Speaking at CeBit, Reding said that the European Commission has backed the industry with setting up the European Mobile Broadcasting Council, in hopes to let the industry regulate itself. In retrospect, Reding said that the Council has failed to make any real world progress and sighted the GSM standard as an example. Stating that the Council has had a "light touch" on GSM and let loose the industry to resolve technical issues.
In a statement, Reding urged operators to come up with a standard together and said that she, "would really not like to intervene with regulatory standards," while not making any indication that her involvement would be pleasant for anyone.
Soon after, Reding gave her opinion which was in support for standardizing DVB-H as the broadcast of choice across Europe. Reding said, "European industry has already developed successful TV standards in the past, and I am very confident that on the basis of DVB-H, mobile TV services can develop the economies of scale they need for take-up across Europe and around the world."
For those who do not know, DVB-H stands for Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld and it is a technology driving mobile television up into a more mainstream venue. In short, it uses a form of IP technology to deliver datagrams of compressed, yet high quality feeds through several different channels at very high speeds. Its technology is used to deliver better quality images and prolong battery life for mobile devices.
Technology associates who currently back other standards in television broadcast were left dismayed as the Commissioner showed a clear bias towards the DVB-H standard. While DVB-H may not be a bad thing if set as the standard, it does throw confusion into the wind for companies who have invested much time and money into projects supporting competing standards.
Source:
The Register
Written by: Dave Horvath @ 19 Mar 2004 6:04
