking bids from companies seeking frequencies to provide broadcast mobile TV service based on the Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) standard.

At the Cebit trade show in March, the EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding had called DVB-H as an open standard and a European Standard, giving member states a deadline till summer to accept DVB-H.

Three key applications covered by the standard are the electronic service and programme guide, support for content and service protection based on the Smart Card Profile or the OMA DRM (Digital Rights Management) system and interactive capability, according to Jouni Kamarainen, Director,Nokia's multimedia division.

Under the announced plan, DVB-H service should be available in the capital cities of all 16 German states by 2008 and be extended to cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants beginning in 2009. Within the coming weeks, companies participating in the Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum are expected to approve a standard aimed at ensuring the interoperability of DVB-H applications, Kamarainen added.