Mobile DTV ready to roll out, upgrading 20 major metros to portable TV by 2012

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/04/mobile-dtv-chart.jpg
[/img]
Slowly but surely, the biggest US cities are catching up to the rest
of the world -- just imagine, by this time next year, we might even
have broadcast television beamed to our tablets and cell phones.
That's because the Mobile Content Venture formed from twelve media
giants in April has just promised to start upgrading TV stations to
deliver Mobile DTV (aka ATSC-M/H) around the country, with the intent
of reaching 20 major markets and a total of 40 percent of the US
population by "late 2011." Each of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta,
Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland,
Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham and Knoxville can
expect to have a pair of ad-supported TV channels before long,
assuming citizens are willing and able to pick up hardware with a old-
school RF antenna sticking out -- and that whole "streaming" thing
doesn't take off. PR after the break.