Companies to Promote DVB-H as System of Choice for Mobile TV
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Press release:
Crown Castle Mobile Media, DiBcom, Freescale, Intel, Microtune, Nokia,
O2,
S-Communications, Silicon & Software Systems Ltd (S3), Texas
Instruments,
TTPCom, and UDcast Publicly Promote and Drive DVB-H to Mobile
Phones
LAS VEGAS, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A number of players in the
wireless
industry today announced support for DVB-H (digital video broadcast --
handheld), an open industry standard for the delivery of mobile
broadcast
digital TV (DTV) for the U.S., European and Asian marketplaces. DVB-H
is
experiencing broad support across the wireless ecosystem, including
partners
and competitors alike, who are working together to foster competition
and
innovation for the growing digital TV market. Such companies include
wireless
operators such as O2; multicast network operators such as Crown Castle
Mobile
Media (NYSE: CCI); wireless infrastructure providers such as UDcast;
handset
manufacturers such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK); software stack providers such
as
Silicon & Software Systems Ltd (S3); and semiconductor providers such as
DiBcom, Freescale (NYSE: FSL), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Microtune(R), Inc.
(Nasdaq: TUNE), S-Communications, Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:
TXN)
(TI) and TTPCom. Each company listed, plus many others worldwide, is
putting
support behind DVB-H in efforts to provide an open environment for
mobile
operators and broadcasters to reach the largely un-tapped but promising
digital mobile TV market.
DVB-H is an open, non-proprietary standard that will foster growth
throughout the wireless market, allowing mobile DTV handsets and
services to
reach the mass market faster and at a lower cost to consumers.
Additionally,
DVB-H delivers an improved end user experience over current video
streaming
services that utilize cellular networks and reduce network capacity for
voice
services. Broadcast digital TV for mobile phones is a large opportunity
for
operators, broadcasters, handset manufacturers and silicon providers as
it
opens up new opportunities and provides additional users and revenue-
generating services for digital TV services.
DVB-H trials are underway in the U.S., Germany, France, UK, Finland,
Sweden and other countries, with more trials expected to launch later in
2005
and throughout 2006. Wider roll-out of DVB-H services is expected in
2006 and
throughout 2007. In the U.S., DVB-H will be deployed using clear and
"ready-
for-use" spectrum that is available today, without interfering with
existing
analog TV stations or other TV or wireless services.
With DVB-H, consumers will be able to watch their favorite TV shows,
sporting events, news and programming in real-time using their mobile
phone at
speeds comparable to watching their TV at home. To support the
increasing
consumer appetite for mobile TV without sacrificing battery life or
voice call
availability, DVB-H uses a technology called "time slicing" to enable up
to
eight hours of TV time on one battery charge. DVB-H's "time slicing"
technology only provides information required for the one channel of
content
currently being watched which reduces power consumption and saves
battery
life. Since it is currently assumed that users will only "snack" on
15-20
minutes of TV programming at a time to catch up on news, sports,
weather,
major news and sporting events, and more, the battery life enabled by
DVB-H
will deliver support for voice usage and TV "snacking" throughout the
day.
Wireless Community Shows Support for DVB-H
Crown Castle Mobile Media
Crown Castle Mobile Media, a subsidiary of Crown Castle
International
Corp. (NYSE: CCI), intends to build and operate a dedicated DVB-H
network for
broadcasting digital television content and other rich media services to
mobile devices. The network will utilize 5 MHz of vacant and
unencumbered
nationwide spectrum acquired by Crown Castle Mobile Media in FCC auction
46 in
2003, and will be built utilizing Crown Castle's 10,000 plus tower
network.
Crown Castle Mobile Media and Nokia have recently completed successful
DVB-H
demonstration trials in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"Open standards are expected to fuel innovation and growth in the
mobile
Digital TV market just as they did in the wireless voice market," said
Michael
Schueppert, President of Crown Castle Mobile Media. "We are pleased to
see
the broad and innovative support DVB-H is garnering as we continue to
implement our business plan."
DiBcom
On February 7, 2005, DiBcom became the first company in the industry
to
introduce a mobile DTV chip based on the open industry DVB-H standard
with the
unveiling of its DIB7000-H(TM) chipset. Also an industry first, the
DiB7000-H
has already been demonstrated by Siemens in a fully functional mobile
phone
concept device. At NAB 2005 (DVB Booth SU11408), DiBcom announced that
the
drivers of its chipset have been ported onto Windows CE operating
system.
DiBcom's support of Microsoft Windows Mobile software is a significant
boost
to developers planning to integrate DTV services into consumer devices
such as
Smartphones, PocketPCs and portable media players. To ease this
integration,
DiBcom is now offering a complete DIB7000-H reference design based on a
DVB-H
Secure Digital (SD) memory card that can be inserted into devices
equipped
with Windows Mobile software and an interface slot.
DiBcom is a fabless semiconductor company that designs
high-performance
chipsets used at the heart of mobile broadcast digital TV as well as in
automotive, PC/peripheral and handheld device applications. DiBcom has
developed patented algorithms and architecture for fast and accurate
channel
estimation and high Doppler compensation that enable low-power portable
TV
reception everywhere and provide "Proven Performance" at speeds
exceeding
100 mph.
"DVB-H clearly offers the lowest cost infrastructures for the
operators
and the highest mobility for consumers," said Yannick Levy, president
and CEO,
DiBcom. "We are pleased that the first mobile phone concept devices on
the
market are currently being standardized by the European
Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI) with the 'Proven Performance' of DiBcom's
technology as implementation guidelines."
Freescale
Freescale continues to drive the DVB-H standard worldwide with easy,
cost-
effective, mobile connectivity technology. Freescale demonstrated the
industry's first direct conversion zero IF tuner for DVB-H in February
2004,
and first showcased its handheld DVB-H solution for mobile television at
3GSM
World Congress 2005.
"Freescale is actively creating 'mobilevision' designs that converge
television broadcasts and 2.5G and 3G cellular networks, providing the
high
bandwidth necessary to drive a whole new market for mobile
entertainment,"
said Ken Hansen, Freescale's Senior Technical Fellow and Director of
Advanced
Technologies. "Freescale's direct conversion, zero intermediate
frequency
(ZIF) approach, allows for very low power consumption, reduced part
count,
extended battery life, and reduced form factors for mobile phones. Our
solution is generating marked interest among major handset
manufacturers, who
will benefit tremendously from consolidated industry support of the
DVB-H
standard."
Intel
"As a leader in wireless and mobile computing technologies with its
Intel
Centrino(TM) based notebooks and Intel XScale(R) technology based
handhelds
and phones, Intel continues to drive and supports DVB-H that will enable
the
rapid adoption of the wireless lifestyle. Delivering TV programming and
exciting data content to mobile users is next step in the convergence of
the
mobile phone," said Sam Arditi, vice president and general manager of
Intel's
Cellular and Handheld Group. "Consumers want to enjoy a great user
experience
and have access to their entertainment and personal data without having
to be
encumbered by the device, supporting standards like DVB-H with Intel
XScale
technology based handset platforms helps to make this a reality."
Microtune
Microtune, inventor of the single-chip TV tuner, pioneers advanced
silicon
technology for forward-looking applications in cable TV, digital TV and
mobile
TV. The company is committed to international standards, actively
supporting
DVB-H for handheld TV devices.
"Our silicon tuners offer core technology that allows our customers
to
deliver products with exceptional digital TV reception, whether in very
large-
screen televisions or in very small mobile devices," said James A.
Fontaine,
Microtune President and CEO. "By optimizing our TV tuner chips to
deliver
high-performance and reliability in an open-standards environment, we
not only
accelerate our OEM customers' time-to-market with innovative consumer
products, but also help them to propel new electronics devices into the
high-
volume mainstream. DVB-H is an important standard for Microtune in
developing
advanced tuner solutions for mobile digital TV."
Nokia
Nokia is working within the DVB-H community to develop terminal and
network solutions, and expects to bring a commercial mobile TV device
based on
the Series 60 platform to market during 2006. By making DVB-H a key
feature
on the popular Series 60 platform, Nokia will rapidly bring mobile TV
into
mass markets. Currently, Nokia has pilot DVB-H projects underway in
Germany,
the UK, the US and Finland and will be launching trials in other markets
during 2005.
"Nokia is already involved in live DVB-H trials around the world and
is
working to bring mobile television to the hands of eager wireless users.
Widespread industry support by network operators, handset manufacturers,
component suppliers and others involved in the value chain will create a
competitive environment where not only the industry will benefit, but
the
consumers who will be the ultimate beneficiaries of choice," said
Richard
Sharp, vice president of Nokia's Rich Media business.
O2
O2, a leading European mobile operator, has unveiled plans to
conduct the
UK's first usability trial of multi-channel television to mobile phones,
beginning this summer. In partnership with ntl's Broadcast division, O2
will
provide around 500 customers with a multimedia phone with a built-in
digital
TV receiver. Participants are expected to be able to choose up to 16 TV
channels comprising music, sport, news, comedy, soaps, documentary,
drama,
cartoons and specialist channels.
O2 has more than 23 million customers and some 13,000 employees. It
reported revenues for the year ended 31 March 2004 of 5.646 billion
pounds
Sterling. Data represented nearly 24% of total service revenues in the
quarter ending 31 December 2004.
S-Communications
S-communications is a leading edge fabless semiconductor company
developing DVB-H compatible single chip solutions for the emerging
mobile TV
market. The company believes its proprietary technology will deliver
world
class performance in the areas of power consumption and mobility at low
cost.
Headquartered in Menlo Park, CA, the company's management team is
comprised of
wireless industry veterans from companies including Philips, RF
Microdevices,
Sirf and Trimble Navigation.
"Based on the number of participants supporting DVB-H including
wireless
operators, handset manufacturers and semiconductor suppliers,
S-Communications
believes that this standard will be the leading choice for transmission
of
mobile TV to consumers," said Morteza Saidi, Founder and CEO of
S-Communications.
Silicon & Software Systems Ltd (S3)
S3 successfully demonstrated its onHandTV(TM) software solution for
mobile
broadcast digital TV in February at the 3GSM World Congress. S3's
onHandTV
provides a complete IPDC over DVB-H software solution based on the
DVB-CBMS IP
Datacast standard. The onHandTV product includes Protocol Stacks,
Middleware
and Applications, providing a low footprint software solution.
"onHandTV is a compelling offering that enables OEMs, ODMs and
Semiconductor manufacturers to rapidly enter the Mobile Digital TV
market with
a cost effective, high performance solution," said John O'Brien, CEO of
S3.
For more information on S3, please visit:
http://www.s3group.com/onhandtv
or email: onHa...@s3group.com
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments introduced the industry's first single-chip for
mobile
broadcast digital TV, code named "Hollywood" in October 2004.
"Hollywood" is
a complete single-chip solution for handsets that supports DVB-H for
mobile
DTV in the U.S. and Europe as well as the Japanese standard, ISDB-T
(integrated services digital broadcast -- terrestrial) and works with
TI's
OMAP(TM) processors to display crisp, clear images on the display.
"Hollywood" uses TI's DRP(TM) technology to achieve the lowest power,
smallest
size and lowest cost mobile DTV solution in the industry which will be
key to
driving DTV into consumer cell phones. (See:
http://www.ti.com/wirelessdtv )
"Without an open ecosystem in the mobile digital TV marketplace,
revenue
opportunities, innovation and services to consumers will be restricted,"
said
Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president and general manager of TI's
Wireless
Terminals Business Unit. "In large part this will be accomplished
through
wide industry support of open standards such as DVB-H at every level of
the
wireless ecosystem, including partners and competitors alike."
TTPCom
TTPCom Ltd, the world's leading independent supplier of digital
wireless
technology, supports the DVB-H standard and licenses their DVB-H
demodulator/decoder technology to the industry. Semiconductor vendors
will be
able to deploy high performance DVB-H receiver solutions quickly and
cost
effectively using this intellectual property from TTPCom.
TTPCom's intimate understanding of handset manufacturers'
requirements and
the importance of low power consumption for mobile/battery powered
applications has resulted in a dedicated hardware design, without
embedded
processor. The demodulator/ decoder design supports a variety of low IF
and
zero IF front end tuner architectures and provides standard MPEG
transport
stream and IP data stream outputs. Both DVB-H and DVB-T receiver
functionality is supported on a common hardware platform so enabling
devices
to be targeted at both markets.
Paul Hanlon, DVB-H product manager at TTPCom comments: "The ability
to
deliver broadcast multi-media content to mobile phones and handheld
devices
opens up huge new opportunities for the industry. TTPCom are committed
to
supporting the DVB-H standard as the way to go in digital mobile TV."
UDcast
UDcast are heavily involved in this market, notably through a close
partnership with Nokia, looking at the utilization of DVB-T networks for
the
delivery of content to mobile handheld devices.
The UDcast IPE-10 implements all the required as well as the
optional
features of the DVB-H standard: time slicing and forward error
correction.
Furthermore radio impairments, characteristic of mobile environments,
are
mitigated by the IPE-10's forward error correction mechanisms. The
IPE-10
also delivers sophisticated head-end functionality, including network
management, security, quality of service, and support for hand-over from
cell
to cell.
UDcast's IPE Manager contains network element management features
including group management, which considerably facilitates the roll out
of
large DVB-H networks and the implementation of DVB-H services. The IPE
Manager addresses the problem of efficient control of the tens or
hundreds of
IPEs distributed throughout the DVB-H network. UDcast's IPE-10 and IPE
Manager are the most popular DVB-H equipments currently used by leading
industry players.
Trademarks:
Microtune is a registered trademark of Microtune, Inc.
Centrino and XScale are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation
onHandTV is a trademark of Silicon & Software Systems Ltd.
DRP and OMAP are trademarks of Texas Instruments.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Safeharbor:
Statements contained in this new release regarding the growth of the
mobile DTV handset market, each company's respective market penetration
and
qualification of products and other statements of management's beliefs,
goals
and expectations may be considered forward-looking statements as that
term is
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ
materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The
following
factors and the factors could cause actual results to differ materially
from
the statements contained in this press release: actual market demand
for
mobile DTV products in general and demand for each company's products
specifically, and actual certification test results relating to each
company's
products. Each company disclaims any intention or obligation to update
any
forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after
the
date of this press release.