[opendtv] XM Radio on steroids

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 12:10:06 -0400

Satellite multimedia broadcasts set for launch in Japan, South Korea
By Yoshiko Hara , EE Times
July 29, 2004 (10:02 AM EDT)
URL: http://www.eet.com/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=3D26100562

TOKYO - A new satellite TV service to be launched here and in
South Korea in October promises to deliver programming along with
radio and data broadcasting to mobile terminals.

Both countries will use the same satellite to provide national
coverage. Using new, compact receivers, backers of the mobile TV
scheme are touting it as a new lifestyle of ubiquitous TV
reception.

Japan's Mobile Broadcasting Corp. (MBCO), which is backed by
Toshiba Corp., will begin regular service here in the fall. TU
Media Corp., whose largest shareholder is SK Telecom, is also
preparing to launch the service focusing on TV reception by
mobile phones in South Korea.

The broadcasts will be carried over the Mbsat broadcast
satellite launched in March.

Satellite radio broadcasting using S-band has been offered in the
United States for several years by XM Satellite Radio and Sirius
Satellite Radio. "Mbco will start multimedia broadcasting,
including TV, radio and data programs, which should be the first
in the world," said Masashi Suenaga, MBCO's vice president. "MBCO
has built up the system," said Suenaga, Toshiba's chief engineer
for satellite development and the original proponent of the
broadcast system.

Mbsat offers a several-fold increase in power output to enable
signal reception by a small antenna embedded in mobile devices.
The broadcast network uses a hybrid system consisting of direct
reception and gap-fillers that allow reception in the "shadow"
of tall buildings. Both techniques use the same 2.6-GHz
frequency.

MBCO was established in 1998 by primary shareholders Toshiba
Corp., Toyota Motors, Fujitsu Ltd. and Nippon Television Network
Corp. Since then, a total 85 companies including SK Telecom and
major electronics companies such as Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co. Ltd. have invested in the mobile TV venture.

The service to be launched in October will include seven TV
channels, 30 radio channels and one data channel, all in a 25 MHz
of bandwidth. Video will be QVGA with 320-by-240 pixels
resolution using MPEG-4 video coding and MPEG-2 AAC audio coding.
MBCO is considering a shift to a H.264 video codec.

Toshiba is supplying the receiver chip set consisting of six
components, one pair of orthogonal detection ICs and a twin PLL
for tuning, demodulation, authentication and AV decoding. Samsung
is also producing the chips for the Korean services.

A dedicated receiver is planned, with some car navigation and
reception features at the start. "Various forms of reception are
possible," said Suenaga. "The reception function can be
incorporated into other equipment."

Copyright 2003 CMP Media
 
 
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