Nokia picks sides in mobile TV war

Nokia's general manager for multimedia is backing the DVB-H mobile TV standard

Nokia has confirmed that it will be developing handsets around one mobile TV standard, and has derided other players in the market.

The mobile giant said that it will develop technology that supports only the Digital Video Broadcasting DVB-H standard, rather than the competing Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) standard currently being used in the Far East.

Nokia's N92 phone is the first to adopt the standard, and the company is hoping that other manufacturers will follow its lead. 

"DMB has taken off in Korea but I believe it will [remain] a Korean technology from here to eternity," said Anssi Vanjoki, general manager for multimedia at Nokia.

"The advantages of DVB-H are so clear that it's the technology of choice. And the number of partners means it's clearly a technology that will be very widely used. We are not developing the others."

But broadcasters are not so sure that the case for DVB-H is so clear cut. Jeff Henry, chief executive of ITV's consumer division, explained that his company will not exclusively support any standard until a clear leader emerges.

"ITV is hedging its bets on technology and will go where the market goes," he explained.

"We are doing a DVB-H trial but also looking at DMB. The best technology does not always win the day. Do you choose a pizza parlour on the quality of the pizza, or which has the best ovens?"