When AT&T (NYSE: T) earlier this week made a $2.5 billion offer for assets from Aloha Partners, the deal didn’t just include 700MHz spectrum in 72 of the top 100 markets in the U.S.; it also included the assets of Hiwire, Aloha’s DVB-H-based mobile TV venture. The deal has raised questions over what the implications in the U.S. will be for mobile TV, and in particular TV based on the DVB-H standard, down the road.

Since AT&T is already building out a mobile TV service based on competing MediaFLO technology, and Hiwire was involved in one of the only big DVB-H trials in the U.S., AND the mobile TV take up to date has been far lower than expected, some believe the prospects are not so good. Red Herring takes the position that the spectrum buy was for two-way cellular services, given the $2.5 billion price tag. Tim Farrar, president of Telecom Media and Finance Associates: “It’s difficult to make a business case for mobile broadcast TV that can generate anything like the revenue you can get from cellular services.”

Not all observers are making such cynical conclusions. Fierce Wireless speculates that AT&T could potentially use its MediaFLO rollout as a temporary solution while it works on rolling out a more comprehensive service using the Hiwire assets, basing this on the premise that AT&T has now bought some equipment and expertise in the area, and that DVB-H allows for three times as many channels as MediaFLO does (24 versus eight), which would give AT&T a competitive edge over other operators, namely Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless, offering services via MediaFLO.

Both arguments seem to have degrees of credibility to them: in Europe operators like Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) are hedging their bets with both technologies; and even if AT&T uses the spectrum for voice services, that doesn’t preclude it from making a switch to using it for mobile TV further down the line. Hiwire says that it plans to continue its current DVB-H trial with T-Mobile in Las Vegas until the end of this year.

• AT&T Buys Aloha’s Spectrum For $2.5 Billion; Aloha Exiting Out Of Mobile TV?