LG, Samsung to Develop Mobile DTV Standard

by Chloe Albanesius
Several months after introducing competing and incompatible mobile DTV products, LG and Samsung have joined forces to develop a single device that will allow for digital television on cell phones.
"LG and Samsung are already world-class in digital TV and mobile communications," LG president and chief technology officer Woo Paik said in a statement. "Through this collaboration, we also have an opportunity to lead the North American mobile DTV market."
Both companies declined to elaborate on what the final product might entail, or what features from their competing products will wind up in the combined device.
"Technical details of the single transmission system that we will jointly promote have not been disclosed," according to an LG spokesman.
The technology will be based on the findings of a test conducted by the Association of Maximum Service Television (MSTV), a D.C.-based industry group focused on broadcasting technology and spectrum policy issues, according to both companies.
Those findings will be submitted on Thursday to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) , an international, non-profit organization that develops voluntary standards for digital television, the LG spokesman said.
ATSC is expected to adopt a standard for the North American market in early 2009 after a trail conducted by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a group of U.S. broadcasters focused on the development and early deployment of mobile DTV, the companies said.
LG's Paik and JongWoo Park, president of Samsung's digital media business, signed an agreement Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea that calls on the companies to develop a single common, in-band mobile DTV standard.
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), LG unveiled its MPH device while Samsung debuted AVSB technology. Both are DTV systems that existing local TV broadcasters can build into the TV channels they already own, but the two devices are not compatible.
MPH and A-VSB are in-band solutions, which local channels can use to broadcast extra programming for mobile devices. The systems are designed to broadcast to mobile phones, car seat-back TVs and personal navigation devices.
LG said at CES that its free, over-the-air, locally focused MPH would work cooperatively with Qualcomm's MediaFLO , which is a pay-by-the-month service offering eight national channels of TV specially programmed for cell phones. LG spokespeople painted a picture of MediaFLO becoming the HBO of mobile TV while MPH would be the equivalent of local VHF TV stations -- local news through MPH, and premium dramas through MediaFLO.
Sascha Segan also contributed to this story.