Fourteen of the 16 channels lined up for Arqiva's mobile television broadcast trial, scheduled to begin later this month, have been confirmed, with BBC1 and BBC2, ITV1 and ITV2, Channel 4, Five and BBC News 24 all signing up to take part.
Fourteen of the 16 channels lined up for Arqiva's mobile television broadcast trial, scheduled to begin later this month, have been confirmed, with BBC1 and BBC2, ITV1 and ITV2, Channel 4, Five and BBC News 24 all signing up to take part.

In addition to the main terrestrial networks, the Oxford trials will also include CNN, Cartoon Network and Sky Sports News and short film channel Shorts TV.

Announced at IBC last week, the DVB-H broadcasts kick off later this month after the original summer launch was delayed.

The initiative, backed by mobile network 02, will involve equipping up to 400 triallists in a 120 sq km area around Oxford, with Nokia 7710 handsets specially modified to receive DVB-H broadcasts. Arqiva will also provide a purpose-built DVB-H transmitter network for the trial, which runs until January 2006.

In addition to DVB-H, mobile broadcasting could also be done using the DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) standard or US system Mediaflow.

Broadcasters are keen to enter the trial in order to find out how much demand there will be for broadcast TV over mobile handsets. C4 new media MD Andy Taylor said: "In order to create a truly first-class service we need greater insight into what consumers actually want."

If the trial is successful the system still faces the hurdle of regulatory approval. Ofcom will have to allocate digital spectrum for a full-scale rollout.

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