• by Wayne Friedman , October 28, 2013

Despite ongoing concerns over local TV stations' mobile future, a mobile TV joint venture of a dozen broadcast TV station groups is moving to the next phase of its effort -- a three-month marketing campaign.

The marketing campaign, which begins Oct. 28, will include on-air, digital and live interactive messaging. A dozen stations in 12 markets have committed to promoting the home wireless Audiovox mobile tv receiver, which allows consumers to turn smartphones and tablets into portable TVs -- without the need for Internet or 3G/4G service or extra data plan expense.

The Mobile Content Venture -- composed of TV groups including NBC, Fox, ION and the mobile-TV focused Pearl group, as well as stations from Sinclair, Univision and CBS -- will promote the mobile TV technology along across 12 markets.

Audiovox's mobile tv unit is available at select regional, national and online retailers, including Radio Shack, BrandsMart U.S.A., ABC Warehouse and Amazon.com. The pricetag is $129.99.

Dyle mobile TV is available in 38 U.S. markets with a potential research of 57% of the population, with plans to add additional network programming and hardware in the future.

Critics are concerned to big out-of-pocket expense could be a deterrent for TV/media consumers.

Salil Dalvi and Erik Moreno, co-general managers, Mobile Content Venture, stated: “We are still in the early phases of this movement and as we continue to deliver new innovations to market, we believe the foundations we have built will prove fruitful for the entire broadcasting industry.

The 12 major broadcast groups include Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media. These companies have formed the Pearl LLC company.