by Marguerite Reardon
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LAS VEGAS -Mobile TV may finally hit the mainstream when cell phones
throughout the U.S. are able to access local TV for free.
The Open Mobile Video Coalition, an organization made up of consumer
electronics companies, broadcasters and mobile TV companies, has
finished a standard for new chips that will allow mobile devices, such
as cell phones, to receive broadcast TV signals. The new technology is
already making its way into prototype devices and is being shown off
here at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Samsung Moment and live local TV via DTV.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET)
Starting in March, broadcasters in Washington, D.C. will be the first
to test the mobile DTV capability in a proof-of-concept trial with
real live consumers. Several device makers, including Dell, LG, and
Samsung are making products available for the test.
The devices for the test include a smartphone by Samsung, a Netbook
from Dell, a portable DVD player from LG, and a mobile DTV bridge
device called the Tivit that receives digital TV signals and
retransmits it over Wi-Fi making free local TV available for devices,
such as the Apple iPhone.
Getting TV on mobile phones is nothing new. MobiTV already offers more
than 40 channels of daily live TV from several networks including ABC,
CBS, NBC, ESPN and Discovery Networks. It also offers made for mobile
videos and video on demand clips to more than five million subscribers
on over 350 mobile devices. Its content is available on several
wireless operator networks, including AT&T and Sprint Nextel.
A subsidiary of mobile chip maker Qualcomm also has a mobile TV
solution. The company built its own mobile TV broadcast network called
MediaFlo that broadcasts live TV to cell phones using special embedded
Flo technology.
Even though mobile TV services have been available for at least five
years, the services haven't taken off in a big way. One reason has
been the cost. MobiTV charges $9.99 a month for 40 channels. And
MediaFlo offered on AT&T and Verizon Wireless costs $15 for 10
channels of live TV.
Mobile Digital TV will likely be free, which could be enough to whet
consumers' appetites for mobile TV and entice them to buy more premium
content, mobile TV veterans hope.
"If consumers can get a little bit of local TV on their phones, it
might hook them in," said Jay Hinman, senior director of product
marketing for MobiTV. "And we can provide other content like ESPN or
other kinds of service packs. And consumers can customize what they
want to watch."
Hinman envisions MobiTV creating more flexible channel packages to go
along with the free local TV that consumers will get on their phones.
MobiTV is showing off its "mixed TV" solution at CES.
While mobile DTV may be free to consumers, broadcasters and wireless
operators could still monetize the service by offering interactive and
localized advertising. Because the handset will be getting local TV
signals, local advertising can be sold in the video streams, just as
local TV broadcasters sell advertising for their over-the-air TV
broadcasts.
But because the video is going to a cell phone, the advertising can be
interactive. For example, an advertiser could push a banner
advertisement with local TV content and offer consumers the ability to
click on the advertisement.
Even if broadcasters and wireless operators charge subscription fees
for local mobile DTV, some experts still say that it could boost
viewership simply because consumers are interested in live, local TV
programming.
"When live TV was introduced in Japan and Korea, mobile TV viewing
went up to 50 percent penetration," said John Godfrey an executive at
Samsung. "That's a big deal. And it seems to suggest that with the
right content, it has the potential to become a mainstream feature ."