Mobile DTV Group MCV Adds Univision Stations in Los Angeles and Miami
Univision’s Los Angeles and Miami TV stations will participate in the Mobile Content Venture’s (MCV) Dyle mobile DTV service next year, Univision and MCV said Tuesday. “Univision in L.A. and Miami are not only going to be upgrading their stations to broadcast in mobile, they'll be encrypting the mobile signal in the format that’s compatible with the application we're developing,” said MCV co-General Manager Salil Dalvi said. He’s also senior vice president of mobile platform development at NBCUniversal Digital Distribution.
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Joining MCV’s Dyle service will give Univision’s stations flexibility to pick its mobile DTV business model down the road, Dalvi said. All Dyle broadcasts will be encrypted, but stations can choose whether to charge for access to them, Dalvi said. Another option could be to make the signals available to authenticated subscribers of a pay-TV distributor, he said. “It’s not something they have to make a decision about today,” he said. “But it allows them to get going and launch the content."
Adding Univision’s stations in those markets proves the MCV is making progress as it seeks to introduce a mobile DTV service, said Erik Moreno, the other MCV co-general manager. And Univision’s audience, U.S. Latinos, uses mobile devices more than other demographic groups, said Moreno, Fox senior vice president of corporate development. “Univision’s participation in MCV speaks to our commitment to making the most popular content for Hispanic Americans available to our audience across platforms,” said Kevin Cuddihy, president of Univision TV Group.
Getting new stations to sign up and begin transmitting mobile DTV signals is an easy and quick task compared with getting mobile DTV devices to market, Moreno said. Stations can be up and running quickly with a roughly $100,000 investment, he said: For devices, “the development time is much longer.” For now, stations may be broadcasting in mobile, but their programming lineups vary widely, Moreno said. “Some, you may be watching what’s on in the living room. Other folks are running other content. It varies at this stage.” Programming lineups will become more consistent after there are more mobile DTV receivers in the market, Dalvi said.
Broadcasters are exploring offering mobile DTV free to authenticated pay-TV subscribers, Dalvi said. “It’s a natural opportunity for us to look at authenticating our signal to a subscriber base.” For now, MCV is focused on getting a free service running in 2012, he said. “Those business model issues are very important, but not where the initial operational focus is.”