ATSC's Next Step Toward Mobile DTV Standard

12.04.2008

Washington, D.C. (December 4, 2008)--The Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc. (ATSC) has elevated its specification for Mobile Digital Television, which provides the technical capabilities necessary for broadcasters to provide new services to mobile and handheld devices using their digital television transmissions, to Candidate Standard status.

ATSC Mobile DTV includes a robust transmission system based on vestigial sideband (VSB) modulation coupled with a flexible and extensible IP based transport, efficient MPEG AVC (H.264) video and HE AAC v2 audio (ISO/IEC 14496-3) coding.

In addition to live television, the ATSC Mobile DTV Candidate Standard provides a flexible Application Framework for running software on receivers. Receivers that make use of an optional internet connection will reportedly enable new interactive television services, ranging from simple audience voting to the integration of internet-based applications and transactions with television content. The Candidate Standard also enables broadcasters to deploy new "data broadcasting" services such as providing real-time navigation data for in-vehicle use and providing news and sports highlights for "on-demand" use by consumers.

The ATSC Mobile DTV Candidate Standard describes methodology for new services to be carried in digital broadcast channels along with current DTV services without any adverse impact on legacy receiving equipment. The Candidate Standard stage of ATSC standards development is an explicit call for implementation and technical feedback.

"ATSC Mobile DTV will allow broadcasters to leverage the wireless and local nature of their DTV transmission," said ATSC President Mark Richer. "Broadcasters will be able to provide new compelling services to consumers utilizing a wide array of wireless receiving devices including mobile phones, small handheld TVs, laptop computers and in-vehicle entertainment systems. Many of these devices will utilize existing ubiquitous technologies to provide a return channel for true interactive applications."

ATSC
www.atsc.org