ATSC approves mobile DTV candidate standard

International nonprofit standards organization the Advanced Television Systems Committee announced its approval of the Mobile Digital Television specification as a Candidate Standard. The Mobile DTV Candidate Standard enables broadcasters to extend digital broadcast-quality TV including live, local and national programming to mobile and handheld devices--the ATSC Mobile DTV transmission system is based on vestigial sideband modulation coupled with extensible IP based transport, MPEG AVC (H.264) video and HE AAC v2 audio (ISO/IEC 14496-3) coding.

Beyond live television, the ATSC Mobile DTV Candidate Standard also provides an application framework enabling services ranging from audience voting to integrated web-based applications and transactions with television content. The Candidate Standard additionally allows broadcasters to deploy new data services like real-time, in-vehicle navigation and on-demand news and sports highlights.

Development of the Mobile DTV standard dates back to plans approved by the ATSC Board of Directors in October 2006. From there, the group developed detailed system requirements and issued a RFP in May 2007. In February 2008, the Open Mobile Video Coalition industry alliance conducted experimental broadcasts based on prototype equipment provided by system proponents, delivering trial results to ATSC. The ATSC Specialist Group on Mobile & Handheld evaluated the proposals and drafted the standard, with the ATSC Technology & Standards Group approving elevation of the document to Candidate Standard following a six-week ballot. In addition, the Consumer Electronics Association recently launched a Special Interest Group for manufacturers interested in creating products adhering to the Mobile DTV Candidate Standard.

For more on the ATSC approval:
- read this release