It might be too early to presume stuff, but it seems like MobiTV has taken advantage of the big National Association of Broadcasters Show in Vegas this week to show off a new mobile DTV service that it has jointly developed with Sinclair and PBS. The company hopes to eventually introduce this new concept to a few interested cellular carriers as well.
The service itself is a combination of free over-the-air DTV broadcasts (from PBS and the CW, at the moment) and subscription-based on-demand content, which, it claims, would be made available for a seven-day window and be delivered via mobile WiMAX
There is no indication, though, of a potential roll-out, but it looks like MobiTV will be working during the next few days to rope in some additional partners. We will be bringing you more news as it comes….
Source: EngadgetMobile
Today the Open Mobile Video Coalition announced that Washington D.C. would be the showcase market for the ATSC-M/H mobile TV standard. ATSC-M/H is a version of the current ATSC digital television standard used in North America, which will enable mobile-formatted digital TV broadcasts to be made in parallel with existing DTV transmissions, which are set to take over for analog transmissions in the USA as of June 12, 2009.
North America’s ATSC is still only developing a mobile DTV technology that would provide users with a way to access digital television broadcasts without the need to pay a subscription fee. In December 2008, the ATSC promoted its ATSC-M/H proposal to “Candidate Standard” status, which allows for its use in the testing announced today by the OMVC. In addition to this, four TV stations in Atlanta and Seattle are set to become model ATSC-M/H stations for R&D and testing purposes. In related news, the OMVC announced that Dell will be joining Samsung, LG Electronics, and Kenwood in providing prototype devices for testing with the new ATSC-M/H proposed standard in the form of the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook.
Source: MobileBurn
LG Electronics today demonstrated new handsets that are completely capable of receiving free digital TV transmissions over the air. In order to demonstrate how the devices worked, LG loaded its ATSC Mobile Digital Television (DTV) system onto prototypes of its Lotus and Voyager handsets.
LG additionally tweaked the power management on the handsets, permitting users to view up to four hours of digital TV. Of course, these mobile phones were created for demonstration purposes only. This was done just to prove that mobile phones are indeed capable of receiving free, over-the-air DTV broadcasts. LG didn’t say if or when it would offer phones with these capabilities built-in.
Source: PhoneScoop
