DMB countries join forces for mobile TV push

Five countries engaged with DMB have established an organization that will support mobile TV services via DMB and related services. The International DMB Advancement Group (IDAG) currently has members from the Netherlands, Norway, Great Britain, Malta and Italy.

IDAGs goal is to promote TV, radio and data services via DMB, DAB and DAB+ but also enhanced functionality via other networks such as 3G and WLAN. The group is content and business driven. It focuses on creating a bigger Pan-European market for DMB terminals through i.e. purchasing partnerships, collaborations with other companies and organizations, coordination of technical solutions and creating successful business models.

IDAG will share experiences among members and join forces with industries, organizations and companies involved with DMB or related activities.

“IDAG helps create a much bigger market for DMB related devices and services across Europe and beyond. The members will support each other’s services, ensure faster experience sharing and save time and money on coordination of systems and processes” said Gunnar Garfors. He is President of IDAG and CEO of NMTV, one of the members.

TV via DMB has already been launched in Norway while Netherlands and Malta will follow later in 2009. Italy and Great Britain are currently testing DMB on a smaller scale. The member count may increase rapidly as there are a number of other countries on three continents working with or planning DMB services.

The current members of IDAG are: DigiBNetwork – Malta, Mobiele TV Nederland (MTVNL) – Netherlands, Norwegian Mobile TV Corporation (NMTV) – Norway, Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI) – Italy, The Technology Partnership (TTP) – Great Britain.