Broadcasters Band Together on Mobile TV
Group Members Represent 281 TV Stations in U.S.
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/16/2007 8:59:00 AM
Eight major broadcast groups representing 281 TV stations in the United States formed the Open Mobile Video Coalition, an alliance to “accelerate the development of mobile digital-broadcast television,” according to the group.
The alliance didn’t specify which technologies it intends to promote but, in general, its intent is to extend the existing terrestrial digital-TV system to allow for high-quality digital video to be received by a moving receiver, “either at pedestrian or vehicular speeds,” the group said.
The founding members of the alliance claimed that they reach a combined 95 million households in 49 of the top 50 DMAs. The companies involved are Belo, Fox Television Stations, Gannett Broadcasting, Gray Television, ION Media Networks, the NBC and Telemundo Television Stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Broadcasting.
Unlike the mobile-TV services offered by wireless-phone companies, the group said, “mobile digital video by broadcasters is designed to transmit video to very large areas simultaneously and, as such, can carry a very high-quality picture at almost no incremental cost.”
The group said it expects to work closely with the National Association of Broadcasters’ Advanced Technology Advocacy Committee. The Open Mobile Video Coalition announced its formation at the NAB2007 convention in Las Vegas.
