Efforts Continue on Adding Broadcast Receivers in Mobile Devices
Broadcasters’ efforts to put more of their receivers in mobile devices like cellphones, PDAs and laptops continue, now that the FCC has issued rules on the Commercial Mobile Alert Service this month. Broadcasters lobbied FCC commissioners on the public-safety benefits of putting FM receivers in mobile phones (CD June 20 p7). Those efforts weren’t acknowledged overtly in a July 8 FCC order on the CMAS rules, but broadcasters believe carriers can use the FM system for alerts within the framework laid out by the FCC, Emmis CEO Jeffrey Smulyan said in an interview. “My understanding is that our solution fits within the rules,” he said. Meanwhile, TV broadcasters’ efforts to develop a mobile DTV system are leading them to discussions with mobile carriers as well.
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Radio broadcasters are in talks with carriers about FM chips going into more cellphones, Smulyan said. “We're not really going for a rulemaking now,” he said. “We are in a discussion with our peers in the cellular industry. We think it’s compelling enough that the cellular industry is going to embrace it as much as we have.” A broadcaster study under way will show how much carriers can save by using FM for mobile alerts, he said. They've been receptive, he said. “Just based on the discussions with most of the phone companies, we think that as we explain all the advantages of the system this is not a multiyear process.”
Broadcasters have lamented the small proportion of mobile phones and MP3 devices with radio tuners. TV broadcasters are also in preliminary talks with carriers about allowing mobile DTV receivers in some phones as the TV industry’s mobile DTV technology emerges. Broadcasters hope to set a technology standard for the system by June 2009, hastening to finish as soon as possible, said Anne Schelle, executive director of the Open Mobile Video Coalition. Meanwhile, the group, with about 20 member station groups, has talked with carriers, she said. “It’s early,” she said. “For the carriers, they're going to want to see the whole plan. They're going to want to see national coverage and the programming that’s going to get served up.”
Mobile DTV backers can cite public-safety benefits, particularly in the hurricane season after the 2009 DTV switch, said John Taylor, vice president of government relations for LG. The company helped develop the mobile DTV system expected to be adopted by the ATSC as the industry standard. February’s analog cutoff will leave battery- operated portable analog obsolete. “Just the basic concept of being able to have a battery-operated DTV set, whether you're watching the ball game on your patio while you're grilling, or keeping up with stock quotes in your car or on the train, there’s so many cool applications,” he said. “From a public policy standpoint, particularly as we look ahead to the hurricane season of 2009, adds on another layer of importance to what’s happening with ATSC mobile/handheld work.”
The coalition sees that boon and thinks consumers will, too, Schelle said. “We absolutely see that there is a tremendous benefit on the public safety side to have a broadcast TV capability in multiple devices,” she said. “We're in that earlier phase of getting the standard developed and done. As we look toward 2009 and launching and producing devices, we'll have a better idea of what all that means.”