Dish testing mobile TV with Alcatel

Looks like the Dish Network conundrum is finally settled – the company is indeed getting into the mobile TV game, after announcing it’s teaming up with Alcatel-Lucent to test a system based on the DVB-SH standard.

The test looks like it’s just a small one without any consumers involved – according to the pair, the trial will take place in Dish’s labs from May to August with a view to finding out how well it performs and how much it costs.

The trial seems a little on the small side for anyone seriously thinking about getting into mobile TV any time soon. But if Dish really is just testing the water without a full scale rollout in mind, why did it buy a great big chunk of 700Mhz spectrum recently?