Alliance Pushes Cellphone TV

Intel Corp., Motorola Inc. and wireless equipment makers have banded together to promote a technology for delivering live television to cellphones.

The Mobile DTV Alliance will work to develop and spread Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld, or DVB-H, an open standard for broadcasting TV on wireless equipment, the companies said Monday in a statement.

The companies -- including Texas Instruments Inc., Nokia and Crown Castle International Corp. -- are betting on growing demand for services that beam TV shows to mobile gear.

The technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.

Tests of DVB-H have been conducted in countries including the U.S., Britain and Australia, and by next year most U.S. cities should have DVB-H networks, the companies said.

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Bloomberg News and Reuters were used in compiling this report.