Samsung, LG to develop joint standard for N. American mobile tv market

Seoul (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Samsung Electronics Co. (KSE:005930) and LG Electronics Co. (KSE:066570), South Korea's world-class electronics manufacturers, said today they agreed to jointly develop a mobile television technology aimed at becoming the industry standard in the North American market.

Executives from the two companies signed a deal for the joint standard at a hotel in Seoul, the companies said, adding that they plan to forward their proposal to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

The ATSC is an international group, established in 1982, that develops technology standards for digital television that are used in the United States and have also been adopted by Canada.

The ATSC's U.S. office is scheduled to pick a mobile television standard in the first half of 2009 for the U.S., following examinations of candidate technologies by the Open Mobile Video Coalition, an alliance of U.S. broadcasters committed to the development of mobile digital television.

The joint effort is expected to combine LG's technology, dubbed the Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH), and Samsung's A-VSB, also known as advanced-vestigial sideband, according to the companies.

"We will step up our effort to provide a technology that will benefit both consumers and broadcasters," said Park Jong-woo, head of Samsung Electronics' digital media division.

Samsung and LG are the world's second and fifth-largest handset makers, respectively, and compete in many areas of electronic goods, including televisions and household appliances.