South Korea’s LG (SEO: 066570) Electronics has developed yet another mobile television technology, called “Mobile Pedestrian Handheld,” aimed at the North American market, says the Korea Times. The technical details aren’t clear, but apparently MPH complements TV broadcasters’ vestigial side band (VSB) digital signals, and can be offered with an upgrade to their existing digital transmission gear. LG will demo the technology next week at CES — one year after its Korean rival Samsung, showed off a very similar-sounding system.
TV broadcasters have been looking for ways to get in to mobile video and offer their services directly to consumers, without having to go through operators, and the upcoming DTV transition could give them an opportunity to do so. Of course, the big obstacle of how to get compatible handsets into users’ hands without operator help and subsidies remains, but the model of offering free ad-supported mobile TV broadcasts is an attractive one, given the slow uptake of paid subscription services.
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