Free TV service could soon be coming to a cell phone near you.
Broadcasters announced Monday at the National Association of Broadcaster's annual conference in Las Vegas that a new pilot program is launching in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area that will allow people to watch free mobile digital television on cell phones and other mobile devices.
Local affiliate stations for CBS, NBC, PBS, Ion, and Fox will broadcast their programs beginning in late summer for mobile devices, which includes cell phones, laptops and car entertainment systems.
Broadcasters throughout the country are switching to all-digital transmission in June as part of a government mandate. And as part of the switch, some broadcasters will also broadcast their over-the-air TV signals on a digital sub-channel for mobile devices. The standard that will be used to transmit the signal is called ATSC Mobile DTV. And the hope is that consumer electronics makers, like cell phone manufacturers, will include the technology in their products so that they can receive the signals.
The trial in the Baltimore-Washington area is expected to kick off later this summer. But it's only the first step toward offering free mobile DTV. Broadcasters in 28 markets, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta, said they will be broadcasting their signals in mobile DTV.
The biggest hurdle for the new mobile TV service is building a viable ecosystem of products and services around the technology. For example, right now there are no devices that even support mobile DTV. But some companies have built prototypes. LG and Samsung have already been showing off mobile DTV handsets. Dell is showing off an Inspiron Mini10 Netbook PC with a built-in Mobile TV tuner at the NAB show. And other consumer electronics products have also been shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show and CTIA, both of which took place earlier this year.
But devices won't likely get into the hands of consumers, unless U.S. carriers subsidize and sell them. And that might be harder to achieve than actually building the devices. In the U.S., wireless operators control the cell phone market. They subsidize handsets and determine which features are available on which devices.
Today, three of the four major wireless operators already offer their own mobile TV services. AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless each sell TV packages for around $10 to $15 per month. These services include a mix of live TV as well as on-demand programming and specialized mobile-only content.
MobiTV, which supplies the back-end for many of these mobile TV services, says a hybrid approach is needed to get operators on board.
"The biggest problem with Mobile DTV is getting the ecosystem in place," said Kay Johansson, CTO of MobiTV. "Right now the service bypasses the carrier. And if there is nothing in it for them, there isn't an incentive for them to offer it."
On Monday, MobiTV announced that it's partnering with Sinclair and PBS to create a hybrid mobile TV service it is calling, MixTV. The MixTV business model combines free mobile DTV with a subscription based seven-day window of on-demand programming. MobiTV is demonstrating how this service would look at the NAB conference this week. The company is also showing off how a hybrid approach could allow broadcasters, mobile operators, and content providers more interactive and personal ways to advertise to consumers.
While MobiTV has grown its mobile TV viewership by at least 100 percent in the last year, the number of people subscribing to such services is still relatively small. At the end of 2008, MobiTV had about 6 million subscribers. But analysts predict that mobile TV market could grow to 50 million users in the next few years. Johansson believes that a hybrid service that offers free local TV shows with premium cable programming, on-demand programming, and made for mobile content will grow the market the fastest.
"I don't think you could reach the 50 million subscriber mark with free-to-air mobile TV alone," he said. "I think you could with a subscription service. But the MixTV model combined with personalized and interactive advertising could accelerate adoption."
Research In Motion, maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, reportedly is preparing to announce a new video download service for its BlackBerry phones at the CTIA trade show next week in Las Vegas.
(Credit:
Research In Motion)
The blog NewTeeVee, which reported the news earlier this week, said that the service will be offered as an unlimited monthly subscription service. And it adds that RIM has already signed several broadcast and cable partners to offer up content. But instead of streaming the video over the 3G wireless network, RIM is planning a service that will allow the videos to be downloaded using Wi-Fi connections, the site reported.
News of the TV service is expected to be announced Wednesday when Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of RIM, is slated to give a keynote address on the opening day of the trade show and conference. The company is also expected to announce the availability of its new application store, called BlackBerry App World.
Representatives declined to comment about the launch of the BlackBerry App World and the new video service.
There are already several services available for watching video on cell phones. Qualcomm's MediaFlo has built its own broadcast network that streams live TV directly to handsets. The service is offered through AT&T and Verizon Wireless, but it requires special handsets. And to date, RIM's BlackBerry phones do not offer this service.
MobiTV also offers a streaming mobile video service. This service provides content from more than 40 channels, including several major networks, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Discovery Networks. It also offers made-for-mobile videos and video-on-demand clips to more than 5 million subscribers on over 350 mobile devices. The service, which costs $10 a month, is currently offered on AT&T and Sprint Nextel networks the day after CBS broadcasts them on TV.
But instead of streaming video to handsets, RIM plans to allow users to download entire episodes over a Wi-Fi connection to the devices, the NewTeeVee blog said. Apple also requires videos from its iTunes store to be downloaded instead of streamed. But unlike RIM, which will use a Wi-Fi connection for downloading, iPhone users must download the video via their computers and then sync it to their iPhone.
Because video files are large, it makes sense that RIM would offer the service over Wi-Fi. But it does limit the usefulness of the service. If users can download video over the 3G cellular network, they can access video anywhere. Wi-Fi is limited to smaller hotspots and is not ubiquitous. What's more, not every BlackBerry device on the market offers Wi-Fi.
In fact, the BlackBerry Storm, offered exclusively by Verizon Wireless, does not support Wi-Fi. The Storm is RIM's only touch-screen device, and it offers the largest screen that would be ideal for viewing video.
But other hot BlackBerry models do offer Wi-Fi. The BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Curve 8900, both of which have good screens, support Wi-Fi.
There are other BlackBerry devices, primarily offered by AT&T, T-Mobile USA, and Sprint Nextel, that support Wi-Fi. Here's a list of Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry devices and which carriers offer them.
• BlackBerry Bold (AT&T)
• BlackBerry Curve 8900 (T-Mobile)
• BlackBerry Curve 8320 (AT&T and T-Mobile)
• BlackBerry 8820 (AT&T and T-Mobile)
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (T-Mobile)
• BlackBerry Curve 8350i (Sprint Nextel)
• BlackBerry Pearl 8120 (AT&T and T-Mobile)
CNET Reviews editor Bonnie Cha contributed to this article.
MobiTV said Tuesday that it has struck a content deal with network TV provider CBS (now the parent company of CNET News) to bring some of its most popular TV shows to mobile phones.
For the first time, MobiTV will be offering a CBS channel as part of its $10 a month service. MobiTV subscribers will be able to get full episodes of several CBS hits such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Numb3rs," "CSI: NY," and "The Young and the Restless." Viewers will also be able to access video on demand news, sports and comedy clips from CBS Mobile. The shows will be available on AT&T and Sprint Nextel networks the day after CBS broadcasts them on TV.
MobiTV, which has been around for about five years, already offers more than 40 channels of daily live TV from several networks including ABC, NBC, ESPN, and Discovery Networks. It also offers made for mobile videos and video on demand clips to more than five million subscribers on over 350 mobile devices.
"The deal with CBS rounds out our primetime programming that we already offer from NBC and ABC," said Paul Scanlan, co-founder and president of MobiTV. "One of the biggest challenges for us over the years has been the availability of high value content for mobile. So every time we do a content deal like this, it's really important."
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