Belkin, a familiar producer of smart phone and tablet accessories, is teaming up with the Mobile Content Venture (MCV) to extend the Dyle Mobile TV service, which could connect 120 million devices already in the market to Mobile TV signals.
Dyle is the brand name for the MCV’s new mobile TV service. It represents a joint venture of 16 broadcast TV groups, including content companies and local station owners. Dyle-equipped devices will be able to receive OTA ATSC-M/H broadcast signals. The Dyle interface enables a searchable channel guide for the real-time programming.
Unfortunately, if you go to the Dyle site, you won’t find much additional information. The website says, “Coming soon!” However, you can input your email address so you’ll be notified as announcements are made.
Another important part of the MDTV rollout challenge has been getting support from smart phone manufacturers. The agreement with Belkin will help MCV get Dyle technology into potentially millions of cell-phone accessories.
Until now, there was no unifying umbrella for identifying if a mobile product is capable of receiving OTA broadcasts from local affiliates. Dyle branding will help solve that identification dilemma.
The content side of this equation is being addressed by MCV, an organization composed of 15 broadcast groups. One of their goals is to spread awareness of the availability of local TV for mobile and help consumers identify products that can pick up those local signals. As electronics manufacturers begin using the Dyle branding, viewers can be confident that the device can indeed receive broadcast TV signals.
While live mobile TV has surged around the world, acceptance in the U.S. has been on a less well adopted. And, the demise of Qualcomm’s FLO TV didn’t help. When FLO TV died, the company’s CEO, Paul Jacobs said, “It turned out that people didn’t want to watch TV on a handset.”
Many disagreed with that position. MobiTV is still alive and available for viewing on a variety of devices and across iOS, Palm and MS platforms. The mobile TV platform delivered 1.5 billion minutes to 15 million subscribers just last year.
Even so, most mobile video viewing relies on rentals or downloads, as opposed to a live signal.
Broadcasters can hope that Dyle will help grow the appetite for live local TV, making it the next big wave in mobile TV options. Belkin’s Dyle-branded MDTV product should be available first quarter of this year.
At a Monday, January 9th, CES press event, Dyle representatives said the service would launch this year, refusing to be more specific. At launch, the service is targeted to have 33 markets, each with two TV stations’ programming.
Is your station part of the service’s launch? Share your experiences.
