Mobile TV's Uphill Climb
A group of broadcasters has been making the case that local content is the way to go when it comes to television on mobile devices, and it is wielding results from a recent consumer trial to prove it.
But there aren’t yet many devices that use Mobile DTV chips, and TV stations have been slow to adopt the technology.
Since May, a group of 800 broadcasters, called the Open Mobile Video Coalition, has been testing Mobile Digital Television around Washington, D.C.. Nine broadcasters in the area are transmitting 23 TV channels of local content, such as news and sports, to about 400 participants who got devices like cellphones and portable DVD players equipped with Mobile DTV chips. At the fall CTIA wireless trade show last week, the group said 65 percent of the people used Mobile DTV on a daily basis, with 22 percent accessing it three or more times a day. Local news viewership dominated all other categories, the test found.
Backers of the Mobile DTV technology have viewed it as a way for broadcasters to stay relevant as consumers becoming increasingly mobile, and are banking on local broadcasts of things such as news and sports to propel the service.
