More than 15 companies participated in a mobile DTV interoperabil...

a lead role in promoting rapid deployment of Mobile DTV services,” said Brian Markwalter, vice president of technology and standards. Mobile DTV products will be featured at CES next month, said Anne Schelle, executive director of the Open Mobile Video Coalition: “We expect a full array of USB laptop receivers, small computers, mobile DTV sets, accessory receivers, to be shown.” The event follows a recent survey showing there is consumer demand for mobile DTV (CED Dec 10 p7). U.S. consumers want to watch live local TV programming on mobile devices, the OMVC said, citing an online survey of 1,000 adults 18-59 it commissioned. “When you start getting into the content they're most interested, it’s all broadcast content,” said Schelle. Such programming has been absent from other mobile video services so far and would spur adoption of mobile TV, she said. “When you look at the history of TV and cable, it was the local content that drove all the other premium content. This is not a new paradigm.” OMVC commissioned the survey months ago to help develop a sense of what consumers were interested in as it prepares for mobile DTV trials in Washington next year, she said. But the results are applicable to the discussion at the FCC about reallocating TV spectrum for wireless broadband use, she said. “Nobody asks what the consumer thinks,” she said. “It’s all based on Wall Street and policy. “This is the first time the consumer has been asked about this type of service and whether they would value it.” Of those surveyed, 46 percent said watching live mobile DTV was “very or somewhat appealing,” the survey found. Among adults 18- 29, 65 percent responded that way. Network news and weather was the most popular kind of programming among those surveyed, followed by network entertainment and sports.