MANHASSET, N.Y. — When the Beijing Olympic Games start in August, China's much-touted mobile TV broadcast service will have to crawl before it can walk--because it's missing one leg.
The homegrown Chinese system has been designed to operate by picking up two signals: a 2.6-GHz satellite signal and a 700-MHz terrestrial signal. (see: Satellite mobile-TV spec gains influential backers in China)
However, no satellite will be operating in time to realize the full promise of the China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) standard — technology also known as STiMi (satellite and terrestrial interactive multiservice infrastructure).
EchoStar, the primary provider of S-band satellite capacity for China's mobile video project, quietly revealed in its 10-Q form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late May that it is suspending construction of the CMBStar satellite.
China Satellite Mobile Broadcast (CSM), a company overseen by the Wireless Bureau of China's State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (Sarft), last year selected China Mobile Broadcasting Satellite (CMBSat), a Hong Kong-based affiliate of EchoStar, as its partner.
EchoStar claimed that it already notified the Sarft of its intentions in April. But the U.S. firm has not explained why it suspended activities in China, other than saying that its decision is "pending, among other things, further analysis relating to efforts to meet the satellite performance criteria and/or confirmation that alternative performance criteria would be acceptable."
It remains unclear if any technical problems have surfaced, or if the delay is purely a negotiating ploy by EchoStar or CSM.
Although EchoStar remains a viable candidate to deliver a satellite to China, a growing likelihood is that China will turn to its own satellite companies to launch a satellite in the first quarter of 2009.
EchoStar expects an impairment charge related to the CMBStar satellite of as much as $100 million, which "would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position," according to the company.
Keeping mum
Largely ignored so far is the adverse impact of EchoStar's delay for China's fledgling mobile TV broadcast market. Nor is anyone declaring that the future of the CMMB-based mobile TV standard is in jeopardy.
Technology suppliers who have much to gain from the emerging mobile TV market in China are keeping mum, or downplaying the impact of missing satellite operation in the CMMB infrastructure.
