Alcatel announced Nov. 28 the successful demonstration of Europe’s first broadcast of live TV channels on mobile handsets in S-band. Using the new satellite services for handhelds (DVB-SH) standard currently being drafted by the DVB Project, Alcatel was assisted by UK broadcasters Sky, ITV and BBC in Alcatel’s London offices.

Representatives from European mobile operators, TV broadcasters, industry analyst firms and regulatory bodies attending this demonstration were able to see high-quality images displayed on Sagem MymobileTV handsets.

DVB-SH, a standard related to DVB-H, is a new technology targeting the S-band. With DVB-SH, mobile TV signals can be broadcast from satellites as well as from terrestrial transmitters directly to handhelds. DVB-SH handhelds can be designed in such a way that they become compatible with DVB-H so that both standards can be received in one end-user terminal.

Ulrich Reimers of the DVB Project said "DVB-SH is a perfect complement to other standards, such as DVB-H, which is typically using UHF frequencies but is capable of using the L-band. Thus DVB-SH may have a significant impact on the global mobile TV industry."