Harris Corp. announced today that Grupo Televisa S.A.B. — the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world — recently completed successful mobile digital television broadcast field tests in Mexico.

As part of the test, programming from Televisa's analog ch. 4 was rebroadcast on digital ch. 42 to prototype LG handheld receivers that were in use within vehicles traveling at high speed around the broadcaster's Mexico City coverage area.   

The ATSC-compatible in-band mobile DTV signal was multiplexed into Televisa's 19.4 megabit-per-second ATSC transport stream using a Harris NetVX multiplexer at the transmitter site, and broadcast over-the-air from a 1.8-kilowatt Harris Diamond ATSC transmitter equipped with a Harris APEX exciter modified for mobile DTV.

Over the last 18 months, Harris has implemented mobile DTV technology into an end-to-end solution that has been tested extensively in cities across the U.S.  The company said thse tests, including the new Televisa trial in Mexico, prove the viability of technology co-developed by Harris Corp., LG Electronics and Zenith — technology that is now being standardized by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

"We're extremely pleased that Televisa chose to conduct a mobile DTV test based upon the Harris Diamond ATSC transmitter and APEX exciter," said Nahuel Villegas, vice president of Harris Broadcast Communications, Caribbean and Latin American region,  "Mobile DTV will likely expand and revolutionize TV viewing options for Mexico City, making it possible for Televisa and other broadcasters to deliver its highly rated content to drivers, commuters and others with mobile receivers.  The feedback we received from Televisa was that these results were better than they originally anticipated, as their engineers were able to easily modify its existing Diamond transmitter for mobile DTV, and provide solid reception throughout its broadcast contour - even in challenging terrain."

While Televisa said it has no immediate plans to launch a mobile DTV service, the testing with Harris and Zenith was a preliminary step in determining the feasibility of offering such a service in Mexico in the future.