News Release
Penthera and Telegent Systems Team to Remove Hurdle for Mass Market Adoption
of Mobile TV
Companies Tackle DVB-H Programming Limitations by Leveraging
Free-to-Air Local Broadcast Content
PITTSBURGH & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Penthera Technologies, a leading provider of mobile broadcast and multimedia software, and Telegent Systems, Inc., a leader in advanced RF and digital signal processing technologies for mobile TV in cellular phones and other portable media devices, today announced a technology agreement that will make it easier for consumers to access TV content from their mobile phones and other portable devices, while increasing revenue possibilities for carriers.
The agreement involves extending Penthera's client side software, Penthera Viewer, to support Telegent's handheld receiver technology, thereby allowing consumers to access both digital and analog signals on the same mobile device. Mobile TV service providers who today rely mainly on digital DVB-H(1) content will be able to use the combined solution to offer their users local, free-to-air DVB-T and analog content as well. This approach takes advantage of the plethora of content already available through local television stations around the country - and the world - and provides carriers and end-users with significantly more programming options.
"We believe a combination of local and paid digital TV broadcasts is an ideal offering for the mobile TV market," said Weijie Yun, CEO and president of Telegent Systems. "Our technology allows both forms of content to be received. This not only expands the amount of programming on a mobile handset by four times, but also ensures that carriers can provide a quality viewing experience that is unparalleled in today's mobile TV offerings."
The "brain" of the new solution is the Telegent Systems' TLG1130 quad-mode chipset. The quad-mode TLG1130 supports DVB-H, DVB-T, PAL and NTSC bradcast standards and boasts industry-leading benchmarks in both low power consumption as well as mobile reception. The latter is achieved through Telegent's SureTrak(TM) technology, which stabilizes and improves video and audio reception in both stationary and mobile environments, with a reception that has been tested at upwards of 430km per hour.
Penthera Viewer, the client side of Penthera.s flexible broadcast platform solution, allows consumers to easily scroll and view mobile TV programming through an intuitive electronic programming guide (EPG). It also offers carriers new revenue-generating possibilities such as targeted advertising based on users' viewing habits. In addition, an e-commerce option enables consumers to instantly purchase a song, CD, DVD or ringtone, and have that purchase automatically billed to their next mobile phone bill.
Penthera's software also provides the foundation for mediacasting. Mediacasting supports the "broadcast" of virtually any media (TV shorts, full-length programs, music videos, podcasts, MP3s, etc.) to any mobile device, further broadening content delivery possibilities.
The integration of the two company's technologies was simplified by leveraging Penthera's Open Digital Television Device (ODDI) API. This API makes it easy for third-party receiver developers such as Telegent to integrate their hardware with Penthera's software.
"We're focused on finding creative new ways to help carriers drive revenue from new mobile TV services and delivering the best possible viewing experience for consumers," said Sam Leinhardt, CEO and president of Penthera Technologies. "By leveraging our strengths with Telegent's technology, we have an opportunity to help accelerate the adoption of mobile media content delivery services and make them more easily enjoyable for a broader audience."
About Penthera:
Penthera is a privately held company providing a complete software solution for mobile broadcast services. Penthera's solution set includes a carrier-class, broadcast head-end services platform, along with middleware and application-level software for handheld devices. Founded in 2005, Penthera is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. For more information, visit the company web site at www.penthera.com.
About Telegent Systems:
Telegent Systems is a fabless semiconductor company providing high-performance, highly integrated RF TV-on-Chip solutions for mobile video applications. Through its proprietary SureTrak(TM) architecture, which incorporates advanced RF, mixed-signal and digital signal processing, Telegent Systems has broken down the barrier to receive high-quality Mobile TV today. Telegent Systems' solutions set a new benchmark in Mobile TV, with lower power consumption, higher sensitivity, and smaller footprint for mobile devices such as cell phones, laptops and other portable media devices. This enables mobile device manufacturers with improved receiver performance, as well as decreasing initial infrastructure costs for Mobile TV deployment. Telegent Systems is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and a subsidiary in China. For more information, visit the company web site at www.telegent.com.
1. DVB-H is the specification for bringing broadcast services to battery-powered handheld receivers and was formally adopted as the recognized global standard in November 2004.
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