Qualcomm’s delayed plan to substantially expand the scope of its Flo TV service should finally take effect tomorrow, once television broadcasters in 39 markets turn off their analog transmitters and switch to digital TV broadcasts.

Tomorrow’s planned DTV transition will free broadband spectrum on what was UHF Channel 55 that will be used by Flo TV’s dedicated network. The company’s San Diego broadcast center transmits live and scheduled television news, sports, and entertainment programs nationwide to certain mobile phones on the Verizon and AT&T networks. The company plans to go live immediately in 15 new markets, including Boston, San Francisco, Houston, and Miami.

In an announcement today, Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) says the change will enable Flo TV, a Qualcomm subsidiary, to offer its service to an additional 60 million customers and will expand its total reach to 100 U.S. media markets and more than 200 million potential viewers by the end of this year. Flo TV is currently available in San Diego, Seattle, and Portland.

Qualcomm unveiled plans to nearly double its service for Flo TV-enabled cell phones at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and planned to begin service in 40 U.S. markets after Feb. 17. That was the original deadline for TV stations to shut down their analog broadcasts and convert to digital technology. But Congress, with encouragement from the Obama Administration, postponed the planned digital TV conversion date until June 12.

Flo TV expanded its service in some markets that made the conversion early

Under an agreement disclosed in January, Flo TV said Audiovox would be the exclusive supplier of automotive electronic systems that will connect to existing video equipment, enabling passengers to watch Flo TV on the road. Audiovox also got rights to make the only Flo TV-ready video systems that drop down from a vehicle’s ceiling, as well as units that go into the back of head rests.

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March Madness is in the air, and beginning today Qualcomm’s MediaFLO plans to broadcast all 63 games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to AT&T—but AT&T customers must have a mobile TV-enabled cell phone to watch the games.

This is the first time AT&T has carried every game from the college basketball tournament for its wireless customers. The carrier, which launched its mobile TV service through Qualcomm’s FLO TV last spring, made a deal with CBS Sports to broadcast all 63 games games live.

Verizon Wireless broadcast some games last year, including real-time scoring updates and stats, and video highlights. This year Verizon Wireless is carrying a single March Madness channel during the tournament, also through Qualcomm’s MediaFLO. AT&T has four channels, which enables its customers to watch every game at any given time. The cellular carrier also provides highlights and clips. But only a handful of cell phones are equipped with the technology needed to watch the mobile TV broadcasts, including Verizon’s Voyager and AT&T’s LG Vu and Samsung Eternity.

Both AT&T and Verizon charge their subscribers an additional $15 per month for mobile television service. But AT&T, the biggest wireless operator in the U.S., is currently offering a two-month free trial for its mobile TV service and a discount on its LG Vu.

Qualcomm, AT&T and Verizon were undoubtably counting on a bigger audience for their March Madness broadcasts. But the Obama Administration’s decision to postpone TV stations’ transition from analog to digital TV broadcast technology precluded Qualcomm from using Channel 55 in many U.S. markets. The transition set for Feb. 17 has been delayed until June 12.

Mobile TV has had a rocky start outside U.S., where a European Union endorsed technology called DVB-H is widely in use. Mobile TV has succeeded primarily in Japan and South Korea, whereas Europe has been lukewarm to it, despite big investments.

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The digital broadcast center for Qualcomm’s MediaFLO mobile TV service is a hushed, dimly lit room in San Diego that is dominated by 24 flat-screen, rear-projection screens mounted along one wall. The engineers in the room face these ever-changing displays at work stations equipped with even more flat-panel screens, so the darkness is illuminated by a mosaic of streaming video images and computer-generated data.

I recently took a tour of this sophisticated, high-tech facility to get a feel for what it takes to broadcast TV programs to mobile devices nationwide. Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) began developing the underlying technology for this ambitious business more than seven years ago. In 2007, when Qualcomm announced it was ready to begin its mobile TV service, the company said it had spent $800 million over the previous five years.

Today MediaFLO is transmitting full-length TV programs and movies, along with occasional live broadcasts of news and sports to wireless handheld devices in 65 markets throughout the United States. As impressive as the technology is, though, MediaFLO has yet to gain wide acceptance, and Qualcomm still faces significant risks from rivals who hope to gain ground on the San Diego telecom giant.

Qualcomm had planned to significantly expand its MediaFLO service to an additional 40 U.S. markets immediately after Feb. 17. That was when TV stations across the country had been expected to shut down their analog broadcasts on UHF Channel 55 in a long-planned conversion to digital technology. But Qualcomm’s plans for MediaFLO, which uses the same spectrum as Channel 55, were set back after the government postponed the nationwide digital TV conversion date until June 12.

The extent of Qualcomm’s efforts to develop the technology can be seen on the screens of the company’s network operations center. Some displays continuously monitor … Next Page »

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A new study released yesterday says half a billion people around the world are expected to tune in to mobile TV by 2013—a market that is estimated at, oh, $50 billion or so.

But the study’s author told me that in the United States, where Qualcomm’s MediaFlo is the leading technology, the growth of mobile TV is expected to remain sluggish. Among other things, American consumers don’t yet see the value in paying more to be able to tune into TV on the go. “The US hasn’t really latched on to the value of mobile TV so far because it’s constantly seen as an add-on from this a la carte menu of cellular services,” says Jeff Orr, a senior analyst for mobile content with New York-based ABI Research. Orr is the author of ABI’s study, “The Mobile TV Market,” a 72-page market analysis that reviews the key technologies, services, network infrastructure, content, and other elements of the global business.

MediaFlo provides mobile TV service for Verizon Wireless and AT&T cellular networks in the United States. Qualcomm has spent hundreds of millions of dollars expanding its network, which uses the 700 MHz spectrum, and MediaFlo had planned to launch its service in perhaps as many as 12 new cities the day after analog TV broadcasters switched to digital technology on Feb. 17th.

Some analog broadcasters still plan to vacate the 700 MHz spectrum, also known as Channel 55, even though Congress recently approved a four-month delay in … Next Page »

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San Diego’s biotech executives may be hearing billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s name more often than they care to. We begin our roundup today with Icahn, who has been increasing his stake in and demanding changes at San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLN), also wants to shake up management at Biogen Idec, which is based in Cambridge, MA, and has a sizable operation in San Diego.

—After pressuring Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) last year to sell itself to a big drugmaker, Icahn returned last week to nominate a slate of four new directors for election to the company board.

—On the Amylin front, Eastbourne Capital Management says it also wants to nominate a slate of five new directors for election to the company’s 12-member board. Eastbourne says its slate of new directors won’t conflict with Icahn’s bid to also get five new directors elected to Amylin’s board, but it surely increases the corporate intrigue.

—Video game maker THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), based north of Los Angeles in Agoura Hills, CA, disclosed plans last week to close its wireless game development unit in San Diego and lay off all 31 employees. A few days later, the global game developer announced additional reductions that altogether will reduce fiscal 2010 spending by $220 million and headcount by 600—or 24 percent of its estimated 2,500-person workforce.

—Other layoffs reported last week: San Diego’s Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals says its cut 20 employees, or about a third of its workforce; and semiconductor industry equipment maker Cohu revealed it cut 60 jobs, or about 6 percent, of its workforce.

—When the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to postpone the digital TV conversion that was set for Feb. 17, San Diego’s Qualcomm was forced to delay the expansion of its MediaFlo service as well. In-Stat analyst Gerry Kaufhold told me he estimates that Qualcomm was gearing up to launch its wireless TV service in about a dozen markets on Feb. 18.

—Mike Krenn told me he expects it will be harder to get startup companies funded this year. Krenn started the Venture Pipeline at the San Diego office of the DLA Piper law firm to help screen and scrub startup business plans and advise the firm’s entrepreneur clients.

—As long as diabetes runs rampant in the United States, with more that 20 million people affected, San Diego’s Phenomix figures there will still be a market for the drug it is developing. Phenomix CEO Laura Shawver recently outlined the biotech’s plans for Luke.

—In a sign of the times, a relatively large syndicate of six venture firms came together to provide $13.3 million in Series C funding for SynergEyes, a Carlsbad, CA, startup developing and selling a line of hybrid contact lenses for vision disorders.

—By coincidence, Venrock Associates partner Bryan Roberts, who specializes in healthcare investing, told Luke the venerable firm is putting more care into its syndicate formation. Roberts anticipates the effects of the economic downturn could affect VC firms as well as their portfolio companies.

—Finally, the X Prize Foundation awarded UC Irvine students Kyle Good of Temecula, CA, and Bryan Le of Manhattan Beach, CA, won its $25,000 prize for winning its “What’s Your Crazy Green Idea?” YouTube competition. Their video “The Capacitor Challenge” called for creating a new type of energy storage device.

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Updated Feb. 4 at 3:55 p.m. PST with the House of Representatives approving a four-month delay in DTV conversion. See below for more details.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Qualcomm’s MediaFlo subsidiary unveiled plans to nearly double its FLO TV service for cell phones, by expanding into 108 U.S. markets this year. The San Diego company said it would begin its expansion after Feb. 17, the date when television stations across the country are supposed to switch from analog- to digital-based broadcast equipment, leaving the analog spectrum for FLO TV. Now the company’s expansion plans are on hold, like a late-night TV test pattern.

If the U.S. House of Represenatives revisits a bill that would postpone the digital TV switchover until June 12, MediaFlo’s expansion also will be delayed by four months. “What else you can do?” MediaFlo senior vice president Matt Milne told a San Diego telecom group yesterday. “You wait until the June 12 date, and you do the same thing then that you were going to do on Feb. 17.” In the meantime, he added, “you continue to work on your rollout, and you optimize your networks so you have even more markets ready to go.”

Media Reports from Washington indicate the House could reconsider the issue as early as today, and that a delay appears likely to pass. Milne says that’s what he’s been hearing as well.

Update, Feb. 4:  The House voted 264-158 to postpone the analog-to-digital TV conversion to June 12. Because the Senate passed the measure unanimously last week, the bill now heads to the White House, where President Barack Obama is expected to sign it. 

The Feb. 17 conversion to digital TV is described as a truly historic milestone by CommNexus San Diego, a local wireless industry association that invited MediaFlo’s Milne and other industry experts to discuss the transition yesterday. Bill Zears, the San Diego-based regional director for the Federal Communications Commission, told the group that the government’s latest survey … Next Page »

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Top executives at San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) must’ve breathed a sigh of relief today, when the U.S. House of Representatives defeated a bill that would have delayed a planned switch to digital TV on Feb. 17. The House vote against the delay followed a bill the Senate passed unanimously on Monday, which called for postponing the digital conversion by four months.

“We opposed the delay of the Feb. 17 DTV transition date, which was set by the U.S. government three years ago,” Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said today during a conference call held to discuss the fiscal first-quarter financial results.

But Jacobs added, “We expect there will be further developments” regarding the proposed delay. Processing that snippet of corporate-speak through my journalistic converter provided this translation: “Stay tuned, because this isn’t over.” Jacobs says the wireless technology company will continue to ask that nine TV stations in four crucial markets—Boston, Houston, Miami, and San Francisco—be excluded in any legislation that would delay the switch.

The Feb. 17 conversion date is crucial to Qualcomm because the company paid more than $550 million last year to acquire operating licenses for the 700 MHz spectrum being vacated by broadcasters.

Qualcomm invested untold millions after that “to extend our innovative FloTV service and to build out the network” for Qualcomm’s MediaFLO mobile TV service, Jacobs said. Qualcomm’s MediaFLO offers 15 channels of digital TV programming on the same frequency that … Next Page »

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President Obama’s proposed delay of the Feb. 17 conversion to digital television has triggered a  protest from San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). According to this report, a letter signed by CEO Paul Jacobs sent Monday to House and Senate leaders says Qualcomm has spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” preparing to launch its MediaFLO video service in 15 new markets. MediaFLO uses the part of the spectrum to be vacated by broadcasters. Qualcomm asks the lawmakers to maintain the change as planned, and if that isn’t possible, to enforce the deadline on nine TV stations in Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco. That would at least allow Qualcomm to launch a key part of its MediaFLO service as planned on Feb. 18

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