Broadcasters Come Together in the Name of Mobile DTV

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If you're intrigued by the idea of mobile TV, listen up. Broadcasters hope to develop something called Mobile Digital TV, which uses the digital spectrum to provide content to devices such as smart phones. A number of the largest ones have already formed a coalition to support the development of Mobile DTV. Keep reading for the details.

This past April it was announced that twelve of the world’s largest broadcast groups (representing 173 stations), including Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Fox, Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., ION Television, Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., NBC, Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media, were banding together to form a joint venture called the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) in hopes of developing a national mobile content service supporting Mobile DTV, otherwise known as Mobile Digital TV.

OMVC intends to use the digital spectrum to provide content to mobile devices, including on-demand video and live content, national and local news, as well as sports and entertainment programming. By using already-existing spectrum, the venture group will be able to offer mobile video and other content to nearly 150 million users. 

According to John Wallace, president of NBC Local Media, this effort will help in more ways than one. "This initiative offers a path for the next generation of video consumption and will help the FCC with its goal of ensuring efficient and reliable broadband service for U.S. consumers," he said.

As Wallace said, it’s strongly believed that this show of support by the broadcasters will give the FCC’s National Broadband Plan the push it needs to succeed at giving consumers without broadband access to faster Internet and mobile content through the use of the U.S.’s wireless broadband infrastructure.

Recently, it was announced that the spectrum for the service will come from three of the station groups participating in the venture: Fox, NBC, and Telemundo. It has also been reported that Ion and the remaining nine broadcast groups that formed Pearl Mobile DTV last year will help develop mobile broadband services.

Mobile DTV is an idea that’s been kicked around for quite a while, but until now it didn’t seem like a viable option because support for this emerging technology was so low. Well, if there’s anything that a new technology needs, it is industry support and good marketing. Thanks to the OMVC swooping in, it seems like this technology may finally take flight. Let’s find out more about the history of this emerging technology and how it may change the industry…

Next: New Support for a Once-Struggling Technology >>
 

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