Taiwan market: Mobile TV trial broadcasters would prefer joint operations

Four of the five trial mobile TV broadcast licensees in Taiwan have suggested to the National Communications Commission (NCC) that they be allowed to work together or establish a joint venture to operate mobile TV services on an integrated radio frequency band of 12MHz, according to industry sources.
The NCC issued five mobile TV broadcasting licenses on a trial basis in November 2006, each assigned a 6MHz band covering either northern Taiwan or southern Taiwan, the sources indicated. The five trial broadcasting licensees are China Television (CTV), Public Television Service (PTS), Chinese Television System (CTS), Chung-Hwa Wideband Best Network (Tw-Airnet) and Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV), with TTV adopting the Qualcomm-developed MediaFLO standard while the other four are using the DVB-H standard.

The four licensees adopting DVB-H would prefer to operate jointly or set up a joint venture to broadcast over a combined 12MHz band, the sources pointed out, as this will involve less investment and market risk than individual operations on two separate bands, the sources explained.