Austrian public broadcaster ORF has launched a dedicated mobile TV channel with Mobilkom Austria and 3 as part of the current DVB-H pilot with 1,000 customers. Called ORFmobile the new channel will bring a variety of short clips on various subjects.
“ORFmobile is specifically designed for DVB-H usage,” said Thomas Prantner, ORF director for online and new media. Content consists of news, sports, weather and music clips as well as specially edited brief editorial items and is broadcast in a 20-minute rotation schedule. The format is specifically targetted at a 12-to24 years old audience.
Following the DVB-H pilot the Austrian media authorities will open license applications before the end the year. Although no decision has been made on the transmission standard, the odds seem to be in favour of DVB-H over T-DMB. “DVB-H is able to offer more channels and seems internationally to cristalise as the preferred standard,” said Hannes Ametsreiter, Chief Marketing Officer Mobilkom Austria.
The mobile TV service in Austria should be on the air in time for the Euro 2008 soccer tournament, which will take place in Austria and Switzerland.
