A panel session in Washington on Wednesday night broke down the ways broadcasters can make money off mobile DTV services, including TV Everywhere and subscription-based models. “We built a system and service that is compatible with multiple business models,” says Salil Davi, co-GM of Dyle.
A joint-venture of 12 major broadcast groups across 12 markets plan to launch a number of on-air, digital and live interactive events to promote Dyle’s mobile TV service and new Audiovox wireless receiver.
Dyle Device: Clunky Setup, Not Very Wireless
Dyle’s new mobile DTV receiver by Audiovox, in theory, is a great gadget. It untethers your device from a dongle and it’s now available on the popular Android platform. But it has its flaws. It’s awkward to setup and register your device, and the wireless capabilities aren’t that impressive. Don’t expect to place it in the middle of your house and have access to live TV on all of your devices in every room.
Exclusives
WFOR Broadcasting Dyle Mobile DTV Signal
NAB and the Florida Association of Broadcasters are in partnership with Dyle mobile TV to provide devices to Florida’s State Emergency Response Team as part of a pilot program to assist first responders with accessing important information during the 2013 hurricane season.
Leaders from the two mobile DTV organizations candidly spoke this week at ATSC’s annual meeting about the possibility of a merger, saying the only difference between Dyle and the Mobile500 Alliance is a business philosophy.
A Mobile500 Alliance member says he expects the two mobile DTV consortiums to come together soon.
Mobile500 Aliance VP of Technology Brian McHale says the service that takes over-the-air signals for free and streams them to users who pay $12 a month is motivation to propel mobile DTV efforts.
WCBS New York, which is also working with Syncbak to stream its live signal, is also deploying a mobile DTV signal under the Dyle mobile TV environment.
Stations Could Beat Aereo With Mobile DTV
TV stations might be able to simply overpower Barry Diller’s streaming service with their own mobile TV services, which could be as easy to use and cheaper. Maybe more importantly, the broadcasters have the promotional might that Aereo probably won’t be able to match. There’s one other advantage broadcast groups like Dyle and MyDTV have over Aereo: they aren’t running up huge legal bills fighting the major networks.
Mobile Content Venture’s Dyle mobile TV service will use Rentrak’s Mobile Essentials solution in combination with Rentrak’s StationView Essentials solution “to help MCV members align traditional TV ratings with broadcast mobile TV performance.”
Dyle, backed by a consortium that includes NBC, Fox and station owners, launches for Apple’s iOS devices today. The service brings legal, live television to mobile devices, but with a few strings attached.
Rajan Mehta, who has headed technical operations for Dyle mobile TV since its creation in 2010, has been named chief technology officer. The joint venture which operates Dyle, Mobile Content Venture, is owned by a dozen broadcast groups.
The electronics maker will offer a back-seat entertainment system that will receive Mobile Content Venture’s Dyle moblie TV service.
On the Los Angeles Fox O&O’s Good Day LA today, Erik Moreno, Fox Network Group SVP and co-GM of the Mobile Content Venture, demonstrated the Dyle mobile TV receiver to KTTV reporter Lisa Breckenridge. It allows viewers watch TV anytime without using 3G, 4G, or WiFi and without needing a contract. The Dyle service can deliver live, local and national television to 35 markets, reaching over 55% of the U.S. with more markets and stations being added down the road.
The Dallas-based wireless carrier on Friday took the wraps off a long-promised smartphone that is capable of receiving the Dyle mobile broadcasts of stations aligned with the Mobile Content Venture, the consortium of NBC, Fox and leading TV groups.
CBS, ABC Step Up Mobile DTV Commitment
CBS commits to simulcasting the Dyle mobile DTV service at four of its O&Os and has given permission to five affiliates to get on board. ABC has given the go-ahead to its affiliates in Dallas and Orlando. In addition, NBC has given its affiliate in Austin, Texas, permission to air its signal on the condition that it uses Dyle’s conditional access. For all that’s going on at NAB 2012, click here.
Three of the group’s stations will participate in the Mobile Content Venture’s Dyle service and its KSTW Seattle is joining the Mobile500 Alliance.
The unit, which attaches to the bottom of the Apple iPads and iPhones, contains a mobile DTV tuner and turns conventional earphones into a receive antenna that can pull in UHF and high-band VHF signals.
Later this year, MetroPCS will offer a new Samsung smartphone with a mobile DTV tuner chip and telescoping antenna. Subscribers will be able to register for Mobile Content Venture’s Dyle service and watch “national and local” programming broadcast by TV stations. More announcements from MCV are forthcoming.
The group hopes the new name and logo will help consumers identify mobile TV enabled devices. MCV will use the Dyle brand to certify that a device is capable of receiving and decrypting live mobile broadcast TV signals. The name and logo are part of MCV’s strategy to drive awareness of and educate consumers about mobile TV, MCV said.
