AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A bold stroke by a Houston-based company could establish the U.S. as the first nation with digital mobile TV broadcasting based on DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld, a system originally developed in Europe.

During the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) here Saturday (Sept. 11), Michael Schueppert, senior vice presidentof business development at Crown Castle, said his company already has the spectrum it needs to provide DVB-H broadcasts.

Last year, Crown Castle quietly won a government auction for an exclusive terrestrial license to use 5 MHz of U.S. L-band spectrum. Earlier this year, the company launched a three-site, single-frequency network trial in Pittsburgh that included deployment of DVB-H technology.

Best known in Europe as a partner of the Freeview digital TV service, Crown Castle has a track record of developing and operating turnkey infrastructure and network services for broadcasters and wireless telecommunications operators. The company bought the U.S. spectrum — previously used for weather balloon and weather satellite down-linking, according to Schueppert. It paid $12 million for the spectrum.

The newly acquired spectrum frees Crown Castle to build its own mobile broadcasting network, bypassing the arduous process of applying for a new FCC license, or seeking negotiations with terrestrial TV broadcasters for the use of their spectrum.

Crown Castle's spectrum coup comes as portable television, radio, broadcast multimedia and wireless Internet services are all vying to reach handheld terminals for content delivery. The industry is facing a number of technology choices including GPRS, 3G, Digital Mobile Broadcast and DVB-H — a variation on the terrestrial digital TV standard.

Mike Brooks, chairman of mobile application group at U.K.-based Digital TV Group, said "technical, commercial and regulatory" issues are critical for determining the best technology for mobile broadcasting. "If any one of these elements is missing, the whole thing will fall over," he said.

Spectrum aside, Crown Castle said it several business models are possible, according to Schueppert. The company could use infrastructure based on DVB-H mobile TV broadcasting. Or, it could offer its service on a wholesale basis to mobile operators or let operators offer the service through a retailer. Crown Castle negotiating with several carriers, he added.

The United States has ironically fought hard to stick to its own terrestrial digital TV standard — the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) spec. ATSC does not include a mobile TV version, and some experts consider its 8VSB-based modulation scheme technically unfit for mobile TV transmission.

Flexible network infrastructure designs allowed in DVB-H make it possible to multiplex DVB-H services in an existing terrestrial digital TV network based on DVB-T. They also allow for launching DVB-H services on a dedicated DVB-H network, independent of a terrestrial digital TV network.

Crown Castle has opted for the second option in its trial. The move could open the door to DVB-H's deployment for mobile digital broadcasting in countries that have adopted ATSC. The current trial — using DVB-H terminals supplied by Nokia and DiBcom — is an engineering test carried out on a relatively small scale, according to Shueppert. "The DVB-H is working very nicely and its performance is exceeding expectations."