US broadcasters announced at the National Association of Broadcaster’s annual conference in Las Vegas that a new pilot programme 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 programmes 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.