The group, made up of numerous station groups and network O&Os, said dozens of broadcasters are now installing new transmission equipment enabling a station to use part of its government-allotted 6 Mhz of RF spectrum — at a cost of roughly $150,000 per station.

The OMVC also announced that its Mobile DTV Trust Authority, managed by Neustar, is now in discussions with several consumer electronics companies to spur them to develop new products that include conditional access technology and the necessary ATSC A/153 receiver chip. These manufacturers are said to be signing agreements directly with Neustar in order to obtain the digital certificates and keys necessary for secure use of Mobile DTV service by the new devices.

The recently announced Dyle mobile TV branded service will feature content from NBC, FOX, Telemundo and ION, as well as local news, weather and other local content, across 32 markets, reaching 50 percent of the U.S. population in 2011.

Colleen Brown, CEO of Fisher Communications and chairman of the Mobile 500 Alliance, said that OMVC members are making the investments needed to make Mobile DTV available to millions of viewers. The Mobile500 Alliance represents more than 400 local TV broadcasters who are planning to add Mobile DTV capability to their digital broadcasts.

The OMVC has also established a “Mobile DTV Forum” that the group said is working to complete Consumer Electronics Device Profiles for new programming services later this summer. The profiles are baseline technical guidelines that will give CE manufacturers details about how broadcasters will implement new services and the inputs needed to build consumer electronics products that receive Mobile DTV. The Mobile DTV Forum is comprised of TV technology companies, consumer electronics firms and broadcasters.

In the fall, the OMVC will launch a trial Conditional Access System in the Washington, D.C. market to help CE companies test gear that receives, decodes and displays mobile broadcast signals. Everyone agrees that conditional access is critical to the success of Mobile DTV, both to protect content from illegal viewing and to facilitate audience measurement strategies as well as the (eventual) deployment of subscription programming.

Last month, the OMVC announced a new Predictive Model for reception of UHF Mobile DTV signals, a tool intended to predict signal coverage in automobiles and for personal viewing. The coalition is also making available recorded Mobile DTV signals, a new library of content that will help broadcasters and product developers improve Mobile DTV service and consumer products.

Representing over 900 TV stations across the country, the OMVC is a voluntary association of television broadcasters whose mission is to accelerate the development of mobile digital television in the United States. The OMVC is composed of 36 members that own and operate over 500 commercial television stations, as well as the Association of Public Television Stations, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service, which represent an additional 360 public television stations. Membership in the OMVC is open to all U.S.-based television broadcasters. For more information, visit http://www.OMVC.org/.

The Dyle logo and brand will also be appearing on consumer devices to certify that it is capable of receiving the national mobile content service being developed by MCV, a joint venture that is made up of Fox, Ion Television and NBC and by the 12 major groups of broadcast stations that make up the Pearl Group.

“When a consumer sees the Dyle logo on a box, they will know that the device has the technology required for live mobile TV, on-the-go, wherever they are,” noted Salil Dalvi and Erik Moreno, co-GMs of MCV in a statement. “TV station owners can be confident that a Dyle-enabled device offers users the best possible live mobile TV experience.”

MCV is expecting to have member stations up and running in 32 markets covering 50% of the U.S. population but is not yet releasing additional details about how it plans to market and position the new Dyle brand or the specific content that it will offer on the Dyle mobile DTV services.

Previously announced markets include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, Knoxville, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver, St. Louis, Cleveland, Charlotte, Seattle, Raleigh, Kansas City, Columbus, Tulsa and Montgomery.

Participating station groups include Gannett, Media General, Bahakel, Belo, Raycom, Scripps, Post Newsweek, Meredith, Hearst, Cox, FOX, NBC, ION and Telemundo.

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By George Winslow — Broadcasting & Cable

ION Media Networks has committed to upgrading its stations to launch mobile digital TV signals in the first quarter of 2011, a move that will make mobile DTV signals available in the nation’s top 10 TV markets within 60 says.

ION has long been a long standing supporter of the technology and played a pioneering role in orchestrating industry R&D on mobile television through the Open Mobile Video Coalition. ION is currently a member of both OMVC and the Mobile Content Venture.

“We look forward to advancing Mobile DTV as part of a comprehensive next-generation broadcast offering for 21st century TV viewers,” says Brandon Burgess, CEO, ION Media Networks in a statement. “We welcome collaborative efforts among groups such as MCV and Mobile500 and support their efforts to advance dialogues with device manufacturers.”

ION decision to launch services means that stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, Boston and Detroit will have mobile DTV capabilty within 60 days..

The ION stations in these key markets will follow the MCV business partnership roll-out plans and deliver two mobile feeds–the primary ION Television general entertainment network and its Qubo children’s programming network.

Today, Wheeler’s interests also include the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which includes in its membership more than 900 TV stations, including public television stations, and 16 of the top 20 station groups, all banded together to “foster open competition in the development of products and services advancing mobile digital television.” He talked with Communications Technology Editor Debra Baker about the advent of “TV Everywhere” and where the initiative is heading.

Read the full article here: http://www.cable360.net/ct/sections/features/44525.html

By George Winslow — Broadcasting & Cable, 12/5/2010 12:55:00 PM

Even though most broadcasters won’t be launching mobile digital TV services until the fall of 2011, the Advanced Television Services Committee is already at work on enhancements to the ATSC M/H (A/153) standard that was formally approved in October of 2009.

Some of these enhancements will provide better measurement of mobile DTV viewing and will allow broadcasters to potentially create new revenue streams from on demand content, better targeted advertising and widgets.

One important potential development is the ATSC’s work on the Non-Real Time Content Services (NRT) standard, which would enable a new class of widgets that would make it possible to delivery on demand news, weather and other content while creating a variety of new advertising supported services.

The first round of NRT enhancements, which would enable the broadcast of non-real time content, is expected to be published as a candidate standard in the first quarter of 2011 and then formally approved later in the year. A second round of enhancements to NRT, which will enable more interactivity, will probably appear in 2012.

The development of NRT is important because the first launches of mobile DTV services have simply been simulcasts of linear TV broadcasts, with the same ads spliced into both the TV and mobile feeds. This is helpful as a defensive strategy: It preserves a stations existing audience as viewers spend more time with mobile video but it does not produce any new revenues to cover mobile DTV investments or strengthen the bottom line of stations struggling with a poor ad climate.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/460602-Next_Generation_Standards_for_MDTV.php

That’s a pretty big milestone for a technology that many thought would be outdated because of the demand for digital TV and video streaming on phones. But the market for analog TV on cell phones has taken off in emerging markets around the world.

What’s interesting about Telegent’s chips is that they are making a big difference in the lives of those who use them. That’s perhaps a greater impact than many expensive technologies that are designed for use by the digerati.

The Telegent chips are pretty cheap and enable users to watch broadcast TV for free on their phones. For many people in poorer areas, the phones become the only way that they can access TV programming. In developed countries, users watch TV while on the run or during commutes.

Read more at: http://venturebeat.com/2010/12/01/telegent-ships-100mth-chip-for-tv-on-mobile-phones/

The new Pay-Per-Day access only raises the same question. It will be nice to only pay for service when you need it, but then your watching whatever already time-shifted program is on at that time as FLO TV does not actually broadcast live television signal at the same time it normally airs.

With the upcoming release of a multitude of free over-the-air ATSC-M/H products and increased station availability FLO TV must continue to think out of the box to retain subscriptions. While this is a move in the right direction it certainly does not make up for that magic word… FREE.