News
3GSM turned on by TV
Tim Green at 3GSM in Barcelona Feb 15 2006, 1:30pm
Broadcast mobile TV is getting all the ratings at 3GSM, with rival formats DMB and DVB-H each making a big noise. DMB is being beamed live inside the show, while DVB-H was boosted by the news that Nokia and Sony Ericsson will work together on making their phones inter-operable with the technology.
Nokia has long been a cheerleader for DVB-H, which it has successfully trialled in multiple territories and expects to see launched in Italy this year. Sony Ericsson has been more reticent, so this announcement is a real fillip for the platform in the face of competition from DMB and MediaFLO (set for launch in the US in October).
Both parties will use the ‘Open Air Interface’ guidelines in their implementation of DVB-H in handsets. Mats Lindof, CTO of Sony Ericsson, said: “We believe mobile TV will be a key growth area in terms of handsets, applications, content and services.
With our background we are ideally placed to take advantage of these exciting opportunities…DVB-H will be one of the key technologies driving it.”
DMB, meanwhile, has been launched in Korea and has 400,000 subscribers. Its 'custodian' WorldDab has confirmed 20 trials are currently live, and that some live transmissions will be available in Germany during the World Cup. The platform is heavily backed by LG and Samsung, although these two are also committed to DVB-H, DAB and MediaFLO too.
