Free Mobile TV!?!

[popdog54]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/200904.../tec_mobile_tv

Washington to get first crack at free mobile TV

• By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer - Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:09AM EDT

Washington will be the first U.S. city to get free digital TV broadcasts for mobile devices like cell phones, laptop computers and in-car entertainment systems, broadcasters were set to announce Monday.

Broadcasts using new "mobile DTV" technology are expected to begin in late summer from five stations: local affiliates of CBS, NBC, PBS and Ion and one independent station owned by Fox.
The initial broadcasts will be identical to those beamed to TV sets, including the advertising.

It's unclear what devices might be available with the special receivers needed for the new signals. Cell phones are main candidates for the technology, but the wireless carriers have shown no enthusiasm, and the largest two have their own TV services, which require subscriptions.

However, Dell Inc. will be showing a prototype of a small laptop with a built-in mobile DTV receiver at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas this week. The computer maker joins cell phone makers LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in supporting the technology. Kenwood Corp. is developing car-based receivers.

The companies backing the technology in the so-called Open Mobile Video Coalition said Washington was chosen as a test market because the city is full of tech-savvy viewers who pay attention to local news. Attention from politicians and regulators probably doesn't hurt either — the coalition has earlier pointed to the usefulness of free mobile TV broadcasts in case of emergencies and disasters like hurricanes.

Broadcasters plan to quickly start broadcasts in more than two dozen other cities by the end of the year, covering 39 percent of U.S. households. Among the target cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta.

[neodorian]

Pretty cool but I already access all of my cable TV and media on my home server via Orb.

[ramiss]

The carriers won't be interested:

1) They wont make any money from it unless they can be convinced that they will lose customers.

2) As mentioned the two top carriers already have a subscription service which include news and a lot more.

3) This will eat up their bandwidth.

just my $0.02

Richard

[rhannahs19]

interesting

[demonlordoftheround]

Originally Posted by ramiss

The carriers won't be interested:

1) They wont make any money from it unless they can be convinced that they will lose customers.

2) As mentioned the two top carriers already have a subscription service which include news and a lot more.

3) This will eat up their bandwidth.

just my $0.02

Richard

Yes, this seems geared more toward netbooks and laptops rather than cellular phones.

[rdavidsmith]

Originally Posted by demonlordoftheround

Yes, this seems geared more toward netbooks and laptops rather than cellular phones.

That being said you know we will have a hack anyway...

[imneveral0ne]

Originally Posted by rdavidsmith

That being said you know we will have a hack anyway...

at least we can hope!

[Laos101]

They should just force 'em to broadcast it as a service to the people. That will put their money in their mouth

[CozBoogie]

Read this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31948802...h_and_gadgets/

late,
Coz

[darren.wlsn1]

nice find coz, woot, more tv. i just got the new spbtv update and its realy good if anybody uses 1.0 there is a update.