“The key strength of any local TV broadcaster is that station’s ability to respond quickly to live events and to reach millions of viewers with a single digital broadcast transmission — a system designed to enable fast, easy, and robust reception in viewer’s homes. Now that digital TV broadcasting is going mobile, we strongly believe that Mobile DTV is a key ingredient in the nation’s drive to deliver timely news, information, and entertainment to our country’s citizens. And it’s even faster, more reliable, and more scalable than information routed through the Internet,” said Brandon Burgess, President of the Open Mobile Video Coalition and ION Media Networks Chairman and CEO.

Moreover, the advantages of Mobile DTV are laid out in the Federal Communications Commission’s newly issued report “Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan,” which notes that “emerging broadcast applications, such as mobile DTV and datacasting, may provide an opportunity to take advantage of the relative efficiencies of point-to-multipoint and point-to-point architectures in order to deliver various types of content in the most spectrum-efficient ways.” The report goes on to highlight the public interest service provided by local broadcasters, noting that “it is important to allow television broadcasting to continue to fulfill these obligations to local communities.”

Mobile DTV is delivered utilizing the same infrastructure as over-the-air broadcasts for home televisions, with special enhancements made to allow viewing on mobile devices. The technology has even been tested in trains moving more than 150 miles per hour, with robust reception of transmitted signals. 45 U.S. broadcast stations are already sending Mobile DTV signals and hundreds more are expected to sign on with mobile service in the coming months.

The technology’s potential to unlock new sources of information for viewers and new viewers for broadcasters is underscored in a new white paper just issued by IDC. Mobile DTV has the potential to expand the reach of broadcast TV while simultaneously relieving data networks that are overburdened with ever-growing demands for video content.

“Mobile DTV is a cultural and technical extension of digital over-the-air broadcasting and is a spectrum-efficient technology to deliver hugely popular content. But more than this, Mobile DTV allows consumers to also receive local channels, programming, and advertising, as well as relevant local and national news, emergency information, weather, and other alerts. Like over-the-air broadcasting, Mobile DTV easily makes possible a one to many broadcast that instantaneously can reach millions of viewers,” said Danielle Levitas, Group Vice President of IDC’s Consumer, Broadband & Digital Marketplace team.

In the report, IDC notes that local TV broadcasting service is an integral part of our nation’s wireless ecosystem. Free and local broadcast television delivers services – such as local news programming – that are critical to creating a sense of community and that no other video medium provides. Essentially all consumers, whether they receive their broadcast stations for free over the air or through pay television service, depend on their broadcast stations for local programming.

“We see Mobile DTV starting as a free service, delivering broadcast channels to viewers on the go. But the upside potential is even more interesting, because the technology can support subscription services to premium channels, a la carte access to other media, cached recording, localized and targeted advertising, and more – especially when Mobile DTV is paired with great mobile devices like netbooks and in-car entertainment systems,” Levitas said.

Sponsored by the OMVC, the IDC white paper “The Mobile DTV Opportunity and its Role in the Communications Ecosystem” predicts that the number of broadcasters transmitting with the new Mobile DTV standard will more than quadruple this year to 150 stations throughout the country. Today, 45 broadcasters have installed the new equipment that makes Mobile DTV broadcasting possible. Consumer electronics companies this year have already announced more than 20 new products that are poised for retail introduction as broadcasters sign on-the-air with Mobile DTV.

The IDC report is available for download at: www.tinyurl.com/IDCMobileDTVreport

Mobile DTV “More Efficient” for Popular, Live Programming

The IDC report notes that “while there is a lot of buzz around 4G technologies like WiMAX and LTE, 3G is still being built out and will be the dominant mobile broadband technology for years to come. For popular broadcast programming such as the top shows on network TV, major live news events, and live sporting events, mobile broadcasts are more efficient to deliver that content live and to millions at a time.”

IDC reports that video viewing on mobile phones is still in its infancy. The research firm makes clear that “in IDC’s past two annual mobile entertainment surveys, we have found the percentage of mobile phone owners that regularly or at least once in the three prior months view TV/video on their phone to be 2.5% to 5% of respondents.” The company’s most recent ConsumerScape 360^o survey fielded at the end of 2009 found that out of more than 7,000 U.S. respondents “only 2% reported watching premium content/TV on their phones within the prior month. Even if we assume the data to be underreported, it clearly is in its early stages.”

Broadcasters: Best Positioned for Favorite Shows, New Advertising Options

The report also highlights that “with some modest storage, devices with Mobile DTV receivers can potentially store different promotions that are triggered when the device is in a specific geo-location. This can be done on the device by triangulating the broadcasting TV signals. Also, if the device is a portable or in-car navigation device, the GPS radio can be a source of information for increased localization. Furthermore, if the device has WiFi or cellular, then the interaction can be more customized and additional services and calls to action can be delivered via the two-way connection. This is particularly valuable for both local businesses (advertisers) and transit systems that are delivering digital ads to commuters.”

Washington Consumer Showcase and Upcoming Product Introductions

Washington, D.C. broadcasters are gearing up for the OMVC’s Consumer Showcase of Mobile Digital Television that starts later this spring. Mobile DTV applications to be showcased under the recently approved Mobile DTV technical standard include favorite live, local television programs just as they are transmitted to DC-area homes, interactive broadcasts, and lifesaving emergency alerts for weather incidents and other unforeseen events. During the Washington, D.C. Consumer Showcase, the OMVC is planning an evaluation of quantitative and qualitative usage for each of the selected device platforms. The purpose of the Showcase is to understand factors that may motivate greater usage of Mobile DTV, early adoption, propensity to tolerate pay services, and interactive services and usage patterns, as well as to learn more about the core qualitative aspects of the user experience from pre-adoption to post-usage insights.

The Washington Consumer Showcase comes on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where more than a dozen companies introduced a variety of new Mobile DTV products that they plan to roll out in the coming year. Mobile DTV technologies unveiled at CES include netbooks equipped with Mobile DTV; battery-operated Portable Mobile TV Sets; Mobile DTV USB Receivers for Laptop computers; a unique Wi-Fi Access Point for Mobile DTV Reception; prototype cell phones with Mobile DTV; and Electronic Service Guides that provide information and interactivity such as voting, polling, and web access.

Beyond live broadcasts, the OMVC envisions mobile services such as emergency alerts that can be customized by market or location, live audio feeds, datacasting with traffic maps, closed captioning, “clip casting” sports and news highlights that could be stored in memory on a device, “push” Video On Demand for future viewing, time-shifted television, mobile digital video recording, interactive polling, electronic coupons, targeted advertising, and an electronic service guide for ease of tuning. Broadcasters will be able to extend their programming reach to a growing audience of new viewers — anywhere, anytime, and at any speed (since the new Mobile DTV can even be received by viewers in the back seat of a car that is moving down the freeway.)

The Open Mobile Video Coalition 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 30 members that own and operate over 529 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, please visit http://www.omvc.org.

I like the idea of a portable TV, a handheld device that you can take with you wherever you are and watch the shows that you want, when you want. And I think that FLO TV is heading in that direction with its mobile TV network. But the company’s Personal Television, a dedicated mobile TV device, has to deliver a lot if it’s going to convince people to carry yet another device in their pockets. Right now, at least, the Personal Television isn’t convincing me that it’s worth its weight, as it suffers from reception that’s more a miss than a hit, a limited selection of content, and a price that’s just too high.

FLO TV launched the Personal Television late last year, but the company has been providing mobile TV service via cell phones for a couple of years now. FLO TV service is delivered over a dedicated mobile TV network; it doesn’t piggyback on existing 3G networks used by cellular carriers. The company says this allows it to deliver a higher-quality television experience, one that is more like the TV-watching experience that people are used to having at home.

But using the Personal Television did not quite live up to that standard, even though the $200 device makes a great first impression. It’s small (4.5 inches wide by 3.1 inches tall by .5 inches thick); at first glance you could mistake it for a portable GPS. It features a 3.5-inch touch screen for watching TV, and a neat little kickstand that flips out for propping it up on a table or desk. 

The Personal Television relies on FLO TV’s service for content, and the service is a bit expensive for what it delivers: it costs $14.99 per month (though you do get six months of free service when you purchase the device). FLO TV delivers about 15 channels to the Personal Television, including ABC Mobile, CBS Mobile, NBC 2Go, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon, among others.

Some of the content is simulcast with what the networks are broadcasting to regular old TVs. If you turn on CBS Mobile at 11:30 at night, for example, you’ll see David Letterman. But some of the content is also “timeshifted,” according to FLO TV. Letterman’s show, for example, is shown again the day after it airs at 11:30 am, so that people can watch it on their lunch break.

The timeshifting serves a couple of purposes. One, it fills gaps that might occur because FLO TV does not broadcast your local programming, like the news you might see at noon every day. It also allows you to watch programs that you’d miss because the Personal Television does not offer any DVR-type recording features, nor does it offer access to any sort of on-demand library — yet. FLO TV says on demand features are likely to be added to future products.

The absence of a DVR and an on-demand library is not a deal breaker for me. But the poor reception I often experienced when testing the Personal Television would be. According to FLO TV’s coverage map, I live in an area with relatively good service. Yet, in some areas of my house, reception ranged from poor to nonexistent. Programs often looked pixelated and smeared, and sometimes the video froze up completely while waiting for a signal.

Reception did improve when I moved around the house, and got even better when I drove to a neighboring town to test the device. At its best, the picture looked as crisp and clear as anything you’d see on a standard definition TV. The 3.5-inch screen can feel small, though, so expect to squint if you’re trying to make out the text in a news report, for example.

The Personal Television is FLO TV’s first dedicated device, and the company says it does not consider itself a “device company,” but rather a company committed to bringing the experience of mobile TV to consumers. To that end, FLO TV is currently working on both an in-car TV system and an iPhone add-on.

The Personal Television is hampered by its high price and mixed reception, but it could also benefit from more programming. I think the idea behind it has promise, though, and I’m very interested to see how well the iPhone add-on works when it’s available later this year. Using a device I already own to watch TV on the go could be a lot more convenient — and affordable — than purchasing an additional device just for that luxury.

Article Source: http://newteevee.com/2010/03/03/flo-tvs-personal-television-is-not-quite-ready-for-prime-time/