Put away the DVDs for the kids in the back seat on those long road trips: Audiovox Corp. and MediaFLO USA Inc. are teaming up to bring television to cars in the United States.
"Live, in-vehicle mobile TV has long been a challenge for the automotive industry due to the difficulties in delivering quality, uninterrupted coverage at vehicle speeds, especially in urban environments," the companies said.
"That is until now," they added in an announcement on the eve of the opening here on Thursday of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featuring high-tech gadgetry from some 2,700 exhibitors from around the world.
MediaFLO USA's FLO TV allows for television signals to be delivered "in even the most challenging mobile environments," the companies said.
FLO TV is already available on mobile phones from US carriers AT&T and Verizon but Audiovox and MediaFLO USA, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc, said they were the first to offer live in-vehicle mobile television in the United States.
"Absolutely nothing rivals FLO TV for delivering a quality TV experience and breadth of content to a moving vehicle," said Tom Malone, president of Audiovox Electronics Corp.
"The combination of this technology and our innovative products will take in-vehicle entertainment to the next level delivering fast channel changing at the touch of a button, just like what consumers experience at home," he said.
Audiovox said FLO TV mobile TV technology should be compatible with existing in-vehicle video systems.
The companies said the system will be sold through car dealers, electronics retailers and other outlets.
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