ATSC mobile TV is ready to roll with nowhere to go
Jan 12, 2009 2:35 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
Cell phones like the LG Electronics 9400 will be able to receive ATSC Mobile/Handheld signals. The question is when.
It’s demo time for U.S. broadcasters and their attempt to gain a slice of the mobile television pie. New mobile phones and in-vehicle devices were on display at CES in Las Vegas as a coalition of local broadcasters said they will roll out services this year in select markets.
Yet, how successful this service will be remains to be seen, as there aren’t any phones available that can currently receive the signals, and it could take until the end of the year before they are in consumers’ hands (or cars, laptops, etc.). More importantly, competition for consumer eyeballs on small screens is fierce, with the established leader in mobile television, Qualcomm’s MediaFLO —which already has the two major mobile carriers as clients — expanding rapidly.
The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a group of more than 800 broadcasters pushing mobile technology, had multiple exhibits at the show and staged a press conference at which it announced that 63 stations in 22 markets — reaching about 35 percent of the 114.5 million U.S. television households — would use part of their digital spectrum in order to participate in a semi-national launch of mobile TV services. For example, in New York, three stations — WPXN, WNBC and WNET — will participate while in San Francisco two stations — KTVU and KXPX — will join in.
ATSC candidate standard-compliant technology is designed to provide live, local and national over-the-air digital television to consumers via next-generation portable and mobile devices at pedestrian and vehicular speeds. The final specification is not expected to be standardized until some time in the third quarter of this year, but the OMVC member stations will conduct on-air tests before then.
Of the 63 stations, 14 are NBC affiliates, nine ABC affiliates, nine CBS affiliates, five FOX affiliates, nine ION Television affiliates, four CW affiliates and four MyNetworkTV affiliates. In addition, nine PBS stations are in discussions with the OMVC to join the launch.
ATSC candidate standard tested at CES
The OMVC also conducted a live demonstration of the ATSC candidate standard at CES within the Las Vegas Convention Center. The demo involved multiple Las Vegas-based television stations broadcasting local and national TV programs to ATSC-compliant devices produced by LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. They used prototype transmission equipment manufactured by Harris. Harris said its ATSC mobile DTV technology platform that enables broadcasters to transmit a mobile/handheld signal (once approved) would be available to stations within the next 60 days.
The complete Harris ATSC mobile DTV platform includes an Apex M2X exciter and the company’s NetVX networking platform, which features a mobile video encoder, multiplexer and encapsulator. Harris is also working with Roundbox and Triveni Digital to integrate Electronic Program Guide services for program stream and data information.
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