Brussels, 11/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 10 December 2008, the European Commission published a set of guidelines to promote the development and marketing of competitive mobile television services in the European Union (television on mobile phones). The guidelines recommend light handed rules to foster coherence across the EU in order to encourage the growth of mobile TV. 'We want to give Member States guidance on how to allow industry to get these innovative services on track as quickly and smoothly as possible. We stand for a collaborative approach between all actors involved, including broadcasters, mobile operators and platform operators, and we oppose heavy regulation or burdensome authorisation procedures for the introduction of mobile TV in Europe,' explained EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding, commenting on strong consumer demand for mobile TV in the EU.
The process requires Member States to give the go-ahead before operators can market mobile television services. Under the new guidelines, the European Commission identifies the main principles that regulators and governments in the Member States should follow in the authorisation process. Thus far, only a handful of Member States, such as Austria, Finland, France and Germany, have passed legislation for new mobile TV services. The guidelines say that a straightforward, transparent and non-discriminatory procedure for awarding licences is the key to a successful approach. The quality of the service provided to customers, including indoor coverage and transmission quality, should be part of the award conditions. The guidelines recommend that frequencies made available for mobile TV be withdrawn if the service fails to come on stream within a reasonable period of time. The guidelines advise regulators to keep the authorisation process open to all industry players and create conditions which encourage cooperation between telecoms operators (providing the service) and broadcasters (providing the content). The guidelines call on industry to ensure that DVH-H based mobile TV services in every Member State are interoperable. The Commission says it will keep a close eye on progress and will not allow any unreasonable demands to delay progress in Europe. The Commission argues that the switchover from analogue to digital TV and the EU telecoms reform will facilitate access to the new spectrum, which can be used for the provision of mobile TV services. (I.L. trans fl)