The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) announced that it has approved the Mobile TV Standard.
In a statement, the ATSC said the mobile DTV standard, formally known as A/153 and also referred to as ATSC-Mobile/Handheld (ATSC-M/H), received “overwhelming support” in balloting by its full membership tallied at midnight on October 15. The formal approval of the standard, which has been circulating in preliminary form since last November, should pave the way for mobile DTV receivers to hit retail shelves next year.
The ATSC Mobile DTV Standard defines the technical specifications necessary for broadcasters to provide new services to mobile and handheld devices using their digital television (DTV) transmissions. In contrast to the DVB-H standard, which requires a separate transmitter network, the ATSC Mobile TV signals are carried along with current DTV services without any adverse impact on legacy receiving equipment. This also means that broadcasters can advertise the same channel as their regular broadcasts.
ATSC Mobile DTV was developed to support a variety of services including free (advertiser-supported) television and interactive services delivered in real-time, subscription-based TV, and file-based content download for playback at a later time. The standard can also be used for transmission of new data broadcasting services. (For more details see Broadband TV News passim)
