New Mobile Broadcast TV Platform to Begin Demonstrations in 2008

LAS VEGAS, January 8: Later this year, Samsung Electronics,
MobiTV, Nokia Siemens Networks, Rohde & Schwarz and SES AMERICOM’s IP-PRIME
will demonstrate a national distribution platform for mobile TV services in the
U.S. that utilizes local broadcast TV spectrum.

The platform will showcase a complete mobile TV technology
solution, delivering local and national programming and interactive
applications to consumers on mobile devices “in-band,” meaning through local TV
stations’ existing transmitters and spectrum. Consumer trials planned in U.S.
cities are to be announced later.

The platform will use Advanced Vestigial Sideband (A-VSB), a
backward-compatible enhancement of the existing U.S. digital TV broadcasting
system, to empower local TV stations’ broadcast spectrum to reach mobile audiences.
The platform will enable broadcasters to deliver digital media—such as
entertainment, news, sports, children’s shows, and public safety
notifications—to any phones, PCs, portable media players, car
entertainment systems or other devices equipped with an A-VSB receiver chip.
A-VSB is under consideration by the Advanced Television Systems Committee
(ATSC) as an open standard for mobile broadcast TV.

To help prepare for the demonstrations, Nokia will deliver
an open standards- and OMA BCAST-compliant service platform; Rohde &
Schwarz will provide broadcasters with the required hardware and software to
convert their existing transmission infrastructure to enable A-VSB services;
SES AMERICOM will contribute by aggregating the national content, integrating the
encoding, security and service guide data into the national services, and
providing the satellite delivery backbone to participating broadcast stations;
and MobiTV will lend its interactive application and VOD delivery platform.
Samsung created A-VSB.

“As the inventor of A-VSB, Samsung is proud to have shown
the way forward to empower U.S. local TV stations for mobile broadcasting,”
said John Godfrey, the VP of government and public affairs at Samsung
Electronics. “Since proposing A-VSB to the ATSC in 2005, we have never wavered
in our commitment to set an open standard for the benefit of broadcasters,
manufacturers, and consumers. The all-star team announced today will enable
mobile broadcast TV to reach American consumers sooner and at less cost than anyone
dreamed possible only a short time ago.”

“We see A-VSB as complementary, not competitive, to wireless
services,” said Alan Moskowitz, the director of strategic alliances for MobiTV.
“By relying on existing TV spectrum to deliver bandwidth-intensive video to
mobile devices, wireless service providers have a new option for providing TV
to their subscribers. In addition, MobiTV’s interactive application and VOD
delivery platform will enable a new class of services combining broadcast TV
and mobile data networks.”

—By Ned Berke