Granite Broadcasting Corporation ups investment in Tablet Television

Motive Television announced Wednesday Granite Broadcasting Corporation has offered additional investment into their joint venture Tablet Television.

The project, which kicked off in May, is to provide the broadcast of live television to tablets in the United States.

Granite's investment will allow for further development and working capital for Tablet TV.

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Motive said it expected the Tablet TV product to be commercialised for the Advanced Television Systems Committe standard in the US and launched in the first Granite Television market early in 2013.

The service will roll out across the US following the completion of the prototype development phase.

Users of iPads, Android tablets, and other portable devices will be able watch and record television programs directly from broadcast TV in any location.

Peter Markham, Chairman of Granite Broadcasting Corporation, said: "Tablet Television is a potentially enormous opportunity for broadcasters, content owners, and pay television businesses as it opens up a significant new opportunity for the existing digital broadcast distribution system. We are fully committed to support this initiative and confident it will have a very valuable place in the US television industry in the future. Tablet TV has demonstrated that it works well in multiple configurations and we look forward to launching in a Granite market."

Leonard M Fertig, Chief Executive Officer of Motive, said the venture would provide a simple solution, similar to Freeview in the UK. The viewer will be able to watch all locally-available digital broadcast TV stations in high definition and will be able to record programs.

"We believe there is nothing anywhere in the world like Tablet TV in terms of the simplicity of the consumer offer, value for the viewer, quality of the picture, and efficiency for the broadcaster," he said.

"We believe that once our devices are introduced in the first Granite market in 2013 the service should go viral."

RD