It looks like that soon there will be some new standards
on mobile TV.
"HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Proponents of over-the-air digital TV are gearing up for new mobile and Web offerings that could hit as early as next year. But even some implementers admit the effort faces a host of daunting challenges.
With the rise of cable, satellite and IPTV services, over-the-air TV has declined to use by a small subset of typically rural and low tech households. But the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) which manages the U.S. digital TV specification aims to inject new life into the technology with a wave of standards in progress.
The first and most ambitious of these is a standard for sending over-the-air TV transmissions to mobile devices including cellphones, media players and car navigation systems. The ATSC plans to vote on a final mobile standard on November 25 and launch initial services in 2009.
Broadcasters could cash in on a whopping $2 billion advertising market if they can reach the estimated 200 million video-ready mobile devices expected to ship in 2008 alone, said Glenn Reitmeier, vice president of technology policy, strategy and standards at NBC Universal and chairman of ATSC.
"I don't know where else you can find $2 billion in growth in a fairly mature TV market," Reitmeier said in a presentation at the annual technical conference of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers here.
"We think there is a very bright future for over-the-air TV, and the ATSC is launching a second wave of major standards to address it," said Jerry Whitaker, vice president of ATSC in a separate talk."
Norman
