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Harris Corporation Helps Drive Passing of ATSC Mobile DTV Standard
Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009

 

WASHINGTON, DC, October 20, 2009 — Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, today applauded the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) official adoption of the ATSC Mobile DTV Standard A/153 for the delivery of over-the-air digital multimedia services to consumer devices. The announcement marks the culmination of four years of work by Harris Corporation and LG Electronics in co-developing the core technology behind the new standard.

The past two years of intensive ATSC standards activity — moving from technology concepts to candidate and proposed standards to official adoption — represents the fastest development approval time for developing a major transmission standard in the Americas. Much of the effort in achieving this goal can be attributed to the strong involvement and leadership of the broadcast industry through the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), an alliance of U.S. commercial and public broadcasters formed to accelerate the development and rollout of ATSC Mobile DTV products and services. The OMVC provided broadcaster system requirements and helped to drive the testing and evaluation process that selected the LG/Harris/Zenith physical layer as the basis for the standard.

"The diligent effort of many broadcast and consumer electronics industry leaders was a driving force behind the fast-track adoption of the ATSC Mobile DTV standard," said Jay Adrick, vice president of broadcast technology, Harris Broadcast Communications. "Harris has been involved in the development of this standard from day one, including two years of work co-developing the physical layer of the standard with LG and Zenith and two years working within the ATSC Technical Standards Group. The expectation is that the completion of the ATSC A/153 Standard will quickly drive local broadcaster deployments throughout the country and accelerate the arrival of new consumer products capable of receiving ATSC Mobile DTV channels and other multimedia services."

Harris has played a leadership role throughout the four-year process. In addition to its work with LG and the ATSC Technical Standards Group, Harris was a leading participant in the OMVC IDOV (independent determination of viability) testing of the standard. Harris is also supporting the ATSC Mobile DTV "Model Station" program that put reference stations on the air in Seattle and Atlanta using the Harris® MPH™ platform for ATSC Mobile DTV, featuring Harris transmission and encoding equipment. The company has also assisted consumer electronics manufacturers in their mobile receiver product development processes by providing test streams and signal generation equipment.

Today, Harris is the leading supplier of commercialized ATSC Mobile DTV transmission and encoding infrastructure equipment for local broadcast TV stations, with 23 deployments of its MPH platform to date in the U.S. and Canada. The company has also supported over-the-air transmissions for the current check-out phase and will support the upcoming OMVC Mobile DTV market-trial in Washington, D.C., scheduled to begin in January.

"Adoption of the ATSC Mobile DTV standard signals a truly viable opportunity for broadcast stations to fully utilize their most valuable asset, which is their wireless transmission capability," Adrick said. "Harris is well-prepared to help broadcasters achieve deployments and capitalize on potential new revenue opportunities with ATSC Mobile DTV."

Harris Broadcast Communications offers products, systems and services that provide interoperable workflow solutions for broadcast, cable, satellite and out-of-home networks. The Harris ONE™ solution brings together highly integrated and cost-effective products that enable advanced media workflows for emerging content delivery business models.

About Harris Corporation
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has approximately $5 billion of annual revenue and more than 15,000 employees — including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications® products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

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