Spanish DVB-H timed for Q2 08

Spain’s DVB-H network will be ready in the second quarter of 2008, the general manager of DTT network provider Abertis Telecom assured delegates to IBC over the weekend.

Tobías Martínez said the deployment of the DVB-H network was a "great" opportunity for Spain's broadcasters and mobile operators in order for them to give a "convergent" service where the same content is offered at the same time to users.

Martínez identified three pilars of Spain's future DTT: mobile DTT, HDTV and DTT on the internet. As for interactive services, Martínez mentioned the initiatives called TDT 2.0 and TDT 3.0. The first will allow the citizen easy and secure access to the Information Society's services while TDT 3.0 will centre its efforts on the development of the HDTV concept in order to profit by the new technologies of the future TV sets.

Although the Spanish DTT market is not successful with DTT PVRs or MHP receivers or even with HDTV such as France for example, the speed at which the DTT receivers penetration go is the highest in Europe. Martínez said Spain had a market of 3.4 million DTT receivers eight months ago in comparison to France which had 4.8 million terminals. "This difference is very small taking account France's objective is to reach 6 million homes more", he declared. France launched DTT later than Spain but the platform is more interesting in terms of content and services.

Sidsa Launching DVB-H Trial In Iran

[09/07/07 - Satellite Today] Sidsa is working with the Islamic Republic of Iran to distribute satellite television to handheld mobile phones, the company announced Sept. 7.

Sidsa will distribute 16 TV channels through its Polar Plus headend, broadcasting the channels from Intelsat and Eutelsat satellites to Sagem Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) equipped mobile phones.

Sidsa is working with the Iranian National Radio and TV Network (IRIB) to broadcast the channels, including IRIB Quran and Press TV from Eutelsat and IRIB Amouzesh TV and Azarbayejan TV from Intelsat satellites. This is the third international DVB-H trial led by Sidsa.

The company has also launched services in the Russian Federation and the south of Spain.

Samsung Demonstrates The Future Of Mobile TV

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, is once again breaking new ground. At the IFA in Berlin (August 31 through September 5, 2007) and at the IBC broadcasting trade show in Amsterdam (September 7 through 11, 2007), the world's leading provider of mobile phones and telecommunication systems will treat visitors to a peek into the future of interactive mobile TV in Germany.

For the first time, Samsung mobiles now also support the reliable, open OMA BCAST standard. In Berlin, live demonstrations of TV broadcasts using the new DVB-H-based standard will be staged on Samsung's own booth and on the booth of T Systems .

Mobile phone manufacturers and telecoms carriers alike see TV offerings as value-added services that will generate substantial revenue streams. A recent "Screen Digest" study, for example, predicts a bright future for mobile TV. According to this study, the sale of mobile TV offerings should be netting global revenues of EUR 4.7 billion as early as 2011.

Since DVB-H was recommended as the standard for television services on mobile phones, interactive TV on the move has begun to roll up the German market too. Handset manufacturers such as Samsung are supporting this development to ensure that customers can take advantage of offerings provided on the basis of DVB-H BCAST.

The new standard enables interactive elements that facilitate direct product purchases or participation in fee-paying surveys and competitions, for example, to be built into mobile TV and video-on-demand offerings. BCAST works as a kind of "add-on" and can 'like DVB-H' be used with any and every IP-based transmission technology.

"We are working flat out to enable mobile TV offerings that comply with the DVB-H-based BCAST standard to be rolled out in Germany. We are aligning our handsets with the needs of this market," stresses Dr. Anthony Park, Director Business Development, Samsung Telecommunication Europe. "Samsung mobiles will also support all other relevant standards, such as DVB-H CBMS in Italy, T-DMB in Germany, MediaFlo in the USA and T/S-DMB in South Korea."