In November, I spoke with several of the major players from the U.S. mobile television industry about the state of the market. The executives I interviewed were bullish about the technology’s prospects and said the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this month would prove out their expectations with a bevy of new mobile television devices equipped with ATSC chips.

I’ll admit that I was skeptical about their predictions, and for good reason. The analysts I spoke with for the article were deeply pessimistic about the technology’s prospects; Qualcomm had just axed its Flo TV mobile television service after it failed to gain traction with consumers; and just a fraction of U.S. broadcast stations - about 70 out of 1,600 - offer ATSC-based programming. Sure, there were indications that the technology was making some progress as more stations deployed ATSC equipment and broadcasters began to collaborate on mobile television offerings, but it looked like the technology was facing an uphill battle.

Well, the predictions of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) and other industry stakeholders came true. The OMVC reports that more than two dozen mobile television devices will be announced at CES this week, including devices from LG equipped with 3D and ATSC-based mobile coupons. On top of that, consumer electronics manufacturers Dell, Harris, LG and Samsung Mobile joined  the OMVC’s new Mobile DTV Forum; Dell says it will debut new ATSC-based mobile television products this year; and a key joint venture tapped MobiTV to develop a user interface for the mobile television service it plans to launch in late 2011, which is expected to cover 40 percent of the U.S. population.

These are all signs that the U.S. mobile television industry is making good on its promise to get more programming on the air and more devices in the hands of consumers, but the industry should maintain its wariness about mobile television’s prospects. Just seven of the devices highlighted by the OMVC for CES are currently available; distribution is mainly limited to manufacturers’ websites instead of tapping into consumer demand through deals with the likes of AT&T and Verizon; and wide-scale ATSC broadcasts have yet to materialize.

The announcements at CES are more a confirmation of the mobile television industry’s determination to get the technology off the ground than a sign it will reach a wide audience any time soon. Some progress is being made, but near-term prospects are dim and there’s still plenty of room for skepticism. In that respect, very little has changed since November. The major players in the U.S. mobile television industry are moving in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go.