Raleigh, North Carolina buses get on-board DTV
by Donald Melanson 
posted Apr 14th 2009 at 5:21PM
Planning to hop on a bus in Raleigh, North Carolina anytime soon? Then there's a chance you could be treated to an added distraction during your trip, as the city has just rolled out its first CAT bus equipped with mobile DTV, which looks to be one of the first projects resulting from those MPH tests that took place last year. This little bit of magic also comes courtesy of a little help from LG and Harris Corp., who are supplying the displays and mobile transmission equipment for the pilot program, which will be expanded to five buses by August, with another 20 planned for the second phase that'll run though August 2010. Of course, your viewing options will be somewhat limited, with a simulcast of local station WRAL apparently the only channel on tap, along with some weather information and, of course, a healthy dose of advertising.
[Thanks, Dana]
[Thanks, Dana]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ale @ Apr 14th 2009 8:29PM
I guess those TVs are going to get robbed sooner or later.
Michael @ Apr 14th 2009 9:26PM
The tvs are on the busses how can they be robbed?
Nick @ Apr 14th 2009 11:25PM
Black people.
Bryant @ Apr 15th 2009 1:06PM
Great - more captive-audience forced advertising. Besides, must we be subjected to "entertainment" 24-7? Why can't one be allowed to take public transit without being forced to have the drone of television and radio bombarding us? The public sphere needs more room for quiet, solitude and, heaven forbid, even the chance for an idle conversation with our neighbor.
Drew @ Apr 15th 2009 3:37PM
I live in the area, and I'm very disappointed by this. The mobile DTV-TV shares bandwidth with WRAL's other digital broadcasts, and has dramatically reduced their HD quality. Their HD bandwidth has dropped by nearly 2Mb/s to support this fiasco.
mcrexx @ Apr 17th 2009 2:34AM
This is nothing new. In Hong Kong, Samsung LCD's have been on the buses here for over 5 years. They mostly show advertising for products, movie trailers (only thing I like to see) and some variety show stuff.