US : Eliminating a major obstacle to launching mobile broadcast services, PacketVideo (PV) this week is demonstrating its patented new pocketable mobile broadcast receiver that turns WiFi-enabled phones and personal media players into mobile TVs. PV will introduce this new device at its stand, #1C09, at the Mobile World Congress, held here Feb. 11 – 14.

Expands Market Potential of Mobile TV Services at Launch

PV’s mobile receiver device decodes a digital TV signal and repurposes it for use on the phone, sending it via a wireless signal, such as WiFi, to a playback device. The receiver uses specific, patented protocols to ensure optimum rendering of the TV signal on the playback device, and provides secure access to premium channels. This allows mobile subscribers to upgrade to advanced mobile TV services without changing their current handset.

The mobile broadcast receiver will be available in versions for all major mobile broadcast standards, including TDtv, DVB-H and MediaFLO as well as for WiMAX. The device can also be customized with the operator’s badge or branding for the retail market. The mobile broadcast receiver is compatible with many industry-leading phones including the Nokia N-series, Apple iPhone and HTC Smartphone devices.

PV’s mobile broadcast receiver features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and the glowing LED on/off button has a color-changing halo that reflects the level of battery charge.

Mobile Video is PV’s Legacy

PV, the company that first put video on a cell phone nearly 10 years ago, is a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ:WAVE), a global provider of mobile media technology. PV supplies the multimedia software that enables such services as Verizon Wireless’ VCAST music and video services, NTT DoCoMo’s 3G FOMA service and Orange’s Orange World service. Its software is in more than 200 million devices worldwide, spanning more than 200 different models.

PV’s experience in mobile broadcast software goes back several years, with the frequent public demonstration of dedicated mobile TV reference devices operating on a number of silicon and broadcast standard platforms. These devices showcased such PV innovations as fast channel changing, personal video recording and picture-in-picture capabilities, all for mobile broadcast.

“Removing the barrier of upgrading to an entirely new handset will significantly accelerate the adoption of mobile broadcast services by mainstream consumers,” said PV CEO James C. Brailean, Ph.D. “It’s our mission as a multimedia software innovator to discover new ways to help our operator customers deploy services faster, with the best possible user experience and minimal disruption to their existing network. PV’s mobile broadcast receiver device does just that.”

PV’s mobile broadcast receiver measures 6.4 cm wide by 1.8 cm high x 4 cm deep. It will be available later this year.

About PV: PV, a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ:WAVE), is the software innovator powering the world’s leading mobile multimedia services. With more than 200 different devices supported and more than 200 million PV multimedia clients deployed around the world, PV has the deepest, broadest and most respected multimedia software expertise in the industry. Founded in 1998, PV is headquartered in San Diego, California with regional offices in the U.S., Japan, Europe and India.