According to local reports, Korea's KFT is evaluating QUALCOMM's MediaFlo mobile-TV format for KFT's planned mobile TV services. Last year, KTF and TU Media teamed up for a mobile TV service based on satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) technology. The recent reports raise questions about KFT's collaboration with QUALCOMM's rival DMB. The reports indicate that QUALCOMM's technology could be shut out of the predictably profitable mobile TV market in Korea because neither QUALCOMM nor KFT has requested the required spectrum for the MediaFlo technology, and Korea's wireless bandwidth is running at capacity. Four formats are currently available for mobile TV: DMB, DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld), a mobile version of terrestrial digital TV standard and MediaFLO.
For more on the formatting wars in Korea's mobile TV market:
- read this article from the EE Times