mobile TV

(1) A portable TV set. In 1956, GE's portable TV had the tag line "Only 32 Pounds!" What made it portable was a handle.

(2) Watching digital TV (DTV) on a smartphone or other handheld digital device. Although users may be able to stream TV from the Web browsers in their mobile devices, mobile TV generally refers to the mobile TV standards for over-the-air broadcasting, summarized below. See mobisode.

ATSC-M/H - North America
ATSC Mobile/Handset (ATSC-M/H) is the mobile version of the North American Advanced TV Systems Committee (ATSC) standard. See ATSC.

FLO TV - United States
A 3G network from Qualcomm based on its CDMA interface. See MediaFLO.

ISDB - Japan and South America
ISDB-T is the Japanese standard for both terrestrial and mobile digital TV (see ISDB). It was adapted by Brazil for the South American market (see SBTVD).

DMB - South Korea, Canada, Europe
Developed in South Korea and introduced in 2005, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) was the first mobile TV service. DMB is also used in Canada, Europe and Asia. See DMB.

DVB-H - Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa
DVB-Handset (DVB-H) is the mobile version of the international Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard used in European, Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries. See DVB.

DTMB & CMMB - China
In China, both Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB) and China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) are used for mobile devices. See DTMB and CMMB.

Broadcast TV on Apple Devices

In 2013, ESCORT introduced a tuner for iPhones and iPads that picks up ATSC-M/H digital TV over the air. (Image courtesy of ESCORT Inc., www.escortradar.com)