[opendtv] "Rock-bottom" mobile TV companies looking up

I'm not sure I understand why adding satellite TV reception to mobile
phones will make hand-held TV any more attractive to consumers. Unless,
that is, it was DVB-H reception problems that prevented it from being
popular in the first place.

Was that the issue with DVB-H? All the articles I read about DVB-H
trials seemed to indicate that reception was good.

Bert

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"Rock-bottom" mobile TV companies looking up

Junko Yoshida
(02/15/2008 7:01 AM EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206504370

BARCELONA, Spain - Calling 2007 "a rock-bottom year" for mobile TV,
Yannick Levy, CEO at DiBcom, said he is hoping that things will start to
get a little better this year.

Levy, speaking at the Mobile World Congress here this week, took comfort
in knowing that his company's turbulent experience with the mobile TV
market appears to be following the "hype curve", a well-known theory
published by the Gartner group a few years ago.

But then, where is the good news? What could possibly pull companies
like DiBcom up from the bottom of the hype curve?

For DiBcom, the answer is two Craig McCaw-backed companies: Clearwire
Corp. and ICO Global Communications, who have teamed up for a new mobile
TV trial, scheduled to start next month, by using satellites to
broadcast directly to mobile devices in the United States.

The satellite-based mobile TV technology in question is called DVB-SH
(Digital Video Broadcasting from Satellite to Handhelds), designed to
complement DVB-H in higher frequency bands, such as the S-band.

The technology standard, approved as the DVB Group's standard a year
ago, was developed to offer hybrid satellite/terrestrial Mobile TV
solutions for nationwide coverage on mobile phones, portable and
vehicular devices, according to DiBcom.

And for Sinao Mobile Silicon, another leading mobile TV chip vendor, the
answer is the Beijing Olympics.

China is planning to launch mobile TV, coinciding with the event. The
new service is based on a Chinese government-picked standard called
China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB). CMMB is based on homegrown
technology known as STiMi (short for satellite and terrestrial
interactive multiservice infrastructure).

Siano's CEO Alon Ironi this week said his company is preparing to launch
a STiMi-based chip "around May."

Two months ago, Siano announced in China that it has signed a
collaboration agreement with CMB Satellite, the Hong Kong based
affiliate of EchoStar Communications Corporation, and Huaqi, a
manufacturer of consumer multimedia products in China branded "aigo" to
provide solutions for China's up-coming mobile TV service.

As both DVB-SH and STiMi target hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile TV
services, the two specs are said to be similar. While Siano is also
planning to roll out DVB-SH solutions, DiBcom also noted its plans for
China's STiMi.

While DiBcom and Siano are top two DVB-H chip suppliers designed into
mobile TV capable handsets sold in Italy, they are both casting much
broader nets for their potential market.

For DiBcom, this is the in-car business. Although "the U.S. market has
not even realized the benefits of mobile TV", Levy said they will
understand the value of connecting TV to GPS screen in a car, for
example. "Or, using TV in a car for tailgating parties before football
games," he said.

Indeed, ICO reportedly said that with mobile TV, it is not looking to
compete in the mobile phone market, at least initially. The company
believes that there will be a real demand for the seven- or eight-inch
screen in a vehicle.

Siano's next big thing, it hopes, is the Intel Corp- promoted Mobile
Internet Device. Intel has picked Siano's mobile TV chip as a part of
the MID reference design.

Ironi said, "Until now, the embedded systems and PCs have lived in two
separate spaces." But with MID, if successful, the line between the two
will blur. "For us, that means a new revenue stream, he added.

All material on this site Copyright 2008 CMP Media LLC. All rights
reserved.
 
 
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