TV Broadcasters Create Mobile TV Alliance

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/FREE/70416004/1019/FREE' target='_blank'>http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...16004/1019/FREE</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Rather than ceding control of the mobile TV market to the nation’s wireless carriers, nine U.S. television broadcast groups have formed an industry alliance called the Open Mobile Video Coalition to speed the development of a mobile variant for digital broadcast TV. The coalition’s aim is to realize the 'full potential' of digital broadcast television spectrum in the United States. The spectrum is currently used for stationary TVs, and the current technology does not lend itself to mobile applications. The coalition hopes to rally support around one of the recently announced technologies that will allow local digital TV broadcasters to beam their offerings to portable devices like cellphones... <b>So far, no cellphones have been announced that support the new technologies.</b>"</i><br /><br />The bold is mine; the broadcast groups are going to discover what all of us have known for all along: US wireless carriers are control freaks, and they don't like any end-runs around their closed ecosystems. Let's see if one behemoth can force another to open up. Grab the popcorn and let's see what happens. :treadmill:

[Cybrid]

At a guess? Unless you put in a TV tuner into the cellphone (Wasn't there a glofiish that had that?)...Monopoly A will strike a deal with Monopoly B. The current offerings of VCast, Spark and the like will expand and your cellphone bill will rise by $30.
No TV tuner=carrier bandwidth/infrastructure=$ from us.
And pocketPC phones will most probably be left out in the cold again. VCast and Spark are offered on otherwise useless dumb phones.
I mean, what if some enterprising chap figured out how to defeat their DRM on a smartphone with an open system. Or worse, re-route traffic through that port (hypothetical) like the T-Mobile hack where they offered unlimited T-Zones internet for $20 so everyone routed their traffic through that port.
Moving along, nuttin to see here.

[TOCA]

In the UK, Virgin launched a phone called "Lobster" wich had a Digital TV tuner build in, to recive TV via the DAB signal.

It never bacame a success, for 2 reasons:1) The service was to costly, 2) The screen was to small and not good enough.

For mobile TV to become usefull, you need a screen at 2,5"+, and heaven forbid the VGA would have to be woken back to life 8O

Another criteria for mobile TV to become a success, is the price, and here we have the real dilemma, how much are you willing to pay for the service? Bet it's less than the what the broadcasters want you to pay, not to mention the phone providers :roll:

[Robb Bates]

I'm no legal expert, but that sure sounds like a "trust" to me. Trust, in the sense of "anti-trust" laws, where big businesses get together and agree to shaft the customer while protecting their wallets.

Just another attempt for businesses to stick it to the little guy!

Robb