TV broadcasters form Mobile500 Alliance for mobile TV

Mobile digital television has been a long time coming and broadcasters have taken another step to push their dreams for a nationwide broadcast mobile TV solution into reality.
A group of 30 broadcasters, which collectively own 346 TV stations in 167 markets, formed the Mobile500 Alliance on Wednesday to that aim. With more than 90% of the U.S. population covered by their TV holdings, the group hopes to adopt the Mobile DTV standards which have been defined through years of work at the Open Mobile Video Coalition.
The OMVC, which is comprised of 29 members representing more than 800 stations across the country, showcased live demonstrations of the technology earlier this year and recently wrapped a trial in select markets.
Despite years of fits and starts, OMVC has worked faster on this standard than any other in broadcast history. The OMVC has successfully pulled together an ecosystem for Mobile DTV in just a matter of years while high-definition television took almost a decade to find a footing and color TV standards took decades to complete.
The technology being pushed by OMVC and now further shepherded by Mobile500 Alliance will simply pull live broadcasts tailor-suited for mobile devices from the existing digital transmissions of at least 800 TV stations across the country. The Mobile DTV approach is much more traditional from the outset: live local programming supported by advertising that will only reach as far as each broadcast signal allows.
“The Mobile500 Alliance aims to develop a Mobile DTV business model permitting consumers to view popular broadcast content, as well as non-broadcast content with enhanced features,” said Colleen B. Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fisher Communications, Inc. and Chair of the Mobile500 Alliance. “To that end, we will work to secure content arrangements with program suppliers and enhanced consumer device features with electronics manufacturers.”
The group is reaching out to get other broadcasters involved as well as it seeks to define a sustainable nationwide business model built on OMVC’s Mobile DTV standards.
“It is important the entire television industry support Mobile DTV. The Mobile500 Alliance and its members are an important part of this developing service, and their efforts further demonstrate the commitment of broadcast TV to fully expanding its use of the digital spectrum and finding new ways to serve the public,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO of ION Media Networks, Inc., and president of the OMVC.
The news comes on the heels of a fresh report from In-Stat, which predicts mobile TV delivered over 3G networks to generate $15 billion in subscription-based revenue by 2014. However, the bulk of that activity is expected to occur in India and China, where subscriptions are pegged to reach 95 million by 2014.
“Getting mobile subscribers to pay for TV services on their mobile devices has been daunting as users have clearly gravitated to free broadcast or Internet-based content on their phones,” Frank Dickson, VP of research for In-Stat, wrote in the report. “As a result, pay mobile TV results have been disappointing, relegating cellular mobile TV as a niche service. However, niche services in cellular can still drive huge revenue.”