Three dozen-plus engineers attended the second ATSC Mobile DTV interoperability event at CEA to test new portable TV equipment, CEA said. That was a bigger crowd than attended the first such event in December, it said.
Distributed Transmission System technology has become highly politicized since the CTIA and CEA suggested that it could be used to reclaim some of the spectrum used in the TV band, industry executives and engineers said. The technology, also known as a single frequency network, lets stations use multiple synchronized transmitters to supplement the one on their main tower. It was approved by the FCC in the lead-up to the analog cutoff. Broadcast executives have panned the technology and the criticism is growing. Now a group of engineers is setting out to prove that the DTS won’t work. The CTIA-CEA proposal “did not fully understand the application, and that is what has gotten some of the broadcasters’ backs raised over this whole thing,” said Jay Adrick, vice president of broadcast technology for Harris, which sells some equipment for DTS.
“Broadcast consolidation and technical flexibility will mitigate [the] risk of future mobile broadband spectrum shortages,” said a LIN TV presentation to the FCC. TV stations should be allowed to program simultaneously using multiple standards such as ATSC, LTE and Wi-MAX to “reach [a] wide variety of devices,” it said (http://xrl.us/bgxgo5). “Broadcast technical rules should mimic the ‘liberal use’ policy applicable to wireless services” and allow any technical standard or service architecture that meet interference protection and public interest rules, LIN said. CEO Vincent Sadusky met last week with Commissioner Robert McDowell, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, Office of Strategic Planning Chief Paul de Sa and Blair Levin, head of the commission’s broadband initiative, said ex parte filings Tuesday.
ATSC, CEA, the Open Mobile Video Coalition and the NAB said they'll sponsor a Mobile DTV Marketplace at the NAB Show in April. The event will showcase Mobile DTV consumer products.
ATSC committees are continuing work on mobile DTV technology that broadcasters will be showcasing in Washington this spring, executives said at an ATSC seminar Wednesday. Though ATSC adopted the standard for mobile DTV broadcasts in October, certain pieces of the technology were left out of that process in order to speed it, said Sterling Davis, vice president of technology for Cox Media Group.
A single-frequency network proposal that CEA and CTIA say will save spectrum was panned by the five TV industry officials who responded to our survey about whether switching to a low-power model using more and smaller antennas is practical. They said the SFN distributed transmission system (DTS) sought by the cellular and consumer electronics industries to free up radio waves for wireless broadband (CD Dec 24 p1) is largely untested. DTS has primarily been used by individual broadcasters to fill in coverage areas after they've lost part of their signal contour from the DTV transition. Broadcasters also haven’t embraced a newer idea of using multi-frequency networks (CD Jan 27 p3).
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.