SAMSUNG TO UNVEIL LOCAL TV ON CELL PHONES

In a break from traditional cell phone TV, which uses cellular signals to pick up and transmit video, Samsung Electronics will demonstrate a new system that picks up digital TV signals right from stations’ transmitters, providing a smoother, less jumpy viewing experience, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.

The story, by Li Yuan, says that Sinclair Broadcasting is already testing the new service in Buffalo, Baltimore and Las Vegas, the latter the location for next week’s Consumer Electronics Show, where the technology will be demonstrated. Samsung’s new system also allows laptops and car TVs to pick up the signals.

To make the technology work, broadcasters must transmit separate signals to portable devices equipped with a Samsung chipset. The technology, called Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band, uses TV broadcasters’ existing infrastructures, including spectrum and transmitting towers, so it doesn’t require investment in separate networks or partnerships with carriers. A TV station needs minor modifications to its transmitters and to add some additional equipment, which altogether costs tens of thousands of dollars, the story says, quoting Del Parks, Sinclair’s vice president of station operations.

Samsung is considering several different business models for the new service, which could be ad-supported and free to anyone who buys a phone, laptop or other receiver equipped with the chipset that makes reception possible. Another possibility would have stations offering TV service for a monthly fee or developing programming, such as local traffic and weather reports, specifically for people on the go.

Wall Street Journal Online subscribers can read the entire story, which appears on page B3 in the print version, by clicking here.