German Cartel Office green lights joint mobile TV venture

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the country’s competition regulator, has given the green light to a DVB-H-based joint mobile TV venture among T-Mobile International, O2 Germany and Vodafone Germany.

According to a report published last week by the Thomson Financial news service, the Cartel Office has “no objections” to the service, but still plans to keep an eye on any possible antitrust aspects of the venture. It will issue a decision about these aspects in September.

The companies have teamed up to seek a national license to broadcast a mobile TV service. Since the European Commission officially backed the DVB-H standard last month, Germany has been planning to award two such licenses — one for running the network and the other for broadcasting the content. The three companies are seeking the latter, according to a recent report by Reuters.