EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding is keen to quickly select a European standard ahead of the Euro Football Cup which will take place in June and which is considered a pivotal event for the launch of mass consumption of mobile TV in Europe.
The Olympic Games, foreseen in August, are supposed to have the same effect. Indeed, TV mobile is considered particularly appropriate for the viewing of sport events.
The Commission considers a fast and successful launch of a new European standard for mobile television as crucial both for the development of a sound EU market, and to impose the bloc's technology to the rest of the world.
"We think we have a chance to repeat the success of the GSM standard for mobile phones," which was first launched in the EU and then became a worldwide paradigm, said Reding"s spokesperson, Martin Selmayr.
According to the figures provided by the European Commission, the market for mobile TV might reach €20 billion in value by 2011, with a potential of 500 million customers worldwide.
The choice of DVB-H as a standard has understandably been opposed by companies that have been developing alternative technologies, such as Siemens or Microsoft that are behind DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), the most credible alternative to DVB-H.
But Brussels decided to leave a door partially open to competitors by not making the use of the new standard compulsory, although EU rules grant this power to the Commission. "It is a soft pushing," said Selmayr. "We are not using the nuclear weapons that are at our disposal," he added underlining that national authorities "have to privilege" but not impose DVB-H.
