That didn't take long: DTV coalition says field tests are already done

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published May 15, 2008, 4:42 PM

It's already official, according to the Open Mobile Video Coalition: DTV stations in the US have already tried a combined approach to mobile broadcasting suggested by Samsung and LG, and the early results appear positive.

Yesterday, the two proponents of mobile DTV technology in North America using derivatives of the fixed DTV standard the US will adopt next February, joined forces to promote a single approach to a mobile ATSC signal, as BetaNews reported. At the time, it looked like LG and Samsung would encounter smooth sailing for a joint demonstration for the Open Mobile Video Coalition, a group of broadcasters seeking to establish a separate channel for mobile DTV that protects their existing interests.

But in a surprise announcement this morning, the Coalition stated the ship has already sailed. Tests for an appropriate mobile DTV standard to support, the group said, have already concluded, adding praise for Samsung's and LG's new joint venture -- which may already be the Coalition's choice.

"Laboratory and field trials were conducted during February, March and April of 2008 in the San Francisco Bay area and Las Vegas," reads a statement from the Coalition this morning. "OMVC worked with MSTV to conduct the trials, and participating television broadcasters volunteered the use of their facilities. More than 140 hours and 1,000 miles of mobile data were collected across the two trial areas."

And as the statement made clear, the demonstration involved the joint venture's approach to ATSC for mobile devices.

"Based on the technical results, the OMVC believes the LG-Samsung joint approach points to a standard centered on LG's 'Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld' (MPH) transmission technology as the baseline of the 'physical layer' platform, augmented with features from Samsung's 'Advanced VSB' (A-VSB) technology. Such an approach should find broad support from participants, as well as third-party manufacturers and content providers interested in a single open mobile digital US broadcast standard," the statement reads.

So it would appear the two companies actually initiated their joint venture in February, but were only prepared to announce their coalition if they could be assured of its success. That assurance evidently came about 24 hours in advance of the OMVC's conclusion, though it would appear LG and Samsung had no competitors. Conceivably, had their tests failed, the Coalition would have had time to consider and test alternatives, and still adopt a choice by its original timeline of the second half of next year.

As it stands now, though, the Coalition states it's ready to "quickly set an open mobile TV standard" by next February, when its members' stations will shut down their terrestrial analog transmissions. There's an asterisk that should be placed behind "set," however, as the group went on to say that it would then "adopt" that set standard by next July.

What "adoption" means isn't clear. As the Coalition's charter states, its purpose is to promote the use of open standards for mobile DTV programming, though its membership is comprised of stations rather than manufacturers. US telcos that have already subsidized the first wave of mobile DTV-capable devices, have already rallied around MediaFLO, the DTV standard championed by Qualcomm; and many manufacturers -- especially those that have already made investments in DVB-H equipment in Europe, where rollouts have already taken place -- are more committed to the idea of seeing that standard imported here.

A National Association of Broadcasters report last January projected that, if broadcasters "adopt" a single standard quickly enough, mobile DTV would have time to catapult itself into a $2 billion supplemental industry by 2012. In a statement this afternoon, NAB President David Rehr said, "NAB has proudly supported and actively participated in the work of OMVC since its launch, and the results of their evaluation program submitted to ATSC today represent a major step forward in our shared goal of announcing mobile DTV services in February 2009."