Samsung joins forces with LG, Harris on mobile TV

Harris Corp., an American broadcast technology company, will provide key elements of the technology, which will allow mobile devices such as cell phones to receive signals sent out by local TV stations.

That technology will be competing with two others to become the standard for mobile TV, a decision that rests with the TV industry's technical standards-setting body for digital broadcasts.

One of the other standards is from the French video technology company Thomson. The third is from Qualcomm Inc., which developed the MediaFLO video service currently offered for a monthly fee on mobile phones by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc.

The TV industry wants to set a single standard for mobile TV broadcasts -and avoid a costly battle among them -but it probably will find the technology then must compete with other video technologies offered by cell phone carriers.

The standard-setting body, the Advanced Television Systems Committee, is expected to select a standard by early next year.

Mobile TV broadcasts are one of the ways broadcasters hope to capitalize on a federally mandated switch to all-digital signals. After Feb. 17, 2009, all regular analog broadcasts will stop and older, non-digital TVs not connected to cable will need a converter to display broadcasts.