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/.

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

Situated in the heart of the Grand Lobby of the LVCC at NAB (April 12-15), the Mobile DTV Marketplace will demo a wide array of consumer devices rolling out in the near future. The marketplace is being sponsored by a quartet of heavy hitters: the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Open Mobile Video Coalition, and NAB.

Themed “Experience the Power of Local Broadcast TV on the Go,” the marketplace is being geared to provide local broadcasters with the wide array of likely mobile devices to be shipped soon to American retailers—from smart-phones to hand-held iPad-like PCs to fixed in-vehicle displays.

Mobile DTV proponents also will conduct a NAB Super Session on Tuesday (April 13) to brief executives on an upcoming “consumer showcase” for the Washington, D.C. market (DMA 9) now getting underway with the participation of at least eight local broadcasters. The session, “Mobile TV: Ready for Primetime?” will feature Saul Berman of IBM, Brett Jenkins of Ion Television, Frank Barbieri of Transpera, Jonathan Barzilay of Flo TV, and Gary Arlen of Arlen Communica-tions.

BIGGEST HURDLE? CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE

“While everyone talks about ‘mobile,’ this is more about ‘transportable,’” said panelist Arlen, an analyst based in Bethesda, Md. “Viewers will watch shows or streams wherever they are—thus validating the concept of ‘best available screen.’ That is, they’ll use a handheld or mobile device if they cannot get to a laptop/desktop monitor or a ‘real’ TV set.”

Arlen thinks the major challenge for mobile video will be the competitive landscape. “Consumers will be very confused about the different offers—and the incompatible equipment requirements—as they’re pitched Flo TV, the various OMVC options, as well as streamed Web video services they can get now on smart-phones and other mobile handsets.”

iMovee’s Touch Telly is one of the first products on the market to be ATSC-M/H compatible and is currently on sale in selected U.S. cities.

OMVC Executive Director Anne Schelle said Mobile DTV shouldn’t be mistaken by consumers as simply another option in the current competition already out there. “[Pay-service] MobiTV is only on the Sprint platform and offers largely recorded clips—not simulcasts of live TV,” she said. “And Flo TV is a total premium service and is not offering local stations. At NAB, you’ll see us demo all the local Las Vegas broadcast channels, plus some premium cable content, across [several] broadcast stations.”

NAB Science & Technology Senior Vice President Lynn Claudy said while Mobile DTV will have a big presence at NAB, “The focus is moving well beyond tech-nology demonstrations. The NAB Show’s demos and sessions will underscore the real breadth of participation by industry partners and CE manufacturers—including the CEA—which will be critical in determining if Mobile DTV will succeed in the marketplace.” However, Claudy said, the technology side of mobile DTV is now largely stable. “Our optimism in the technology realm has paid off well.”

Claudy said—based on what promises to be a robust level of participation in the Mobile DTV Marketplace (and in the Mobile DTV Pavilion located in the upper level of the LVCC South Hall)—”NAB is optimistic about Mobile DTV’s commercial future.” NAB’s chief technology executive also said engineers should take note of the several Mobile DTV sessions and papers being offered at the Broadcast Engineering Conference. One paper, “Perceived Video Quality and Bit Rate in the ATSC Mobile DTV Standard,” will be presented by the Communications Research Center of Canada on Sunday (April 11) at 5 p.m. (Rm. S219, LVCC).

Lynn Claudy, NAB Science & Technology Senior Vice President

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

Andy Whiteside, general manager of Acrodyne Services, said for local stations the implementation of Mobile DTV is not just a transmitter or studio upgrade. “It requires an integrated approach to the ’signal chain’ in order to provide the broadcaster and potential viewer with full access to the capabilities of the new standard,” he said. (Acrodyne, which last year shuttered its transmitter business, increasingly sees itself as a Mobile DTV systems integrator and does not en-dorse any particular product lines.)

Whiteside said the new ATSC A/153 standard offers broadcasters myriad opportunities beyond what he calls “little TV,” but he said several business and legal issues remain—notably content rights and questions of free-to-air or subscription—which must be resolved. “The resolution of such issues drives the tech-nical side, so my advice to tech execs is to retain as much flexibility as possible in selecting equipment and suppliers, so as not to get backed into a corner. Mobile DTV represents the only opportunity for broadcasters to extend their reach to new demographics, to extend their reach outside the home,” he said.

Arlen said revenue questions remain, as well—”namely who gets a share of what? I’m also waiting to see how the mobile device dealers—ranging from big-box merchants to wireless phone carrier outlets—will sell their video services. That will add another level of entertainment and a lot of complexity to what is already a complicated sales process,” he said.

Sterling Davis, vice president of engineering at Cox Broadcasting, chairs the OMVC’s Technical Advisory Group. “We already have five [Cox] stations up and running with mobile TV and there are a lot of good reasons to do it,” he said. “At this stage, I don’t think the jury’s still out on mobile TV—I think it’s going to happen. Most broadcasters will wind up doing it sooner or later. And it’s not very expensive to implement,” said Davis, the recipient of last year’s NAB Engineer-ing Achievement Award for Television.

Article Source: http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/97210

“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.

OMVC Model Stations

The OMVC launched “Model Stations” for technical research and development of Mobile Digital TV (MDTV) receiving devices.

By staying on-air continuously, these stations let manufacturers develop and test their products that meet the broadcaster, manufacturer and consumer requirements.  

There are four model stations – two in Atlanta and two in Seattle. Harris Corporation, Rohde & Schwarz, Roundbox, Inc. and Triveni Digital are supplying Mobile DTV transmission equipment and offering their technical expertise to the stations.

In the Spring of 2010, there will be a test of the MDTV service. Eight television stations in Washington, D.C., will be the first to test the Mobile DTV capability.

The test ia being called the “Washington DC Showcase” by the OMVC. The testing stations will broadcast the new mobile signal that can be received by special mobile devices such as cell phones, laptop computers, and portable DVD players that can display TV programming while moving, even at high speed.

30 stations in Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, and Los Angeles, have already installed the new equipment at a cost of $75,000 to $150,000.  

TV stations have to install additional hardware in their systems to broadcast the Mobile DTV signal. No FCC action is required to approve Mobile DTV because it fits within the current ATSC DTV standard.

Mobile Digital broadcasting is an extra stream of data added to a conventional Digital TV broadcast, with error correction designed to overcome the reception problems encountered when a receiver is in motion.

The new mobile devices must receive a special signal, a portion of the current Digital TV broadcast frequency, and “processes it” to display a clear picture on the go.  

By the end of 2010, several hundred Mobile DTV channels are expected to “go mobile” across the United States.

Article Source: http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Mobile_DTV_Broadcasting.html