LAS VEGAS -- Wireless carriers will have most of the control over mobile video deployments, even as broadcasters develop tools to deliver their signals to mobile and handheld devices, panelists at the NAB convention here said Tues. “I don’t see a device maker going for a broadcast-only deployment and bypass the operators” Lital Marom, SafeNet dir.-digital strategy & development, said: “That’s a very risky move for them.” Besides leverage over device makers, wireless carriers offer a reliable billing environment, she said.
LAS VEGAS -- Waiting for ATSC to set a standard for mobile DTV broadcasting could doom such technology’s chances of marketplace survival, said Jay Adrick, Harris bcst. technology vp. Harris is pushing its own mobile DTV solution. This month, ATSC said it will begin work on a mobile and handheld broadcast standard (CD April 10 p2).
Opposition has arisen to the FCC giving temporary waivers of the DTV tuner mandate sought by 2 makers of bathroom mirrors with analog TVs built in (CD April 2 p8). The FCC set March 1, 2007, “as a reasonable and prudent date” to require that all TV receivers have ATSC tuners, engineer Norman Coltri of Medford, N.J., told the Commission. “The underlying purpose of the rule would be frustrated” if the mirror-makers got waivers, Coltri said. Kohler, a Wis.-based maker of bathroom and kitchen appliances, wants to have until Jan. 1, 2008, to build DTV tuners into bathroom mirrors with optional integrated TV receivers. Electric Mirror of Edmonds, Wash., makes mirrors with built-in TVs for hotels with closed-circuit video systems; it wants a 6-month waiver. Electric Mirror justifies its request on grounds that a waiver would ease its niche product’s DTV transition. Kohler says granting it a waiver wouldn’t thwart the FCC effort to ensure consumers can view over-the-air DTV after the Feb. 17, 2009, cutoff. Filing in the FCC docket for Kohler’s waiver request, Coltri asked the FCC to deny all such petitions. “The petitioner did not show any unique circumstances that would apply to their waiver, other than the desire to market a device prior to that device being capable of compliance with the rules that apply to all other manufacturers and importers,” he said. If the FCC gives the waiver “in total or in part,” it should impose conditions, including that the product’s display carry “secure stickers” warning that it won’t work properly after Feb. 2009, he said. If a device is sold through installers, Coltri said, only the “final consumer” should have the right to remove the notice and 30 days to “object to the condition” and receive a full refund.
ATSC began working to set a national standard for digital broadcasting to mobile and handheld devices, the group said Mon. The group’s plan, adopted in Dec., calls for mobile and handheld standards work this year. ATSC could have developed separate standards for mobile and handheld devices but opted for an integrated approach, Pres. Mark Richer said. The new standard will support broadcasting and datacasting to laptop computers, small handhelds, vehicles traveling at highway speeds and other mobile devices, and be backwards compatible with existing DTV gear.
Transmission of DTV to vehicles and portables using the ATSC system will be introduced at next week’s NAB Convention (Las Vegas, April 14-19). The so-called MPH (for “Mobile- Pedestrian-Handheld") system lets broadcasters use their HDTV channel allocations to reach viewers on the go outside the home, co-developers LG Electronics and broadcast equipment maker Harris said Tues.
Comments are due April 30, replies May 15, on an FCC Lab measurement report of DTV receiver interference performance useful for assessing how unlicensed devices may perform in the TV white spaces, the FCC Office of Engineering & Technology (OET) said in a public notice.
Broadcasters are developing mobile video distribution plans to open new business lines and compete with wireless carriers. This week, Ion said it will shepherd industrywide research & development into mobile broadcasting business and technology, for which it seeks partners (CD Feb 13 p10). And last week Harris hinted it will unveil ATSC-compatible mobile video technology at NAB 2007, making it the first competition to Samsung and Rohde & Schwartz’s A-VSB technology. “It’s already our goal to set a standard for mobile and a standard for handheld TV using the core ATSC DTV standard,” ATSC Pres. Mark Richer said: “We're really just getting started on mobile and handheld. If things move very rapidly we might see a candidate standard by the end of the year. That’s pretty aggressive.”
Companies seeing huge profit in broadcast white spaces want FCC rules as loose as possible, to promote a vibrant market and get gear makers to offer many devices, they said in comments filed with the FCC. With the key question being whether the spectrum will be licensed or not, some commenters warned of the risk of interference to wireless microphones and other devices already using the TV bands.
ATSC may set a standard by mid-year for A-VSB digital TV technology developed by Samsung and Rohde & Schwartz, said Samsung Vp-Govt. Relations John Godfrey. Others are less optimistic. “My personal estimate… based upon an assumption that our members want to standardize on it, [is that] before the end of the calendar year, maybe in the 3rd quarter, we will see this technology as maybe a candidate standard,” said ATSC Pres. Mark Richer. Technologies become candidate standards just before ATSC members adopt them as full standards.
Honduras Jan. 16 effectively adopted the ATSC DTV standard for terrestrial broadcasts, ATSC said.