mobile500

It’s looking like it will be at least another year before TV stations will be able to offer over-the-air programming to smartphones, tablets and netbooks. Much progress has been made, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. But broadcasters don’t have all the time in the world. They are in a competition with broadband. If broadcasters drag this out too long, the broadband carriers will come up with their own “broadcast” solution and broadcasters won’t get their chance.

Panels, papers, prototypes and ready-to-go technology exhibits on the emerging broadcast mobile market will be a big part of next week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Says ATSC’s Jerry Whitaker, “This is the year that broadcast stations want to put mobile on the air and are indeed acting on that.”

The Open Mobile Video Coalition, led by Anne Schelle (left),  will highlight mobile DTV tech during the annual convention in Las Vegas this week, explaining the technology and displaying the growing number of devices equipped to receive mobile DTV. It will release more encouraging results from its recent consumer trial, and it will open up its ranks to non-broadcasters — device manufacturers, app developers, content providers and others hoping to exploit the new platform. Backing it up will be representatives of two consortia of broadcasters — the Mobile Content Venture and the Mobile500 Alliance — committed to bringing the mobile DTV services to market this year.