Lawson Heading Up Mobile500

Mobile500, an alliance of over 40 broadcast groups/companies putting together a business plan for mobile DTV, has named John Lawson as its executive director.
Lawson is the former executive vice president of Ion Media Networks, whose CEO, Brandon Burgess, has been one of the driving forces behind the effort to get broadcasters a piece of the mobile video marketplace. He will now focus on getting content for the service and getting DTV receiver chips into mobile devices like laptops, smart phones and iPads.
Lawson himself is a founding board member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which is working on the technical issues of mobile DTV, including showcasing the service in the D.C. market over the past few months.
Lawson is also the former head of the Association of Public Television Stations. Lawson will continue as an independent consultant while running the alliance.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.