Mobile DTV: Ambitious plans afoot at ATSC
July 12th, 2007Local digital TV broadcasts would be available on mobile phones and handhelds, including free and paid services, according to a mobile TV roadmap from the Advanced Television Systems Committee.
Ad-supported television programming, video on demand and datacasting are among the services envisioned for the ATSC M/H standard, the ATSC’s Jerry Whitaker writes in TV Technology.
The standards group wants to ensure that new mobile TV services use spectrum efficiently enough not to crowd out existing HDTV telecasts. DTV receivers in use today probably would not be able to display the mobile DTV services. But any new services must operate on broadcasters’ DTV channels “without adverse impact on existing receiving equipment.”
The ATSC M/H standard is “a major priority in the ATSC strategic plan,” Whitaker writes, which “recognizes a growing consensus that mobile and handheld capability is essential to the future of local broadcasting.” Rather than starting from scratch, the new standard may incorporate mobile TV technologies already in development. The ATSC M/H timeline sounds pretty ambitious: Station owners hope to announce mobile DTV services before the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts on February 17, 2009.
• Link: TV Technology