By Stephen Lawson
Among the devices supporting mobile digital TV at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week will be a small box designed to bring over-the-air broadcasts to iPhones, BlackBerries, laptops and other devices with Wi-Fi.
The ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) approved a mobile DTV standard for the U.S. in October, but CES is expected to host the first major announcements of devices that can receive the signals. The Tivit, development of which was partially funded by the industry group Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), will pick up a standard mobile DTV signal and transmit it via Wi-Fi to a mobile phone or any other device equipped with Wi-Fi. It is expected to go on sale in the first half of this year for between US$90 and $120.
All the major U.S. mobile operators offer some form of TV service, but those services are oriented toward national channels and video on demand. Mobile DTV allows local stations to broadcast their regular over-the-air programming or other content from their existing transmission facilities. The broadcasts are carried over a portion of the station's regular frequencies and use high-quality H.264 video and HE AAC v2 (High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding, Version2) audio encoding. Stations are expected to begin by showing their standard content, free of charge, but could also add special mobile DTV channels available by subscription.
Several mobile DTV devices are expected to be announced at CES, including a portable DVD player from LG Electronics. As for content to watch on those upcoming devices, 30 local stations out of about 1,600 across the U.S. are already set up for mobile DTV, according to the OMVC. It costs less than $150,000 and about two hours to upgrade a station for mobile DTV, said David Arland, a spokesman for the OMVC and Valups, which will make the Tivit.
