On a frosty day in Helsinki Nokia as well as Intel Corp., Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle, announced a DVB-H standard working group, the Mobile DTV Alliance, aimed at setting common standards for mobile DTV in North America in particular.

In the words of the organizers:

"As mobile video entertainment gains increased awareness and achieves greater availability, the Alliance will focus on promoting the best practices and open standards that deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices for the North American market."

The move to mobile video via the iPod and other portable media players has given prospects for mobile DTV in the US a boost as consumers grow more aware and comfortable with different ways of interfacing with portable video. Now, if the operators will just pull together coherent marketing and distribution plans, DVB-H may do quite well the the American market. Broad manufacturer standards are a first step in that direction.