The European Commission has given its official backing to the DVB-H mobile TV standard. It a statement the Commission said it was urging the 27 EU Member States and industry to “facilitate and accelerate the deployment of mobile TV across Europe and to encourage the use of DVB-H as the single European standard for mobile TV.”
“Mobile broadcasting is a tremendous opportunity for Europe to maintain and expand its leadership in mobile technology and audiovisual services,” said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media. “Europe is today at a crossroads. We can either take the lead globally – as we did for mobile telephony based on the GSM standard developed by the European industry – or allow other regions take the lion’s share of the promising mobile TV market.” The Commissioner said that “wait and see” was not an option.
The DVB-H standard was developed by the DVB Project to sit alongside the existing DVB-T terrestrial standard. It has subsequently received strong support from manufacturers including Nokia.
However the FLO Forum, the independent body established by Qualcomm to support its MediaFLO technology. “The FLO Forum believes that the Communication’s intention of favouring any one particular mobile TV technology for Europe could stall the advancement of a healthy European mobile TV eco-system,” the organisation said in a short statement.
