Televisa Tests Mobile DTV

Trials Harris system in Mexico City

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/28/2008 9:40:00 AM

Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa has successfully tested a mobile digital TV (DTV) system in Mexico City using equipment from transmission supplier Harris and cellphone maker LG Electronics, Harris announced today.

The Televisa test, which was conducted as a preliminary step in determining the feasibility of offering mobile DTV service in Mexico in the future, took programming from Televisa’s analog channel 4 and rebroadcast it on digital channel 42 to prototype LG handheld receivers in vehicles traveling at highway speeds around the broadcaster’s Mexico City coverage area.

The in-band mobile DTV signal was multiplexed into Televisa’s 19.4 megabit-per-second ATSC transport stream using a Harris NetVX multiplexer at the transmitter site, and broadcast over-the-air from Televisa’s existing 1.8-kilowatt Harris Diamond ATSC transmitter equipped with a Harris APEX exciter modified for mobile DTV. The tests used the MPH mobile DTV system co-developed by Harris Corporation, LG Electronics and Zenith.

“We’re extremely pleased that Televisa chose to conduct a mobile DTV test based upon the Harris Diamond ATSC transmitter and APEX exciter,” said Nahuel Villegas, vice president of Harris Broadcast Communications, Caribbean and Latin American region, in a statement. “Mobile DTV will likely expand and revolutionize TV viewing options for Mexico City, making it possible for Televisa and other broadcasters to deliver its highly rated content to drivers, commuters and others with mobile receivers. The feedback we received from Televisa was that these results were better than they originally anticipated, as their engineers were able to easily modify its existing Diamond transmitter for mobile DTV, and provide solid reception throughout its broadcast contour — even in challenging terrain.”

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