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Mobile Digital TV Begins National Rollout

In 2011, mobile TV is expected to gain momentum as the Mobile Content Venture, a group of 12 major broadcasters, will be upgrading stations to start delivering mobile DTV in 20 markets covering more than 40 percent of the U.S. population. In the initial rollout, viewers in such metropolitan areas as Chicago, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla., are scheduled to receive at least two free channels during the second half of 2011.

"I wouldn't say we're at the tipping point," said John Taylor, a spokesman for LG Electronics, which helped develop the industry standard for mobile DTV. "But ... we anticipate that manufacturers will gear up their plans to introduce more products." Mobile DTV piggybacks on the same digital signals that broadcasters use to beam programming to regular TVs. A consumer watching mobile DTV on a smart phone, for example, doesn't have to worry about issues that can snarl streaming video on a wireless carrier's network.

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