Mobile TV trials underway in Australia

Trials are underway in Australia of digital video broadcasting for mobile phones, ABC News reports.

About 200 Optus customers in Sydney have access to nine television channels, including ABC1, Seven, SBS, CNN International and Fox Sports News, using the DVB-H (digital video broadcasting for handheld devices) format. The technology will allow for 20 channels of mobile television.

Many 3G phone customers in Australia already access video clips and streaming video on their phones, but they all eat into download quotas - the amount people can download without having to pay extra.

The difference with the new format is that the television channels will be encoded for broadcasting to mobile phones outside of any download limits.

But the free-to-air channels are unlikely to be free on people’s mobile phones. Phone companies will still supply the service, so it is likely there will be a cost to the customer.

Source: Media Network, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union