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Several big names came together to give the emerging handset television market a boost this week. Intel, Modeo, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments announced the formation of the Mobile Digital TV (DTV) Alliance, to endorse the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) standard as a means to broadcast digital TV reception to mobile devices.

DVB-H short course: While operators like Sprint and Verizon currently deliver video to a few handsets via their cellular networks, standards like DVB-H propose broadcasting television signals separately. This frees up bandwidth for other mobile operator content and promises excellent quality video to boot.

So when an end-user's DVB-H-capable cell phone receives live television, a carrier's cellular network is fully available for on-demand and interactive programming, for example.

The Mobile DTV Alliance plans to promote best practices and open standards that deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices for the North American market using DVB-H. Because DVB-H is an open procedure, industry-supported standard, the Mobile DTV Alliance asserts it'll foster growth throughout the wireless market; with additional choices across the value chain from silicon, handsets, services and more.

"The mobile-TV market is heating up, with both trials and deployments accelerating over the next 12-18 months," views David Linsalata, research analyst for Mobile Markets at IDC. "The support of key industry players in promoting the advantages of the DVB-H standard will significantly aid mobile-TV deployment efforts in North America."

According to DTV, there are 10 DVB-H network trials that have either concluded or are currently underway; most outside the U.S. Intel demonstrated multi-channel TV broadcasts on Windows-based mobile devices equipped with add-on DiBcom DVB-H receivers, a first in the United States, at the fall CTIA show last September.

The Intel demonstration included live, brand-name TV services, digital music, and a feature-length movie, beamed from terrestrial transmitters using the DVB-H protocol to Windows Mobile-based PDAs and smartphones. The media content was encoded using Microsoft's Windows Media Audio and Video 9.

Intel Mobility Group director of business development Kevin Jones said, "Consumers are demanding more content, such as live TV, from their mobile devices, and open procedure standards are key to delivering that content in a cost-effective way.

"DVB-H is a very effective way to deliver high-quality, broadcast digital TV to mobile users, and Intel is a member of the Mobile DTV Alliance to help promote the standard and availability of this technology," Jones added.

November saw the European Telecommunications Standards Institute adopt DVB-H as the standard for Europe's handset TV service. The Mobile DTV Alliance says the majority of U.S. markets will be DVB-H ready by 2007.

Nokia N92
Mobile Digital TV founding member Nokia is also one of the developers of the DVB-H specification. It created one of the first DVB-H smartphones, the N92, as well. With the N92, users can set reminders to watch their favorite TV programs, create personal channel lists and subscribe to TV channel packages. The Finnish phone giant plans to ship the N92 by mid 2006 in Europe, Africa and Asia for 600 euros, currently about $717.