Stations to Organize More Mobile-DTV Tests
Open Mobile Video Coalition to work with Advanced Television Systems Committee to speed standards process.
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/20/2008 12:00:00 AM EDT
The Open Mobile Video Coalition, a group of more than 800 stations pushing for a new mobile-digital-TV standard, confirmed that it will organize further field trials this fall in conjunction with the Advanced Television Systems Committee, as previously reported by B&C.
The OMVC will formally announce Wednesday that it is offering the ATSC expanded support in the process of setting a new mobile/handheld (M/H) standard that will enable stations to broadcast video and data to cell phones and other portable devices.
The support includes additional funding and the commitment of participating stations and manpower for ATSC testing of a candidate M/H standard, which is expected to be in place by mid-October. Both the OMVC and the ATSC said their goal is to have a final standard ratified no later than the second quarter of 2009.
"Expanding our support for the ATSC's important work is a reaffirmation of broadcasters' deep and unwavering commitment to fielding outstanding mobile-digital-television services to consumers," said Brandon Burgess, OMVC president and ION Media Networks chairman and CEO, in a statement. "We will work together swiftly and steadily to accelerate industry adoption of the ATSC M/H Standard and realize this untapped opportunity nationwide."
The OMVC previously vetted competing mobile-DTV systems from LG Electronics/Harris, Samsung/Rohde & Schwarz/Nokia and Thomson/Micronas in a series of field evaluations in San Francisco and Las Vegas called the Independent Demonstration of Viability (IDOV).
The OMVC’s new proposed support includes corroborative testing of the M/H core transmission system, or “physical layer”; independent verification of the candidate standard; complete system validation; and on-air facility and interoperability testing.
“I think it’s a substantial testing proposal and a good follow-on to IDOV,” OMVC executive director Anne Schelle said. “We’re really kicking the tires on the M/H system and candidate standard itself.”
Schelle didn’t have details on which markets the OMVC will conduct the tests in, although she said the same locations will probably be used for the different phases of the proposed tests and they will likely be announced in October. An important step, she added, will be the independent-verification phase, where a third party will build gear for the mobile-DTV system proposed jointly by LG and Samsung.
The OMVC also plans to conduct consumer trials of mobile DTV, which will be separate from the ATSC process and will be designed to gauge the business prospects for such a service. Stations in Dallas and Chicago have offered to host such trials, but those plans are not firm and any consumer trial wouldn’t start until early next year, Schelle said.
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