EU Backs Nokia's Mobile TV Standard

Nokia scored a win Wednesday over U.S. rival Qualcomm, as the European Union officially selected DVB-H as the single standard for mobile television delivered to cell phones and other portable devices. The choice over Qualcomm's MediaFLO was largely expected by industry watchers.

The EU says that establishing a single standard will help the fledgling technology get off the ground, just in time for the 2008 Olympics and European football championships. DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds, is also used in the United States, although both Verizon and AT&T have backed MediaFLO instead. The U.S. is unlikely to force a single standard, which could lead to a technology split between the continents like occurred with GSM and CDMA.