Andre Yoskowitz
19 Oct 2009 1:51
The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has approved of the new ATSC Mobile DTV Standard this week in the US, allowing local TV broadcasters to broadcast to mobile devices using any frequencies they may already be using.
The standard pertains to notebooks, in-car systems, Internet tablets and mobile phones.
Mobile TV has been extremely successful in Japan and other Asian nations but has seen slow adoption in the US. Until late last year, Samsung and LG had rival standards but decided instead to partner up and the Mobile DTV Standard was thrown together.
Verizon and AT&T currently offer TV via the FLO TV network but that service is a paid one and offers more national programming than local.
PCWorld explains that "ATSC Mobile DTV is carried alongside the regular over-the-air DTV broadcasts that U.S. stations have been delivering exclusively since analog TV was discontinued across the country in June. It uses a system called Vestigial Side Band modulation, with an IP (Internet Protocol) transport system, according to the ATSC. The technology can send H.264 video and HE AAC v2 (High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding, Version 2) audio. It can support interactive services, subscription-based TV and downloading of content for later viewing."