The Empire Sort of Strikes BackMarch 18, 2010
 WASHINGTON: The coalition supporting
mobile digital television launched a proxy defense of broadcast spectrum today
in the wake of the FCC’s move to reclaim it. The Open Mobile Video Coalition
held a press conference ballyhooing the benefits of mobile DTV with a white
paper it commissioned from IDC. OMVC chief Brandon Burgess said the event was not
a response to the National Broadband Plan released by the FCC two days ago.
However, he emphasized the spectrum efficiency of mobile DTV versus video
delivery via data networks.
Mobile DTV, he said, is the “only one-to-many
delivery system that doesn’t clog other types of data networks with video. We
don’t have to bog down any Internet pipes. Our system is designed to enable
fast, robust reception both in the home and outside the home... There is no
cellular system that’s been explained to me that can carry the amount of video
that needs to be carried.”
The FCC’s National Broadband Plan calls for taking 120 MHz of broadcast TV
spectrum and giving it to wireless providers. The plan outlines a structure by
which broadcasters can give up spectrum voluntarily in return for auction
proceeds. Harry Jessell at TVNewsCheck
notes, however, that the fine print indicates a more aggressive approach of
shoving broadcasters into fewer channels whether or not they volunteer.
The FCC reasons that not all broadcasters are using the 19.4 Mbps pipe each is
assigned in a 6 MHz broadcast license. Some are multicasting--a total of 1,400
multicast channels have been launched,” or fewer than one per station on
average,” the NBP states. “The revenue generated by such services has been
modest thus far and is forecast to remain so in the near term--0.9 percent of revenue for broadcast TV stations in 2010, projected to rise to 1.5 percent of revenue in 2011.”
CBS in particular is using its bits for HD, which the FCC figures can be done
in a 6 to 17 Mbps payload. It doesn’t project a bitrate for mobile, but the
plan does note the following about mobile DTV:
“As of July 2009, approximately 70 broadcast stations serving 28 markets had
announced plans to begin mobile broadcasting through the Open Mobile Video
Coalition. The business model for mobile DTV is uncertain, with forecasts and
comparisons to domestic and international examples representing varying points
of view. Many entities are pursuing the delivery of television content to
mobile devices, but the method of delivery that will be favored by consumers
and be successful in the market has yet to be determined.”
The payload for mobile DTV depends on two factors, says video expert Mark
Schubin.
“...how robust you want it and how many mobile bits you want to send. The FCC
requires the broadcaster to carry at least one non-mobile SD video service. So,
if you figure the effective total channel payload is about 18 Mbps and you
reserve, say, 3 Mbps for that FCC-required SD channel, that leave you with
about 15 Mbps to play with. In highly robust mode, there’s about a 4:1
relationship to the mobile-payload bits, so you could transmit about 3.5 Mbps
or so. In less-robust mode, it’s about a 2:1 relationship, so you could do
about 7 Mbps. Of course, if the non-mobile service is doing HD at even just 12
Mbps, that would leave only 6 Mbps, or maybe a little over 1 Mbps of mobile
payload in highly robust mode and maybe 2.5 in less-robust mode.”
The FCC proposal for two broadcasters to share a single 6 MHz swath of spectrum
would leave each with 9.7 Mbps--enough for one low-quality HD signal each, a
combination of SD signals and/or a mobile signal with somewhat limited quality
and reach.
The standard for transmitting mobile DTV--ATSC M/H--was just finalized last
fall. Receivers were just introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in
January. Broadcasters are just now getting transmitter configurations up and
running.
Colleen Brown of Fisher Communications said her company’s stations have been
testing ATSC M/H for the last five months.
“We believe it’s critical that broadcasters maintain the spectrum to develop
things like mobile DTV,” she said. “It is appropriate that broadcasters and
consumers have a chance to see these technologies developed.”
The OMVC says ATSC M/H has been tested in trains moving more than 150 miles per
hour. It says 45 U.S. TV stations are now sending out ATSC M/H signals; 100 are
expected to be doing so at year’s end.
“We started three years ago, before spectrum swapping was on anyone’s agenda,”
said Burgess, who also heads ION Media, which has more than 60 TV stations.
When asked about broadcast owners considering the swap, Burgess said he
couldn’t speak for coalition members.
“If people have alternate plans for spectrum, I certainly don’t see it,” he
said. “We’re owned by investors. I certainly haven’t been asked by my company
to do anything different.” -- Deborah D.
McAdams
(Image from NAB 2009 by the ATSC)
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