For the last decade or more telecommunication companies have promised to deliver niche television services to us through our cell phones. Before the iPhone, and before the generation of the smartphone, feature-phones promised to give us coverage from the NBA, NFL, and NHL, and we could watch music videos via services like Sprint TV, through Java powered applications. The promises were high, but the services did not deliver the goods; you could watch content on YouTube for free, Hulu was right around the corner, and who wanted to watch television on a small 96 by 92 pixel screen anyway.
Mobile TV sounded good on paper, but was quickly eclipsed once Internet services matured, BluRay players delivered the Internet to high-definition television sets, and consumers were obsessed with how to set up a media server through Windows Media Player or DLNA. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the realization of the possibilities of Mobile TV came in the way of 3G; Internet connections that were fine for displaying video on a Motorola Sidekick, but fell short once smartphones increased in size in our displays increased in resolution.
Did I neglect to mention the fact that cellular operators started to put a cap on Internet usage and started to penalize consumers that took them up on their all you can eat plans once they renewed their contracts? How many of you are paying $30 in hidden fees just to watch a flash mob do the “Harlem Shake”? Mobile TV isn’t worth it anymore; unless, Mobile TV has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet.
RCA is the first company to deliver the Mobile Television experience, without the Internet. Yes, you heard me correctly, this tablet has an ATSC digital tuner included, which means that you can watch “Let’s Make a Deal” on the same device you use to play Angry Birds, without paying for the amount of data “Let’s Make a Deal” requires. It even comes with a telescoping antenna, and you can also access Internet television services via Wi-Fi.
The device is due to enter the market in April, and is sure to turn some heads. What RCA is not telling us, is whether or not this device has a 3G/4G tuner that allows it to connect to your cellular carriers service. I seriously doubt that this would be the case, because a digital tuner for high-definition television runs about a quarter of the price of this tablet, plus this tablet has two tuners; one for standard over the air broadcasts and another for Dyle.tv, another over-the-air television service available in select markets.
When one device accesses traditional over-the-air high-definition television plus other over-the-air television we don’t know about things can get pretty interesting. For all of this over-the-air, free television, is it worth it? How many free over-the-air services do we need, and is their enough advertising revenue to support it all? For me it is because I still watch television the old fashioned way; when I can pull myself away from the Internet to do so. It will be interesting to see what other over-the-air television services are on the horizon, and what other manufacturers will create devices to bring those services to television audiences at home, or in the case of this tablet, on the go …
