• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, October 29, 2010

Want NBC on your cell phone at the laundromat? A station in Tampa is making a live feed available. 

Media General's WFLA is offering a free 24/7 simulcast of its programming -- national and local --- to consumers with mobile phones, laptops and other devices that have the proper chip or reception infrastructure. It becomes the first station to offer mobile digital TV in the country's 14th-largest market.

The company began offering the simulcast of its NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio in September, where other stations were already streaming. The number of consumers who were able to pick up the feeds is sparse, since the devices equipped to receive signals are few.

However, in Washington, nine stations are broadcasting mobile TV to Samsung phones and Dell netbooks. More than 70 stations nationally are broadcasting to mobile devices.

Media General, which is part of an industry coalition seeking to make live streaming of local stations widespread, hopes to launch the product in four to six more markets soon. Among its stations are the NBC affiliates in Raleigh-Durham and Providence.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition has floated a $2 billion-a-year figure for the potential in ad sales for mobile digital TV. But for now, at least with the two Media General stations, the simulcast has no separate ad insertions.