CES 2008: A-VSB Backers Announce National Trial
Samsung, Rohde & Schwarz, Nokia to Test Advanced-Vestigial Sideband
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2008 9:38:00 PM
Las Vegas -- Advanced-Vestigial Sideband (A-VSB), the mobile digital-TV technology developed by Samsung, Rohde & Schwarz and Nokia, will be tested in a nationwide trial later this spring by a consortium of mobile DTV backers including Samsung, Rohde & Schwarz, Nokia Siemens Networks, MobiTV and SES Americom.
The trial will use SES Americom's IP PRIME facility in Vernon Valley, N.J., and satellite capacity to beam national signals to A-VSB transmitters in local markets, which will also be inserting local content into an A-VSB "in-band" stream that will broadcast within stations' existing digital spectrum.
Rohde & Schwarz and Samsung are supplying the local transmission technology, Nokia Siemens is providing back-end service management and MobiTV will handle the service's interactive features. SES Americom will provide overall integration of the project.
The consortium -- which is competing with the MPH system from Harris and LG to be the mobile DTV standard for the United States -- hopes to have the trial working by the National Association of Broadcasters show in April. A-VSB is being demonstrated at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show here this week, in partnership with Sinclair Broadcast Group station KVMY.
