Mobile TV: Small Wonder

TV sets are popularly known as idiot box but the love—hate
relation with idiot box is because of the content. If the same content is made
available on mobile to subscribers via mobile telecommunications networks, it is
known as mobile TV. South Korea is the pioneer of this developing sector.

Mobile Medium

Mobile TV involves bringing TV services to the mobile phones. The
combination of mobile phone with television involves consumers, operators and
content providers. Mobile TV over cellular networks allows viewers to enjoy
personalized and interactive TV with content specifically adapted to the mobile
medium. The services and viewing experience of mobile TV over cellular networks
differs in a variety of ways from traditional TV viewing. In addition to
mobility, mobile TV delivers a variety of services including video-on-demand,
traditional/linear and live TV programs. Another exciting opportunity for users
is mobile TV pod casts, where content is delivered to a user's mobile on
demand or by subscriptions. Stored locally on the handset, this content can then
be viewed even when there's no network connection. And a service provider can
schedule the delivery to 'off-peak' hours, for example during the night.

Deliverance

Technically, there are two main ways of delivering mobile TV. The first is
via a two-way cellular network and the second is through a one-way dedicated
broadcast network. These include digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H),
digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), TDtv (based on TD-CDMA technology from
IPWireless), 1seg (based on Japan's ISDB-T), DAB and MediaFLO.

Currently, DVB-H is the most widely used standard undergoing
trials in Europe, whilst DMB has been implemented and proving to be popular in
Korea. Last year, mobile operator 3 Italia was the first to launch a DVB-H
commercial service in Europe and attracted more than 100,000 subscribers in the
first month. However, this success can at least in part be attributed to the
timing-the World Cup Soccer 2006 provided the ideal opportunity to roll out
mobile TV in the Italian market. Italians are renowned for their love of
football; add to this the fact that that their team made it to the final and
ultimately became the World Cup champions and you were almost guaranteed a
captive audience!

The Indian Scene

In India, local public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) has launched a DVB-H
based mobile TV pilot in New Delhi. The service offers eight free channels,
including DD National, DD News, DD Sports and services in Bharati, Urdu,
Punjabi, Bangla, and Podhigai. The number of channel and the service coverage is
expected to increase during the next few months. Nokia and Samsung provided
mobile handsets.

Despite uncertainty about when mobile TV will achieve any kind
of mass market and what the size of the potential audience, mobile TV is very
much on the move. However, success of mobile TV depends on the content, its
suitability for the small screen and perhaps most significantly, cost. Operators
must ensure that they are delivering what users really want, when they want it,
if they are to achieve significant and sustainable new sources of revenue.

Sandeep Budki

Sandeepb@cybermedia.co.in