Digital TV standard to be unveiled soon, but what about Mobile TV

China will soon announce its new digital television standard and has warned that all Chinese television networks must use it if they wish to continue broadcasting, according to an article on the DTG website.
The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) announced that the Chinese developed standard would soon be unveiled.
It will then be promoted for a year before being made compulsory for use by all broadcasters.
The standard is reported to cover digital terrestrial, satellite and cable TV as well as mobile television services when it launches in the next few months.
However the situation on mobile TV may not be as clear as it seems. Recent press announcements seem to agree that China has just released two new contenders for the mobile TV standard.
The competitors are Terrestrial-Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (T-MMB), a derivative of South Korea’s Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting and STiMi, short for satellite and terrestrial interaction multimedia.
The DVB-H standard for mobile TV and South Korea’s T-DMB standards are already on trial and the new Chinese standards will also be trialed throughout 2006. The chosen standard will then move into commercial trials during 2007 so that it is ready for the Olympics in 2008.
Sources: Various plus DTG News
Item added: 29th August 2006