Broadcasters Keep Pushing the Mobile TV Boulder Uphill

The effort by broadcasters to bring free mobile television (kind of like a mobile phone version of a Sony WatchMan) continues with a group of 12 broadcasters announcing plans to upgrade TV stations in 20 markets so they can deliver live video to portable devices.

The 12 are part of an effort dubbed the Mobile Content Venture, which seeks to deliver free, broadcast television content to specially equipped mobile devices. All of this will be done using spectrum owned by the broadcast companies for delivering over the air TV tuned to a standard pushed by the Open Mobile Video Coalition. With station upgrades by late 2011, the venture says it will deliver mobile video service in markets representing more than 40 percent of the US population. Service consisting of least two ad-supported free-to-consumer channels in each market will be available in the following markets: New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Houston; Detroit; Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach, Fla.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Portland, Ore.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Greenville, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala; and Knoxville, Tenn. In the meantime, the group is working with device makers to ensure its signals will reach those interested in the two-channel broadcast offering.