Rohde & Schwarz will begin shipping a comprehensive ATSC Mobile DTV product family employing ATSC-M/H technology beginning in April 2009 and the Company will be showing the proudct in booth C1933 at NAB.

ATSC Mobile DTV Candidate Standard A/153 for mobile and handheld services, typically called “ATSC Mobile DTV”, allows the broadcast industry to offer real-time programming and services to mobile customers almost anywhere. It also provides them with new potential revenue opportunities ranging from simple audience voting to the integration of Internet-based applications and transactions with television content. As one of the pioneers in development of the underlying ATSC-M/H and Advanced-VSB (A-VSB) technologies, Rohde & Schwarz has unique capabilities that are embodied in its new Mobile DTV products. The company will provide live demos of the new products at the 2009 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas. The product family includes the software-definable R&S SX800 exciter, the R&S AEM100 emission multiplexer, as well as transmitters and test equipment developed for ATSC Mobile DTV and single frequency network (SFN) operation that allow U.S. broadcasters to immediately begin transmission of ATSC Mobile DTV services. Rohde & Schwarz offers these products together with third-party headend products such as PSIP, ESG, and service protection servers in a complete ATSC Mobile DTV solution. This allows broadcasters to move to ATSC Mobile DTV operation using Rohde & Schwarz equipment as a “one-stop” solution for complete new installations or for retrofitting the existing transmission systems of any manufacturer.

The new product line is complemented by ATSC Mobile DTV-capable test equipment. The R&S SFU TV signal generator allows the consumer electronics industry to develop and qualify receiver chips and receiver devices, and the R&S ETL TV test receiver is designed for use when installing, commissioning, and maintaining ATSC Mobile DTV transmission systems. The R&S ETL is the first instrument to feature a measurement tool for aligning ATSC Mobile DTV SFNs, with an echo delay measurement resolution of 1 nanosecond. The complete product family can accommodate future improvements such as ATSC system time operation, statistical multiplexing, improved channel changing and hand-off procedures, transmitter identification, and content insertion at the local station level. Many of these capabilities will be unique to Rohde & Schwarz products and will be fully backward compatible with existing receivers.