Washington, D.C., later this summer will be the first city to get free, over-the-air digital television signals aimed at mobile devices like cell phones, smartphones, and laptops.

The programming will be exactly the same as those sent to televisions and will include advertising, but it will be broadcast in a standard known as Mobile DTV. The nation's capital was chosen because proponents of the mobile television standard said the city is full of tech-savvy viewers who watch the local news.

This is part of a push by the Open Mobile Video Coalition to have a free mobile TV standard across the United States. By the end of the year, the coalition expects this free, over-the-air programming to cover about 39% of U.S. households.

There are no devices that can play this standard, but the coalition said it wanted to spur device makers by offering the service. Dell has already shown off a prototype Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with a TV tuner that can utilize this standard, and LG Electronics and Samsung also reportedly are working on cell phones that can watch this television standard. The OMVC hopes consumer electronics manufacturers eventually create multiple products that can utilize Mobile DTV, including in-car entertainment systems, smartphones, personal media players, and portable gaming devices.

It's unclear if the coalition will be able to create a viable ecosystem of devices for the mobile TV standard because this service will compete directly with paid offerings from the cellular carriers. AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless have spent billions establishing their own mobile television offerings, and the carriers may not approve Mobile DTV-enabled cell phones for their networks.

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