Simulcast of TV shows to your mobile device?  It's about to happen, by the end of this year, in fact.  Call it a step forward for convergence.  There are a few caveats, however.

Later this year, more than 60 US television stations will broadcast their programming to mobile devices.  Those TV stations cover markets in more than twenty cities.  Thus far, the cities announced include New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Philadelphia.  As far as we can tell, the programming will not be stale re-runs (Hey, I liked Star Trek the first 3,000 times but now . . .) but will be the actual programming found on your living room TV.

The launch is the work of the members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (www.omvc.org).  Those members include commercial and public broadcast stations.  OMVC also provides useful information for broadcasters trying to navigate true convergence.

Oddly enough, there has been little coverage of this announcement.  Is this because the OMVC is somewhat obscure or is it that not one really believes that it will happen?  Or that it will happen but no one will care?  Or are the traditional networks are kind of scared?

How It Works.

Technically, the rollout looks like a testbed for tweaking new standards.  However, the stations will actually broadcast digital signals over the air to these devices.  Here is one caveat:  Devices must be "next generation" & ATSC compliant devices.  The demo at CES used transmission gear from Harris Corporation delivering the signal to devices manufactured by Samsung and LG.  I told you that there were some caveats.  So much for that Nokia of yours.

Problems?

I am not sure.  But there are some possibly minor issues.  First, to some, the prospect of watching the PBS series Nova on an iPhone seems distasteful.  Well, possibly, but then, reading the New York Times on a computer screen seemed distasteful about a zillion years ago.  Um, is this time to say that "times change"?

The devil is in the details as to just what "next generation" devices qualify as ATSC compliant.  If they do not include either my current mobile phone or my netbook, then will I really go by a new device for this purpose?  Would you?

They will also push for in-vehicle devices.  Now there's another headache:  More people watching TV while driving.  Can't wait for that.

The approach is clever at one level, because it relies on incremental upgrades (read:  low capital investment by the stations) to utilize an existing distribution network---including our local "brands," i.e., the TV stations we know.  On the other hand, it looks like they will rely on consumers to bear the technology innovation adoption cost.  Numbers thus far this year indicate that consumers are postponing, if not altogether cancelling, technology upgrades.

Of course, I don't like Dancing with the Stars on any device.  But, true convergence it is.  Or will be.  Or may be.