Free Mobile Digital TV in North America gets one step closer

Today the Open Mobile Video Coalition announced that Washington D.C. will be the showcase market for the ATSC-M/H mobile TV standard. ATSC-M/H is a version of the current ATSC digital television standard used in North America that will allow for mobile-formatted digital TV broadcasts to be made in parallel with existing DTV transmissions, which are set to take over for analog transmissions in the USA as of June 12, 2009.

Unlike some other parts of the world that already have established mobile DTV standards like DMB^(INFO) and DVB-H^(INFO), North America's ATSC is still developing a mobile DTV technology that would provide users with a way to access digital television broadcasts without the need to pay a subscription fee, such as those required by Verizon and AT&T's MediaFLO based TV systems. In December of last year, the ATSC promoted its ATSC-M/H proposal to "Candidate Standard" status, which allows for its use in the testing announced today by the OMVC.

In addition to the Washington D.C. launch, four TV stations in Atlanta and Seattle are set to become model ATSC-M/H stations for R&D and testing purposes. In related news, the OMVC announced that Dell will be joining Samsung, LG, and Kenwood in providing prototype devices for testing with the new ATSC-M/H proposed standard in the form of the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook.