Samsung technology to allow on-the-go TV viewing

Las Vegas, Jan 8: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it plansto make available to U.S. broadcasters a new technology that letspeople watch digital television in cars, trains and on mobile computers.

The South Korean electronics maker said the new system will allowTV stations to send digital programming to portable TVs with virtuallyno interference. U.S. broadcasters will have to send programming bydigital signals starting in February 2009, and Samsung said itstechnology will help them transmit the signals to TV viewers on the go.

Portable TVs equipped with the Samsung technology will be able toreceive digital signals ''even when you are driving at highway speedsor in a bullet train up to 170 miles per hour,'' John Godfrey, aSamsung vice president in charge of the project.

''Consumers are going to be able to enjoy TV wherever they go,''Godfrey told a briefing ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in LasVegas, the industry's largest U.S. meeting. The technology ''is goingto liberate the couch potato,'' he added.

The systems should be available to broadcasters in 2008, Godfreysaid, adding that they would be relatively inexpensive because they usebroadcasters' existing frequencies, towers and transmitters. Thetechnology may cost in the tens of thousands of dollars per station, hesaid.

The company also said it plans to expand in digital TV, where itholds the top global ranking based on units sold, said Gee Sung Choi,president and chief executive of Samsung's digital media business.

''Our goal is to be No. 1 in flat-panel, LCD TV and digital TV'' this year, Choi said.

Samsung competes in the flat-screen TV market with LG ElectronicsInc. , also of South Korea, and Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and Matsushita Electric . Thosecompanies sell both plasma and liquid crystal display, or LCD,televisions.

Reuters>