Not that this is a surprise, even though it is still controversial: DVB-H is a Nokia-backed mobile TV technology. European Union plans to add DVB-H to the list of standards published in its official journal. “This implies that (E.U. member countries) will be required to encourage the use of DVB-H for the provision of terrestrial mobile television services,” the commission’s draft document said, reported by DJN. Other competing companies have lobbied EU to keeps its options open. South Korea has lobbied the commission to consider the T-DMB standard. EU rejected Qualcomm’s MediaFlo solution as a “proprietary solution” that is at the start of the testing stage.

In the early 1990s, E.U. regulators selected the GSM standard for mobile phones, making the devices compatible across the bloc. The U.S., by contrast, has had several competing standards.

WSJ: The commission noted that using a single standard is necessary to avoid “market fragmentation.” The commission’s telecom regulator, Viviane Reding, in March warned industry players to select a single standard or have one selected for them…Reding added that she favors DVB-H since it is based on European technology with the support of EU funds. The EU contributed about Euro 40 million to research that went into the DVB-H standard.