Mobile Content Venture Plans 12 Additional Markets

The Mobile Content Venture has announced that its members will be launching mobile digital TV services in an additional 12 markets in 2011, boosting the total number of markets to 32, or about half of the U.S. population by year's end.

The group, a joint venture whose members include broadcast station groups and networks, expects that the 21 additional stations to launch this year will include operations owned by Gannett, Media General, Bahakel, Belo, Raycom, Scripps, FOX, NBC, and Telemundo stations.

These launches are in addition to the plans by broadcast station groups involved in Mobile500 Alliance, who are also deploying mobile DTV broadcasts.

"Broadcasters continue to make investments in mobile DTV and we look forward to working closely with our affiliates as we continue to expand the network coverage," said Salil Dalvi, co-general manager of MCV in a statement. "With the addition of a wide range of Spanish language stations, MCV becomes an even better partner for reaching the key Hispanic audience, who over-index in mobile content usage."

Erik Moreno, co-general of MCV added in a statement that "increasing market coverage will make this new platform even more attractive to device manufacturers and most importantly to consumers."

Last November, MCV's member companies agreed to launch services in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, and Knoxville.

The new announcement adds the following markets and stations:

Seattle - KING (owned by Belo)

Miami - WTVJ (NBC) & WSCV (Telemundo)

Denver - KUSA (Gannett)

Cleveland - WKYC (Gannett)

St. Louis - KSDK (Gannett)

Charlotte - WCCB (Bahakel) and WCNC (Belo)

Raleigh - WNCN (Media General)

Kansas City - KSHB (Scripps)

Columbus - WCMH (Media General)

Las Vegas - KBLR (Telemundo)

Tulsa - KJRH (Scripps)
Montgomery - WSFA (Raycom)