NBC News chief legal correspondent Dan Abrams led the discussions today on the promise of mobile TV and the OMVC’s role in making it happen by 2009

Live mobile television in high-quality digital will be available to mobile handsets and other portable devices by the digital transition in February 2009, the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) promised more than 500 NAB Show attendees today. The association of more than 800 commercial and public television broadcasters hosted a panel discussion today to share advancements since last year’s NAB announcement that it would accelerate the development of mobile DTV.

According to the organization’s research, the marketplace potential is projected to reach $2 billion annually by 2012 in mobile digital advertising revenue alone. Jim Conschafter, Media General Broadcast Group's senior VP, said that this is a significant opportunity for broadcasters who own the local content and have pre-existing relationships with advertisers. He stressed that the standard must be finalized by early 2009, around the time that all U.S. TV stations must complete their transition to digital-only broadcasting. If they follow this timeline, they can begin rolling out mobile DTV services by the end of 2009, he said.

Independent Demonstration of Viability (IDOV) trials in the past two months in San Francisco and Las Vegas have shown that DTV-based mobile video technologies are feasible, the consortium said. The trials indicate that mobile reception works at pedestrian highway speeds and as far as 40mi from the transmitter. The quality of mobile DTV systems from LG Electronics/Harris, Samsung/Rhode & Schwarz/Nokia and Thomson have all been tested in urban markets.

The trials, more of which will be conducted in the next few weeks, also show that broadcasting of the systems did not interfere with normal digital broadcasting. Conducted at the request of OMVC’s partner, the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), results must be presented to the ATSC by mid-May. Sterling Davis, Cox Communication’s VP of engineering, said the OMVC is on track to meet this deadline.

The OMVC is focused on the ATSC as the one global standard for mobile DTV. The panel said that it wants to avoid a standards wrestling match by having one standard that is completely background-compatible.

Brandon Burgess, president of the OMVC and CEO of ION Media Networks, told attendees that the OMVC is working to establish this standard that will allow all the mobile TV players to compete as they see fit. Today, however, they are focused on working together to enable the technology across wireless handsets, laptops, in-car devices and handheld games — among other portable devices — as quickly as possible. The organization is targeting mobile phones primarily because of the ubiquity of the platform and high turnover rate — about every 24 months.

Burgess called upon the entire broadcasting and communications industry to participate in the OMVC’s push for mobile DTV, saying that the industry has a unique advantage in time to market and risk. The biggest hurtle will be creating the demand for a product that people will want, he said.

“Everyone in the industry has a huge opportunity to think about what will work in their local communities and how to drive the demand,” he said. “We have to be the market leaders.”

In terms of the carriers’ view of the new standard and service, Burgess said it is still too soon to ask. He anticipates, however, that they will be eager adopters because it uses the existing digital spectrum, comes straight from the broadcasters and is ultimately cheaper for the consumer.

The panel, moderated by NBC News chief legal correspondent Dan Abrams, also included John Eck, president of NBC TV Networks and Media Works at NBC Universal; Lynn Beall, executive VP of Gannet Broadcasting; and Alan Frank, NAB Television Board chairman and president of Post-Newsweek Stations. Both LG and Samsung will be demonstrating their systems on the go in bus rides at NAB this week.