Two-thirds of U.S. households are on track to have access to Mobile Digital Television by early 2012, the Open Mobile Video Coalition said this week.
A new survey of OMVC members reveals 96 stations are on the air today with Mobile DTV, and that number is expected to grow to 126 in 48 markets by the end of the year.
The announcements were among several recent developments OMVC made public Aug. 4. The coalition also announced that its Mobile DTV Trust Authority, managed by Neustar, is now operational and in discussions with several companies developing new Mobile DTV products operating with conditional access.
Manufacturers of Mobile DTV-capable devices are entering into agreements directly with Neustar to obtain the digital certificates and keys necessary for secure use of Mobile DTV service by these devices.
The OMVC Mobile DTV Forum is working to complete Consumer Electronics Device Profiles for new programming services later this summer. The profiles are baseline technical guidelines that will give CE manufacturers details about how broadcasters will implement new services and the inputs needed to build consumer electronics products that receive Mobile DTV. The Mobile DTV Forum is comprised of TV technology companies, consumer electronics firms and broadcasters.
In the fall, the OMVC will initiate a model Conditional Access System in the Washington, D.C. market, a move designed to help CE companies test gear that receives, decodes and displays mobile broadcast signals. Conditional access is an essential element in Mobile DTV, to facilitate both robust audience measurement and the eventual deployment of subscription programming.
