Consumer
electronics giant LG will be carrying out the first public
demonstration of 3D TV transmitted by mobile DTV at this year's Consumer
Electronics Show International as part of an effort by CE manufacturers
and broadcasters to promote the technology.
Also
at the market this week, LG will also be running a "non-real time"
demonstration of how the technology can be used to delivery coupons and
some Las Vegas stations will be broadcasting mobile DTV signals during
the show.
All three of the major broadcasting
groups promoting mobile DTV-the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the Mobile
Content Venture and Mobile500 Alliance--will be exhibiting at the
conference.
At the show, CE manufacturers will
be launching about two dozen devices capable of receiving or allowing
other devices to receive mobile DTV signals, notes Anne Schelle,
executive director of Open Mobile Video Coalition. Many of these devices
will be displayed at the 2011 CES Mobile DTV TechZone.
Valups
will be showing a direct-connection Tivizen device that equips existing
iPads and iPhones with a loop antenna. USB receivers that plug into
existing devices will also be demoed by Hauppauge Computer Works and
DTVinteractive.
Cydle will launch a cradle for
iPhones and tablets that will receive mobile signals and Winegard is
launching CioTV, a DVD player and mobile DTV receiver for the car.
Other exhibitors with mobile DTV devices include RCA, Vizio and Enspert.
Prior to the show OMVC launched a launched a mobile digital signal map at omvc.org
showing which stations have launched signals. About 70 stations had
launched services by the end of 2010 but stations covering more than 40%
of the country are expected to launch services in 2011, notes Schelle.
At
CES today, the OMVC will also be releasing new data on consumer usage
of mobile DTV from the Washington D.C. Mobile DTV Consumer Showcase
between May 14th and October 10th of 2010.
The
data documented a great deal of interest in the technology, with the
average mobile DTV user spending about 50 minutes watching each day.
Uses tended to tune in more than twice a day, with the average session
lasting over 22 minutes. Peak viewing periods for mobile DTV was during
the day, with the highest levels between 12 PM and 5 PM and while much
lower levels of viewing occurred during the traditional broadcast prime
time of 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
One of the key
findings was that local news was by far the most popular content, with
entertainment news and documentary programming the second most popular
genre. Reality programming ranked number 3, followed by political news,
food related programming, talk shows, sitcoms, paid programming, kids
animation and national news.
Schelle also
noted that the showcase revealed the consumers used the technology to
access a wide array of programming-more than 30 different genres were
viewed-and that movies performed better on the network compared to cell
phone, largely due to the larger screen size.
Usage of the devices spiked during breaking news, such as Wimbledon on July 2 and a storm and power outage on July 25th in Washington D.C.
