Washington will be the nation’s first television market to test free digital television broadcasts to cellular phones, laptops and car entertainment systems, broadcast officials announced Monday.
D.C.-area stations testing the new technology (and their corporate parents): » WPXW, Channel 66 (Ion)» WRC, Channel 4 (NBC)» WETA, Channel 26 (PBS)» WUSA, Channel 9 (Gannett)» WTTG, Channel 5 (Fox)
Many cell phone companies already offer paid subscription services, giving customers access to their favorite television shows — but not live broadcasts. But Monday’s announcement, made at a national broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, will offer free, live digital broadcasts across a variety of portable electronic machines.
For news junkies, it will mean being able to catch the nightly news while at a game during halftime or the seventh-inning stretch. For hard-hit broadcasters, it’s a new chance to attract more viewers.
“The beauty of the technology is that all parties involved stand to profit,” said David Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting Group, which owns local CBS affiliate WUSA Channel 9.
“It’s another method of delivery of our product,” WUSA technology chief Victor Murphy told The Examiner. “This does give us an opportunity to engage viewers who are not at home — who may be at the park, or on the bus, or in a taxicab.”
Several local stations will test the technology initially this summer, officials announced. Later this year, 27 broadcast markets will roll out their own portable digital broadcasts.
The initiative was organized by the Open Mobile Video Coalition, a group of media and telecommunications companies.
Officials focused on the D.C. area because it is the country’s ninth-largest television market and one of the biggest cell phone markets. Close to 1 million Washington-area residents carry cell phones.
“It certainly is innovative,” said University of Maryland media professor Ronald A. Yaros. “It’ll add another dimension of news on demand.”
