LAS VEGAS: The Mobile500 Alliance, the third of three TV station coalitions formed to promote Mobile DTV, said this week its ranks have swelled. Having launched in September with 30 companies comprising 340 TV stations, the membership now stands at 43 companies with a total of 414 TV stations reaching 92 percent of U.S. TV households.
The Mobile500 Alliance was formed by companies not included in Mobile Content Venture, a network-TV station consortium rolled out at last April’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Both have members with ties to the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which has been around for going-on four years, and which conducted last year’s five-month Mobile DTV trials in Washington, D.C.
There was some contention after the formation of MCV involving station groups weren’t invited to the party. The Mobile500 now say the “two organizations maintain an open dialogue.”
Alliance members include Sinclair, Fisher, Freedom, LIN, Nexstar, Gray, McGraw-Hill, Tribune and others. Former public broadcast executive John Lawson was appointed executive director in November.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
