Belo Revs Up Mobile DTV With Harris MPH Platform

Belo Corp., one of the nation’s largest television companies, is launching mobile digital TV transmission using the Harris MPH platform for ATSC Mobile DTV broadcast.

Harris has supplied its MPH platform to Belo’s WCNC-TV, an NBC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., and to KONG-TV, an independent station in Seattle/Tacoma, Wash.  KONG serves as one of the model stations that were set up to support receiver-device developers through the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), an alliance of U.S. commercial and public broadcasters formed to accelerate the development and rollout of ATSC Mobile DTV products and services.  Other Belo stations are also in the process of beginning mobile DTV broadcasting using the MPH platform, and Belo plans to expand the service nationwide.

“Belo is investing to make mobile television a reality in all 15 markets that it serves,” says Craig Harper, vice president of technology, Belo Corp.  “Through the Harris MPH platform, our increasingly mobile viewers will now be able to receive live, free, over-the-air local television programming such as news, sports, weather or other local content when and where they want it.”

The MPH platform integrates into most DTV transmitters.  It includes everything that broadcasters need to launch and support one or more ATSC Mobile DTV program streams.  The complete solution includes the Harris NetVX video networking platform; Synchrony mobile networking adapter and Apex M2X exciter; as well as the Roundbox Server — which generates service signaling and transmits a rich Electronic Service Guide (ESG) — from Roundbox, Inc.

“Today, Harris is the leading supplier of commercialized ATSC Mobile DTV transmission and encoding infrastructure equipment for local broadcast TV stations with 47 deployments of its MPH platform to date in the U.S. and Canada,” adds Jay Adrick, vice president of broadcast technology, Harris Broadcast Communications. “Interest in offering mobile DTV service continues to rise among broadcasters, and the Harris MPH platform enables broadcasters, such as Belo, to launch ATSC Mobile DTV programming with a very modest investment in equipment and installation time.”