Thomson's Mobile TV solutions chosen by 3 Italia for Europe's largest DVB-H service

The Italian mobile operator, 3 Italia, has built a new operation centre for the mobile television services La3 TV, based on an integrated solution from Thomson the worldwide leader in video solutions. 3 Italia operates Europe's largest DVB-H service with over 850,000 subscribers in Italy. The new Thomson mobile video headend allows 3 Italia to manage encoding and delivery in house, with the capability to broadcast up to 20 channels over DVB-H, with superior picture quality.

The solution is based on Thomson's ViBE Mobile TV encoder to achieve the highest possible quality of MPEG-4 compression, optimizing the bandwidth available for mobile television.

Thomson engineers provided systems design, integration, commissioning and training services for the whole implementation. The installation was completed in a record-timeframe, and handed over in July 2008.

"We have been selected for Europe's largest mobile TV services, and Thomson's mobile TV solutions are at the heart of some of the most important deployments worldwide" said Patrick Montliaud, Senior Vice President of Thomson's Networks and Integration Solutions within the Systems division. "We look forward to accompanying 3 Italia with our scalable solutions as their user base grows even further."

Thomson is unique in supporting the entire media chain from high-definition content creation to multi-play services for home consumption.

Thomson committed to joined-up services across multiple networks

Thomson highlighted its unified approach to content management and delivery across multiple platforms at IPTV World Forum 2008, outlining plans to converge its SmartVision service delivery platform for IPTV with the SmartVision platform for mobile TV.

The result will be a common management and distribution solution for linear video over 3G cellular networks, VOD over 3G, DVB-H broadcast TV (mobile), and both linear and on-demand video over DSL. According to Thierry Boudard, who is responsible for strategy marketing and innovation for service platforms at Thomson, the system will enable network operators to provide the same VOD offer through 3G and DSL and provide cross-platform continuity of service. "Subscribers can watch a movie trailer on the mobile phone and order the movie to watch on the phone or television," he explains, as an example. Ideal for telcos with fixed and mobile services, this also opens up new business model opportunities including tiered movie rental prices to cover mobile, television or both.

Thomson also announced a push-VOD solution as part of the SmartVision software platform and this is also designed to help operators provide a joined-up service using different access networks. New SmartVision modules will enable satellite and digital terrestrial platforms to download on-demand content into PVRs even without a return path connection. Where they do have access to broadband, they can use the IP pipe to augment this VOD delivery. Typically, the broadcast spectrum might be used for hit movies or TV shows, and the IP connection for long-tail content. The system supports real-time or progressive download.

Thomson : New Solutions for 3G Mobile TV

Thomson is expanding its integrated software and hardware platforms to support 3G solutions for mobile TV - including live video streaming, on demand, and format repurposing. Thomson has leveraged its IPTV video expertise and technologies, widely used by pay TV and telecoms operators worldwide, to adapt them to 3G/cellular networks.

Thomson is combining the ability of its mobile TV head-ends and its SmartVision service platform/VoD servers to support 3G networks in addition to IPTV. This innovative solution allows operators to provide a wide choice of revenue-driving video on demand and live streaming services to mobile handsets.

Thomson's new mobile TV solutions can thus provide convergent services and a superior customer viewing experience.

"As operators consider future-proofing their architectures in readiness for convergent services, Thomson is uniquely able to provide a range of head-end and middleware solutions for both fixed and mobile networks. Thomson's solution can simultaneously manage broadcast, unicast and on demand mobile TV services to the same handsets with a unified Electronic Service Guide for 3G/DVB-H services." said Patrick Montliaud, General Manager of Thomson's Network and Integration Solutions.

Optimising Viewing Quality Experience on Smaller Screens

According to a recent survey by TeleAnalytics, 24% of European mobile video and TV trial users stopped using the service because of service quality issues.

Thomson's head-end and VoD solutions ensure greater quality of service, and in addition its ViBE Mobile TV encoder uses innovative format repurposing technologies to automatically adapt images for display on smaller screens, such as mobile phones and PDAs.Thomson's expertise in compression technologies ensures the best picture quality for enhanced customer experience at 40% less bandwidth requires compared to previous generation codecs.

This patent-pending technology intelligently identifies the part of the image that is important to the viewer and automatically resizes the content to deliver the most complete, informative image for the mobile display.

Managing converged video services

Operators will be able to use the SmartVision service platform and VoD servers to support 3G formats for mobile TV as well as for IPTV services. Located in the heart of the operator's network, the server can be used to deliver VoD streams to mobile devices, PCs and set-top boxes.

Thomson participates in First DVB-H Mobile Television Service in Latin America

Thomson today announces that it is supplying a complete head-end solution to ATV, part of the pan-Latin American media group Albavision, to power a trial mobile television service in Lima, Peru and in Guatemala. The service, the first of its kind in Latin America, will roll out to the commercial market in June 2008.

The service at present features four live television channels, transmitted using the DVB-H broadcast standard. At the head-end, Thomson ViBE Mobile TV encoders compress the incoming video streams, which are then encapsulated into a single transport stream using the Thomson Opal DVB-H encapsulator. The electronic service guide is also created by Thomson.

“The idea of mobile television is exciting consumers in markets globally” said Patrick Montliaud, General Manager of Thomson's Network and Integration Solutions business. “The system we have delivered to ATV in Lima allows Albavision to build a market with minimum capital expenditure, knowing that they can expand through additional services, increased functionality and interactivity when they need to.”

“We see Mobile TV broadcasting as an important part of our growth in the future” said Angel Gonzalez, CEO of Albavision. “That is why it was important to get our service in Peru on air as quickly as possible. We knew Thomson as a very reliable supplier which could give us a complete, proven solution, and we are very pleased with the progress so far”. Juan Pablo Alviz, CTO of ATV added “We are examining the possibility of expanding this solution to other countries in Latin America”.

Thomson aiming at Nokia with OMA BCAST

Thomson has developed a content and access solution based on OMA BCAST standard, that it says will help operators choose their mobile TV platform with more confidence it will be interoperable with different handsets and security platforms on he market, writes Keith Dyer reporting from IBC,.

Thomson's OMA BCAST solution features a Thomson DVB-H Mobile TV encoder with scrambling capabilities and its SmartVision service platform, which generates an OMA BCAST Electronic Service Guide (ESG). Speaking to Mobile Europe, Yann Courqueux, Director IP & Mobility Systems, WW Systems Solutions, Thomson, said that so far in the area of content access there has been a battle between the broadcast and the mobile side of the industry. The standards based approach was about bridging that gap, he said. "Essentially the head end market is split between Thomson and Nokia, so up until now, if you chose Nokia¹s solution, it also meant working with Nokia phones, not with LG, Motorola, or anyone else.

The incompatibility meant it was not possible to change across brands. Yet of course with nearly 50% of the market operators feel they need to have Nokia in their portfolio. So they need Nokia phones yet can¹t work with others. "This is a single platform that is interoperable with different service and content protection systems including Irdeto, Nagravision and Viaccess," Courqueux said. Courqueux added that that in countries where there is going to be one frequency, and one host mobile TV network, sharing is going to be essential, hence mandating interoperability.

"When Nokia phones get OMA BCAST in them in the next year or so then operators will have a choice, and that¹s the differentiation," Courqueux said. The OMA BCAST SmartCard Profile integrates security software into the SIM card itself.

"The OMA BCAST SmartCard Profile is Mobile Operators' preferred standard for Mobile TV service and content protection, as it places all the rights management in the SIM card to lower the overall price of mobile TV terminals," said Frédéric Caussarieu, General Manager of Thomson¹s network software business. Thomson said its Mobile TV solutions is involved in 50% of the trials and 70% of the commercial services currently deployed around the world.

Irdeto conducts Sydney DVB-H trial

Irdeto, the proven expert in content security for digital TV, IPTV and mobile, has partnered with Broadcast Australia, and head-end systems vendor Thomson in a DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) trial in Sydney, Australia.

During the three-month trial, which began on May 7, 2007, Irdeto is demonstrating the delivery of a secure platform on DVB-H networks. It has deployed its Mobile Broadcast conditional access (CA) solution to secure content across mobile services and devices, in order to ensure content protection and robust rights management.

The first phases of the trial, which included testing interactive services, technical capabilities and performance of the DVB-H Solution to deliver mobile TV and related broadcast services has resulted in five secure, encrypted channels available for viewing in the Sydney Metropolitan area, on the newest generation Samsung P930 swivel screen handsets.

Irdeto technology is currently integrated into more than 90 different devices from leading manufacturers including mobile phones, PDAs, PMPs and in-car devices, making it the most-integrated mobile TV security solution in the world. The solution uses patented technologies which enable mobile TV operations to scale to support at least 20 million subscribers.

Irdeto is the only content security company with deployments in all three types of networks - with DVB-H solutions in South Africa and Hungary, S-DMB solutions in South Korea and T-DMB solutions in Germany. Irdeto also supports and complies with the security specification adopted by the FLO Forum, the interest group that supports MediaFLO.

According to ABI Research, the subscriber base for mobile broadcast services is expected to grow from 1.5 million at the end of 2006 to 460 million by 2011.

Thomson Leads Open Mobile Television Trial in Sydney

Thomson is working to deliver a trial, five-channel mobile television service across the greater Sydney area in Australia. The service uses the open DVB-H standard and can be received on any DVB-H capable mobile device equipped with decoding technology from Irdeto, with whom Thomson is working to deliver the service.

"The Thomson DVB-H encoding platform is able to offer scrambling capabilities, multi-MNO services, and statistical encoding" said Martin Farrimond, Broadcast Australia's general manager for mobile television. "The platform is pre-integrated with Irdeto conditional access. This is a further phase of Australian mobile TV trials, and is designed to ensure that a well-informed decision is made regarding selection of the best solution for the eventual commercial mobile TV service."

There are five channels in the trial service at present, with CNN and children's service Boomerang as well as three national channels ABC, ABC2, and SBS. Other channels may be added later. They are encoded using the Thomson Mobile TV encoder, developed specially for Mobile TV applications. The encoder relies on a powerful hardware platform that features a best-in- class acquisition board, advanced pre-processing filters, multiple codec support and multi-stream generation.

The statistical encoding capabilities of the Mobile TV encoder is also used in conjunction with the Opal statistical time slicing to ensure that the best use is made of the available bandwidth while preserving video quality.

The other critical part of the trial system is the Thomson SmartVision Mobile TV service platform. As well as managing subscriber, services and system configuration, it also provides a live electronic service guide (ESG), generated automatically by SmartVision.

"The use of open, international standards is critical to the success of any mobile television service," said Patrick Montliaud, Senior Vice President of Integration and Networking Solutions business unit within Thomson. "This Broadcast Australia trial uses the widely accepted standards of MPEG-4 AVC encoding and DVB-H transmission. We are delighted to be a part of this trial, and proud to be able to ensure that audiences receive the best possible quality through the use of our dedicated statistical encoding platform."

Mobile-TV: TVI Portugal and Vodafone Portugal Complete Successful Trials With DVB-H Solutions from Thomson

SmartVision service platform and Mobile TV head-end from Thomson used by Portugal’s largest broadcaster and Vodafone Portugal

Paris, France, 14 June, 2007 –TVI Portugal and Vodafone Portugal have completed successful trials of digital television broadcasts to mobile phones using Thomson’s (Euronext 18453; NYSE: TMS) SmartVision™ interactive service platforms and Mobile TV head-end products, Thomson’s Argos mobile TV encoders and Opal™ DVB-H IP encapsulators.

TVI Portugal is Portugal’s largest broadcaster in terms of viewer ratings while Vodafone Portugal is the country’s second biggest telecommunications operator.

The trial consisted of eight live channels broadcasted by DVB-H to panel of users with mobile phones from Samsung. “As the operator, our dual goals were to obtain a first level of feedback from our customers on user experience and to test the technology itself,” said António Carriço , Director of Global Products and Innovations for Vodafone Portugal.

“Mobile TV has been a key service for Vodafone Portugal since its launch in 2004 and DVB-H technology is one of the next milestones in the path of our customer’s satisfaction. We are very satisfied with this pilot test phase.”

“We chose to test Thomson’s DVB-H broadcast head-end equipment and SmartVision services platform with ESG (Electronic Service Guide) management for their proven track records and fast implementation,” said José Nabais, CTO of TVI Portugal.“The Portuguese market represents a particularly interesting opportunity for launching new mobile services as the population are strong users of mobile phones,” said Jacques Dunogué, Thomson senior executive vice president in charge of the Systems Division . “More than 60 % of all voice calls made in Portugal are made using mobile phones whilst the European average is only 43%. Thomson is well placed in this promising market, and our participation in most mobile TV trials gives us a unique experience .”

Broadcast Australia trials DVB-H mobile TV (Thomson)

Broadcast Australia is hosting a new trial of DVB-H mobile TV services at its Gore Hill site in Sydney. The 3-month trial, which commenced transmission on May 7, is collaboration between the three companies: Broadcast Australia, digital video solutions group Thomson Grass Valley, and digital content protection specialist Irdeto, the trial license-holder.

"This trial has a number of key differences from previous mobile TV trials Broadcast Australia has participated in," said Martin Farrimond, Broadcast Australia General Manager Mobile TV. "These include the Grass Valley DVB-H head-end and the Irdeto OSF-compliant digital access and content protection system, which is an alternative to the 18C based platform used in our previous trials. In addition, the trial will test statistical multiplexing, a technique that allows more services to be distributed in any given bandwidth, thus making better use of any investment in a mobile TV network."

Currently, users participating in the trial have access to five mobile channels, including Australian public service channels ABC, ABC2, and SBS, plus Turner's CNN and Boomerang. However, the line-up could change as the end of the trial, scheduled for July 31, approaches. (via: cellular-news)

Thomson Selected by Telecom Operator for DVB-H Mobility Deployment in New York

Thomson Selected by Telecom Operator for DVB-H Mobility Deployment in New York

Paris, France and Las Vegas (National Association of Broadcasters Convention), April 16, 2007 – Grass Valley, a business within Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS), has been chosen to support the new Modeo live commercial quality mobile TV service across the New York City metropolitan area with a full complement of products and systems designed to facilitate, monitor, and control the reliable transmission and reception of mobile digital audio, video, and other data types.
The agreement, which includes broadcast system redundancy and installation, illustrates the comprehensive reach of Thomson's Grass Valley™ product portfolio.
"Telecommunication companies are looking for the most reliable and cost-effective platforms to provide video subscription services," said Patrick Montliaud, Senior Vice President of the Integration and Transmission Solutions for Thomson's Grass Valley business. "Our deep knowledge of the broadcast and content distribution markets, as well as an extremely broad product portfolio, distinguishes Grass Valley in the rapidly expanding mobility market, and we're pleased to be working with Modeo as they continue the development of their mobile video service."
In late 2006, Modeo launched its commercial quality service that is being tested by hundreds of beta users in the New York City area, where the company has deployed 18 Thomson Affinity base stations.
"Modeo chose Thomson's transmitters to ensure that we provide a reliable signal and that the equipment and systems are deployed in a cost-effective and timely fashion," said Martyn Gregory, vice president of Modeo. "Thomson has demonstrated that it is one of the leading broadcast companies with the technology, resources and personnel to support next-generation Mobile TV service."
Full Mobile TV Head-End System
Modeo's Network Operation Center also employs many of Grass Valley's mobile video products, including the Argos™ Windows Media 9 encoder with redundancy management, comprising all the necessary equipment to efficiently deliver content to mobile receivers. The Opal DVB-H IP Encapsulator performs the IP encapsulation with DVB-H format and combines specific features such as time slicing and MPE-based forward error correction (FEC). It also offers statistical time slicing for bandwidth optimization and the ability to share the time slicers between multiple mobile network operators. To guarantee service availability within Modeo's mobile TV head end, Grass Valley's Lazulite network management system provides an integrated supervision and redundancy management platform, allowing Modeo to quickly identify a faulty device or manage automatic redundancy.

Thomson’s DVB-H Mobile TV solutions pass trials with Orange Spain

Thomson's DVB-H Mobile TV solutions pass trials with Orange Spain

Orange Spain pilots Thomson's head end equipment and Mobile TV service platforms with Viaccess content security

Paris, March 22, 2007 – Thomson (Euronext 18453; NYSE;

TMS) today announced that Orange Spain has completed successful technical trials using Thomson's mobile TV solutions in conjunction with Viaccess solution for secured content protection, Purple-TV. The tests, which were started in December 2006, used a range of Thomson's solutions for mobile delivery, including the SmartVision service platform and Grass Valley Opal IP encapsulators, Argos Mobile encoders and Lazulite management systems.
Serge Mal, General Manager of Thomson's network software business commented: "Being part of one of the first every successful trials using this simulcrypt technology clearly illustrates the compatibility of all Thomson's solutions for video services delivery. We are looking forward to future collaborations with both Viaccess and Orange Spain."

Telecom Italia Mobile Moves Rapidly From Trials to Commercial Service with Thomson

Grass Valley Technology Now Being Rolled Out Across Italy

Paris - 05 September 2006 -- Thomson, (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) following a highly successful trial around the Torino Winter Olympic Games early in 2006, announced today it has signed a contract with Telecom Italia allowing the operator to move immediately to a commercial launch using equipment from Grass Valley, an activity within Thomson.
"The next challenge for the electronic media industry will be to deliver rich content to mobile devices, and that is why so many are turning to Thomson ", commented Marc Valentin, president of the Grass Valley business within Thomson. " Because the speed with which this new industry is developing means that the service providers need a technology partner they can rely on to provide comprehensive, integrated technology platforms."
The Winter Olympics having proven to be successful, Telecom Italia decided to move forward and to further develop its agreement with Grass Valley for the delivery and systems management technology for a full commercial rollout of their mobile offering. The new service went on air in June 2006, broadcasting a number of channels from Telecom Italia, plus coverage of Serie A and Champions League football.
As prime contractor for the project, Grass Valley provided the complete head-end with Argos scrambling H.264 encoders, Opal DVB-H encapsulators and a Lazulite network management system. The SmartVision™ Mobility platform manages the electronic service guide, conditional access, and content and interactive services, and a SmartCast Mobility platform provides overall system management. A Grass Valley Cobalt DVB-H data analyser is used to check signal parameters.