China’s proprietary mobile television standard, China’s Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB), is slated to be available in time for the country’s 2008 Beijing Olympics with 25 channels of programs and possibly a Secure Digital (SD) card that can be inserted into cellular phones that won’t have integrated CMMB capabilities, according to an article in Interfax China.
China’s SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television authority) has established a test system in Beijing and is transmitting one CMMB channel. By the end of this year there should be tests in six cities hosting the events, according to Yang Qinghua, the director of SARFT’s Academy of Broadcasting Science, the article says.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding SARFT’s decision to support its own mobile TV platform as cellular operators and broadcasters have wondered whether CMMB would be ready in time for the country’s first major mobile TV event and whether China should have just gone with an existing mobile TV standard or standards.
Not year commercial products
Controversy notwithstanding, the article reports that “near-commercial” CMMB products have been developed. The technology employs satellites and, when coverage isn’t possible, terrestrial towers, to broadcast programs to a variety of devices, such as laptop computers and mp3 players, in addition to cellular phones.
As I’ve written previously in this weblog, some Asian protocols, such as South Korea’s DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), are broadcast to a variety of devices, sometimes for free.
Innofidei in Beijing has supplied its CMMB demodulator chip to 35 companies, including Lenovo, Samsung and ZTE, reports Interfax China. Lenovo and Samsung have shown prototype CMMB handsets. Innofidei has applied for 24 patents in China.
Neonetech in Beijing has developed the SD card CMMB tuner, although it’s not yet in a commercial form, the article reports.
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