The prospect of watching live, local TV shows on mobile phones and other portable devices is getting closer. Manufacturers this week are showing off gadgets that can receive a new type of digital TV transmissions.
“Mobile DTV” gadgets will be available this spring for consumers in the Washington, D.C., area to try. The devices include a cell phone made by Samsung Electronics Co. and a Dell Inc. laptop. There’s also the Tivit, a device about the size of a deck of cards that receives a TV signal, then rebroadcasts it over Wi-Fi so it can be received by an iPhone or BlackBerry.
The devices are being displayed this week at the International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas.
Conventional digital TV broadcasts are designed for stationary antennas. So devices that are moving — because someone’s carrying them or because they’re in a car — have a hard time getting a picture. The Mobile DTV technology gets around that problem, letting broadcasters add a secondary signal to the towers they use for sending TV signals to homes. About 30 stations have done so in the last year, hoping to reach viewers on the go as gadgets like smart phones gain in prominence.
So far, only prototype devices have been able to receive these new signals. Cell phones, particularly ones with large screens, would be natural devices for Mobile DTV reception, but U.S. carriers have shown little interest in the technology. The two largest ones, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, sell phones that are compatible with a rival broadcasting system, FLO TV, run by Qualcomm Inc. It provides 10 channels for $15 per month.
Mobile DTV differs from FLO TV by providing local channels with traffic, weather and sports content, and by being free, at least for some channels. One of the goals of the consumer trial…