Taking a cue from the wireless industry, multi-frequency networks may increase spectral efficiency of TV stations by allowing them to use current allocations to transmit additional programming plus online applications, said an upstart company about to test the technique. CTB Group executives told us that the company’s networks hold promise for the TV industry by letting it essentially broadcast online content while continuing to transmit conventional video. FCC broadband staffers have said they're interested in CTB’s technology (CD Jan 19 p10) as they look to reassign radio waves. They had no further comment Tuesday.
Receivers and other devices for the ATSC’s Mobile DTV standard are to be showcased at CES this week. They're to feature live, over-the-air programming from local broadcasters. The showcase and demonstrations will be at the CES Mobile DTV TechZone, said the sponsor, the Open Mobile Video Coalition.
Mobile DTV vendors can get their equipment certified through a new program at the Advanced TV Systems Committee, the ATSC said Wednesday. ATSC adopted the mobile DTV standard in October and has, with CEA, developed a certification mark for products that meet it, it said. “Common labeling and compliance with the standard will further support the broadcasters’ plans to rollout new services,” said ATSC President Mark Richer. The certification symbol says “MDTV” in blue, white and black.
More than 15 companies participated in a mobile DTV interoperability event at CEA last week, CEA said. The four- day “plugfest” was meant to help device makers test their products against the recently-adopted ATSC mobile-handheld standard. “CEA is taking 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.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Qualcomm’s FLO TV is seeking partnerships with broadcast stations through the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which promotes the ATSC-MH standard for using freed spectrum for free-to-air mobile digital reception of local TV, FLO President Bill Stone said Tuesday: “We should partner with these guys.”
TV broadcasters are honing their message to policy makers and legislators about the benefits of mobile DTV, as Washington officials hunt for more spectrum to free up for wireless broadband initiatives, industry executives said. As the wireless industry presses for more spectrum, broadcasters are beginning to hold up their burgeoning mobile DTV technology as a new example of how licensees may more efficiently use spectrum and attract new over-the-air viewers.
A new company aimed at helping low-power TV stations switch to DTV in exchange for using some of their spectrum to offer advanced wireless services showed its plans to broadband officials at the FCC last week, an ex parte filing shows. The CTB Group has a technology that will let LPTV stations offer ATSC broadcast and broadband simultaneously on the same channel, President Vern Fotheringham told Blair Levin, coordinator of the FCC’s broadband plan, and John Leibovitz, Wireless Bureau deputy chief. The company said it’s trying to recruit LPTV operators as affiliates and has received letters of intent from about 200 stations.
The FCC wants comment on a request by KNAZ-TV Flagstaff, Ariz., to move its DTV channel from 2 to 22, where it’s now operating under a waiver because it had planned to broadcast digitally on 2, said a Wednesday Media Bureau rulemaking notice. The station, owned by Multimedia Holdings, wants to make the switch because the channel 2 analog antenna it wanted to use for DTV was damaged beyond repair by ice storms. KNAZ said field tests found channel 2 also likely won’t work for the new ATSC mobile DTV standard and only those “on UHF and high VHF frequencies” will work “effectively,” according to the bureau.
Ion introduced mobile DTV service using ATSC M/H technology in Washington and New York City, it said, touting its “triple play” of mobile, HD and multicast broadcast services in the two cities. “The Mobile DTV eco system has now developed to the point that broadcasters are able to launch beta services, and we're beginning to think through consumer and business implementations,” said Brett Jenkins, vice president of technology.
With more spectrum opened by Friday’s analog TV cutoff, Qualcomm’s FLO TV expanded its coverage to new cellphone markets. The proprietary mobile TV network, delivered to cellphones by carriers AT&T and Verizon, will expand into 39 new markets, FLO TV said. The service was to go live immediately on Friday in 15 markets that included Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco, with other markets to follow throughout the year. In addition to adding new markets, immediately upon the over-air analog cutoff FLO TV was to expand its service in existing markets that include Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, the company said. Those additions and expansions couldn’t be confirmed independently at our deadline. With Friday’s analog TV cutoff, FLO TV potentially would be available to an additional 60 million AT&T and Verizon customers. Parent Qualcomm didn’t cite how many subscribers the service now has through AT&T and Verizon. FLO TV’s dedicated service lets cellphone users access broadcast news, sports and entertainment from content owners that include CBS, ESPN, FOX, MTV and NBC. Its cellphone-delivered content mostly is simulcast with the terrestrial TV broadcasts, although there are options for time-shifted reception to some mobile devices. The simulcast service is linear, though -- at least in its current form. “Linear” means that subscribers can’t now review or fast-forward a paused or stopped program, as they can with home PVRs. FLO TV is available through a variety of cellphones offered by AT&T and Verizon, including models from LG and Samsung. Qualcomm also has teamed with Audiovox to deliver vehicular entertainment systems for FLO TV. Qualcomm’s subscription-based TV delivery to cellphones will have competition soon from cost-free, over-air delivery of DTV broadcasts to phones and other portables developed by the Open Mobile Video Coalition. That system uses MPEG- 4/H.264 compression to deliver ATSC broadcasts to actively- moving receivers, like those in cars. The original ATSC system, begun in 1998, uses MPEG-2 compression that was designed for stationary receivers in homes. The new MPEG-4- based broadcast system for mobile reception should be in place later this year. It “piggybacks” on the broadcasters’ MPEG-2 signal. About 70 TV stations with 35 percent coverage of U.S. TV markets are to begin over-air broadcasts to mobile devices this year.