Since when does the broadcast industry pass up a chance to make a buck? Yet it's been sitting on a mountain of unused, or underused, bandwidth for years.
Just hitch an antenna to an HDTV and look at the local channels, most with three or more additional digital subchannels wasted on low-interest programming like a standard-definition duplicate of the main digital station or a stagnant local weather update channel.
Sooner or later, the industry might relinquish unused broadcast spectrum if wireless carriers convince the Federal Communications Commission it would be better served in their hands.
That could explain, in part, broadcasters' latest push into mobile digital television to deliver over-the-air programming onto smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. They're ready to use that broadcast spectrum. Samsung plans a smartphone later this year that's actually a hybrid portable television — with telescoping antenna — using a new service called Dyle Mobile TV. Dyle is the brand name of the Mobile Content Venture, owned by more than a dozen broadcast groups representing 281 stations.
The hope is people will watch local broadcast news after work on the train home, catch up on the midday soaps during lunch or watch NCAA basketball tournament games when they should be focusing on their daughter's piano recital.
MetroPCS will be the only wireless carrier of the Dyle service when it launches later this year in 32 markets, among them New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla.
With Dyle technology, a TV sends a scrambled signal to a receiver that not only unscrambles it but also tracks what viewers watch. That's exactly what broadcasters need to sell advertising. But Dyle's lineup includes only about 60 Fox and NBC stations across the country, with other minor players like ION Television, Telemundo and Univision. There's no ABC, CBS or major cable network.
Will people buy new equipment for a service obviously lacking programming variety? That same scenario killed a previous mobile TV wannabe, Qualcomm's Flo TV.
The Dyle technology also permits it to turn off individual receivers, setting it up as a subscription service. (Dyle, at the start, will be free.)
Another broadcast collective, the Open Mobile Video Coalition, advocates an open standard with unencrypted signals. RCA last month introduced a thin receiver with a 7-inch screen, the MIT700, that picks up both the scrambled Dyle signals and the free "in the clear" mobile broadcasts. A Belkin dongle will turn an iPhone or iPad into a Dyle receiver.
"Eventually," says OMVC spokesman Dave Arland, "we expect all broadcasters to scramble their mobile signals. Dyle is just the first to do so. Broadcasters are scrambling their signals, with 'conditional access,' for two reasons — first, to require viewers to register so that audience measurement tools can be used. Secondly, they want to set the stage for future subscription programming options."
So far, 121 mobile stations are on the air, about half aligned with Dyle.
Many people whose portable TVs, whether used in the kitchen or the camper, were rendered useless in the switch to digital still don't know they can buy a portable TV that picks up free local signals. RCA has three, including the DMT336R ($169 at GetMyElectronics.com), with a 3.5-inch screen, rechargeable battery and FM radio tuner. It also receives the "open" mobile TV signals.
I've been trying out a DMT336R for several months, hoping to catch a glimpse of mobile DTV magic. Finally, the first mobile DTV signals in my area, from the local NBC affiliate, reached the airwaves.
Already, I had used the DMT336R to pull in an over-the-air Yankees-Red Sox broadcast during a family outing late last summer, then as a link to the outside world after a freak snowstorm left us without power for nine days.
The mobile signal, and picture, was truly mobile. It tuned into"Today"effortlessly in a moving vehicle. Now kids have another option besides a portable DVD player or gaming system.
But television on smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices? Dyle needs more than Fox and NBC. If there are more choices, though, people will watch.
