Rival German mobile TV concerns Neva Media and MFD are teaming up for a DVB-H-based mobile TV service—provided they win licenses (awards will be announced by the end of this year). MFD already runs a DMB-based TV service, but the German government has effectively endorsed the competing mobile TV standard DVB-H, which was also backed by the EU in July. The German Competition Office has also given the approval to a consortium of mobile operators to jointly develop infrastructure for a mobile TV service. (the news release on the Neva/MFD deal, in German, is at the Neva Media link above)

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Neva and MFD will provide the content and technology expertise for the service themselves: behind the mobile JV, the deal is also a partnership between three media powerhouses, Hubert Burda Media and Holtzbrinck (who control Neva Media) and South Africa’s Naspers (MFD).

The service is expected to launch in 2008, notes Telecom Paper.