• B&C, Monday, July 12, 2010 10:51 PM

Significant questions about the business model for mobile DTV still need to be answered. These include whether the technology should broadly launch as a free, ad-supported service or as a subscription offering, and whether stations have the right to simulcast their normal network programming through mobile DTV, notes B&C.

And while wireless carrier Sprint is participating in the Washington trial, no formal deal with a carrier to implement mobile DTV technology in handsets or other devices has been reached. If these questions aren't addressed soon, the commercial launch of mobile DTV could be delayed well into 2011 or beyond.

Free, on-the-go viewing is common just about everywhere except the United States and Europe, notes The New York Times , where operator resistance and a maze of conflicting technical standards and program licensing hurdles have kept the technology out of the global mainstream.

"There have been a lot of hype cycles with mobile TV technology," said Anna Maxbauer, an analyst at IMS Research in Austin, Texas. At least 40 million people are watching live TV this year on mobile phones, Maxbauer said. Most live in emerging markets where operators, which prefer to sell TV programming for a fee through their wireless networks, do not control the sale of handsets

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