EU is going to standardize mobile TV standart. EU Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding expressed her dismay at what she described as a lack of progress towards arriving at a unified standard for mobile TV broadcasts and threatened to use the EU’s regulatory arm to impose a single standard for all European providers.

“To fully reap the benefits of this market and to export a European model for Mobile TV as we did with GSM for mobile phones, industry and Member States must work more closely together to devise a common approach, compare technologies, look at possible legal obstacles, make spectrum available throughout Europe and choose together the best way to ensure a quick and large take-up of Mobile TV by Europeans, preferably based on a single standard,” said Commissioner Reding.

Nowadays there are available three standarts, which mobile TV providers use in Europe: DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), and MediaFLO. Most of European countries make good use of DVB-H format. DMB is used in Germany, France and Norway. MediaFLO - just in the UK.

As seen from the above EU Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding has expressed a preference for DVB-H, which is used by the majority.

“European industry has already developed successful standards in the past, and I am very confident that on the basis of DVB-H, Mobile TV services can develop the economies of scale they need for take-up across Europe and around the world,” said Commissioner Reding.

The main reason to move to the one standart will eliminate the possibility of EU mobile TV phones’ users to receive TV on their handsets beyond the bounds of their native countries.

Source.

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