YouTube Goes Mobile

User submitted video aggregator YouTube has launched its mobile version. So, the YouTube video fans can take their favorite portal along with them where ever they go.
This portal is available at m.youtube.com. Currently the new YouTube Mobile offers only a small selection of video clips, with categories including Featured, Recently Added, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Top Favorites, Entertainment and People. Video files are streamed rather than downloaded.
But as the video straming is bandwidth hungry, users with low bandwidth plans may not experience good quality.
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Nokia, Samsung to Cooperate on For Mobile TV Interoperability

Handset makers Samsung and Nokia announced their plans to collaborate on mobile TV interoperability among their respective DVB-H-enabled devices and the open standards-based Nokia network services system. Samsung and Nokia will work together to develop open OMA BCAST standard-based solutions targeted for operators deploying multi-vendor mobile TV services and trials.
The deployment of mobile TV services will offer new business opportunities for companies across the value chain, including content and broadcast companies, mobile service providers, infrastructure and handset manufacturers, and technology providers. The availability of interoperable DVB-H enabled devices and services is a key factor in further opening up the market.

Nokia warmly welcomes the collaboration in accelerating the adoption of DVB-H based mobile TV services to the market. We see that the OMA BCAST standard is essential in launching mobile TV services on a global scale," says Harri Mannisto, Director, Multimedia, Nokia. "Further, the well-defined service and content protection profiles within the OMA BCAST standard such as the already now available OMA DRM, provides the ideal path towards standardized solutions enabling a coherent and open market for successful worldwide mobile TV deployments."

Within DVB-H technology, Samsung has already commercialized handsets based on the CBMS OSF standard, and will develop the OMA BCAST standard-based mobile TV handset," said Samsung senior VP Kwang Suk Hyun in a prepared statement. "Its inclusion in our product portfolios will enhance our customers' flexibility in choosing suitable standards based on their business models."

DVB-H is an effective technology for deploying broadcast mobile TV among the many digital technologies available to deliver mobile TV services. DVB-H technology offers high service level quality, low battery consumption and offers the end-user the ability to simultaneously receive broadcasts while using other mobile services such as telephony and internet access on their device.

In parallel to supporting mobile operators launching mobile TV services based on existing technologies in their networks, Samsung and Nokia are both active in ongoing standardization and technology development to optimize the broadcast mobile TV experience. The companies will work on interoperability efforts using the open OMA standard while continuing to participate in industry-wide interoperability efforts within the related standardization bodies.

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EU Commissioner Calls For DVB-H Mobile TV Standard

The European Commission is urging the European telecommunications industry to accelerate its mobile TV efforts, calling for action to determine a single broadcasting technology standard. "I'm not very impressed with the progress the industry and governments in Europe have made so far," European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding told Dow Jones Newswires. "The time for decisions is now--otherwise mobile TV will miss the boat to the European soccer championships in 2008." Reding said she considers the DVB-H standard the front-running broadcasting technology option.

Despite ongoing hiccups, the European Commission remains bullish on mobile TV--according to its most recent estimates, mobile TV services will generate €11.4 billion in global revenue by 2009, buoyed by an international market of 50 million video-enabled handsets.

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Cellphone Video Gets On the Beam

Cellular carriers and other technology companies have come up with numerous ways to deliver video and even live TV to cellphones over wireless networks in recent years. So far, the results have been a limited success.

Samsung Electronics announced the development of a new mobile television standard that essentially enables portable devices to receive digital signals from local TV broadcasters. Developed by the South Korean company's Samsung Information Systems America subsidiary, the technology--dubbed Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band--does not rely on wireless network bandwidth, effectively freeing capacity for other data-heavy mobile content services.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the technology operates via existing television infrastructures, including spectrum and transmitting towers, enabling broadcasters to sidestep investments in separate network buildouts or carrier partnerships. The Samsung service does require broadcasters to transmit separate signals to mobile handsets and related devices outfitted with Samsung chipsets, but the company said that hurdle is already being addressed. Among the business models Samsung is reportedly exploring is an ad-supported free service as well as a more traditional premium service.

Samsung will demonstrate the standard for the first time at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, employing content contributed by Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Sinclair, which operates 58 local stations across the U.S., is currently trialing Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band services in the Baltimore, Buffalo and Las Vegas markets.

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