Samsung offers to bring mobile TV to North America

Users in North America, including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, could begin watching digital TV just about anywhere by the end of this year if a new technology from Samsung Electronics catches on.

The company teamed up with Rohde & Schwarz to develop a new technology called Advanced VSB (A-VSB) , and offered it as an open standard to bring portable and mobile TV to North America. Digital TV broadcasters would need to upgrade the equipment in their stations at a cost of “in the tens of thousands of U.S. dollars per TV station,” said John Godfrey, a vice president at Samsung, during a presentation at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The technology enhancement would allow broadcasters to send their digital TV over the airwaves so that users could enjoy TV just about anywhere — in cars, on laptops and other portable devices, and even in fast moving trains.

This technology isn’t quite ready for broadcasters yet. The first standards tests were conducted in November of last year, and more tests are planned for early this year. The technology standard should be complete by the end of the first half of 2007, with implementation by broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers beginning soon afterward, Samsung said in a statement.

Godfrey said A-SVB technology is quick to roll out because it is an upgrade and not a complete overhaul to existing equipment, and because broadcasters would not need to ask the Federal Communications Commission for radio spectrum for the technology. It is designed to enhance the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital TV transmission standard, which is used in just a handful of countries around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and South Korea.

The A-VSB technology is not being offered in other countries because it was not designed for their technology, Godfrey said.

To show off A-VSB, Samsung has teamed up with a Las Vegas broadcasting station, and is offering CES attendees a chance to ride a bus around the city watching mobile TV broadcast through its new technology.