Bluetooth has been sidelined or even killed a hundred times, according to the headlines, but somehow it keeps growing and moving into new applications. The latest is television, usually more focused on Wi-Fi or the upcoming WirelessHD. Broadcom has announced that LG is embedding its Bluetooth radios into TVs, opening a new revenue stream for the vendor and its main Bluetooth rival, CSR.
LG joins Sharp and Samsung in putting Bluetooth into some TV sets for in-home communications. While Wi-Fi and WirelessHD support transmission of video around the home, shorter range Bluetooth allows handsets to be used as the remote control for home media systems. It also connects wireless headsets to the TV, and streams music from MP3 players to the TV or its speakers.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group said in a statement that it expects to see more televisions featuring the wireless standards around the turn of the year, especially from vendors that also make cellphones, such as LG and Samsung. And GigaOm points out that companies like Rovi (formerly Macrovision) and NDS, which develop interactive programming guides, want to tie phones into the TV viewing experience, as the world moves towards ‘Television 2.0’, with web integration. For instance, the phone could be used to personalize the on-screen profile and support social networking features such as making instant content recommendations to friends, or to search video using SMS keystrokes rather than a full keyboard.