Is there any hope for watching TV in a moving vehicle?

Here’s one way we’ve actually gone backwards. And let’s face facts, you don’t want to go backwards in your vehicle. I’m talking about watching TV in your car, truck, or RV. Believe it or not it was possible before TV went digital, but today if you are moving faster than about 15 miles per hour, broadcast TV magically stops working.

Look, it’s not like you’re supposed to be watching TV in a moving car, but at least your passengers could be, and if you have an RV this is kind of a big thing for the folks in the back, right?

Here’s why it happened

When broadcast TV went digital, the new standard was designed to be super stable for home use, but at that time it wasn’t possible to also make it super stable for mobile use. They had to choose one or the other, and they chose to make it better for home use. I think most people would agree that was the right choice. Remember, a lot of this work was done in the 1990s before cell phones had any sort of data capability.

But it does kind of suck when you’re in a moving vehicle. I mean, you can stream video to your phone, which is a fairly complex thing to be able to do. Yet, you can’t just watch TV.

There’s hope, possibly in the future.

There is a small, slight hope that we’ll see some solution in the coming years. ATSC 3.0 is a new broadcast technology that is currently in testing. It’s been in a test phase for the last five years. Its test authorization comes up for review this summer and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen at that point.

ATSC 3.0 is known by most people for they way it would allow 4K broadcasting over existing TV channels, but it’s a lot more than that. Part of the package is re-coding the way that all TV signals are delivered, not just 4K ones. These re-coded signals will work just fine in a moving vehicle…

…that is, if the ATSC 3.0 standard is ever adopted. As I’ve said before, the big problem is that it would take an act of Congress (and when has Congress acted lately), as well as a massive cash outlay to help people deal with the fact that every current TV would be made obsolete by ATSC 3.0. There will have to be some sort of converter box program much like there was in the 2000s to provide a way for people with older TVs (in other words the TVs you can buy right now) to get the new signals.

So there’s hope. There isn’t much hope, but there’s hope. The good news is that most folks are just fine using TV provider apps on their phones or the DIRECTV or DISH apps for their devices. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a good one.

Want to know more?

If you want to know the best options for watching TV in your car, truck, RV, or boat, call the experts at Solid Signal! We’re here for you during East Coast business hours. Call 888-233-7563 and we’ll take great care of you. If it’s after hours, no problem! Fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.