In the run-up to the 3GSM World Congress, people expected mobile TV to be one of the major attractions of the show. Perhaps it was over-anticipation, but the promise wasn’t delivered, and maybe it’s time for a reality check in the wake of recent announcements from TF1 and Virgin.
TF1 decided to pull the plug on its mobile TV service because just 60,000 people signed up for the offer. Not exactly record number for France’s number one commercial broadcaster. In the UK, Virgin Mobile TV said it managed to get only 7,000 subscribers since its inception last October, which were not exactly earth-shattering numbers. And in recent studies by Circle Research, which were carried out on behalf of the GSM Association, TV ranked only in 11th place behind SMS messaging, mobile email, MMS, IMS, location based services, mobile radio and other applications.
Perhaps having all these possibilities with your phone clouds the picture for television. If faced between choosing from various applications people are likely to prefer a navigational tool or mobile access to their e-mail. Also, using Near Field Communication (NFC) tools, mobile phones will soon turn into a fairly easy way to pay for your public transport (incorporating London’s Oyster card), get you access to cinemas (duplicates as your UCG Unlimited cinema pass) or act as your credit card (beware losing your phone).
Still, in Barcelona we saw a lot of mobile TV. No less than four DVB-H multiplexes were on air demonstrating the various possibilities of television on the go. In the
NXP stand (formerly Philips semiconductors) we were shown picture improvement on the mobile screen using the same technology as Philips employs on its large screens. Which was indeed very effective on small screens. Also, using just a small chipset and an antenna. DVB-H reception was made possible on various models of video capable smart phones. On a laptop, simultaneous reception of a full multiplex of four channels, including one encrypted signal, was also made possible.
Stuart Collingwood of Slingmedia Europe showed the mobile version of the Slingplayer, providing the chance to watch your home TV channels on your mobile. Which brings us to another issue: if we’re on the road, do we want to watch the local channels or do we prefer to watch our home channels? I suspect the latter is the case, and this doesn’t bode very well for the future of broadcast mobile TV.
Enter Alcatel’s Unlimited Mobile TV, which promises more channels by using a hybrid system of satellite delivered national or even international channels augmented by terrestrial local services using the new DVB-SH (Satellite services to handhelds) specs.
The DVB Steering Board has given its approval to DVB-SH, which is designed to deliver content and data to handheld terminals, such as mobile phones and PDAs. When a satellite signal is unavailable, terrestrial gap fillers take up the slack. The Steering Board approved two specific documents, namely a waveform specification and a description of the system.
DVB-SH has been designed for use on frequencies below 3GHz, typically in the S-band, where spare capacity is available in much of Europe.
At the Irdeto stand there were dozens of mobile receivers on show, “Last year we only had a handful,” said business development director Jan-Willem van Hardeveld. Amazing what people can do with a small chipset and an antenna. CA company Irdeto was the first to develop encryption for mobile television, which gave them business in Korea with the world’s first mobile TV services using the DMB standard. Also, in Germany Irdeto is the partner of Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD), who last year rolled out the first commercial T-DMB service in Europe, offering four channels.
So far, mobile TV is only a success in Korea, Japan and surprisingly, Italy. In continental Europe three commercial services have launched aside from MFD. A second is active in Germany and two in Italy.
Alessandro Floris, 3 Italia’s director of digital mobile TV, said the introduction of its DVB-H service in June 2006 is a commercial success. Speaking at DVB World in Dublin, he also announced the service has attracted over 250,000 subscribers within a couple of months. “There is a market for mobile television.”
3 Italia offers nine services for €29 a month, as well as an Italian-style Big Brother and two adult services on a premium basis. Most usage is outdoors (90%), sports is the best watched programming and peak viewing time is during lunch and just before dinner.
Apart from 3G, Telecom Italia also has a competing DVB-H service on air, making Italy the only country in Europe with two competing mobile TV offers.
Later this year KPN will roll out its mobile TV service using the Digitenne DTT licence complementing its current DVB-T service. In Germany, preparations are underway for the launch of a commercial 16-channel service at the end of the year, while in Austria regulators hope to grant a mobile TV licence by December.