Primetime for Mobile Television: Extending the entertainment concept by bringing together the best of both worlds

Not long ago, the thought of watching television on a small screen seemed far-fetched. However, since 2005, interest in Mobile Television (TV) has grown rapidly. Broadcasters and content providers increasingly deploy Mobile TV as a vehicle for distributing their content on a larger scale, and as a source of new revenues. Telecom operators aim to increase average revenue per unit (ARPU) and reduce churn, and view Mobile TV as offering enormous potential to achieve both of these objectives. From a consumer perspective, market research indicates strong latent demand for Mobile TV.

Many operators are already offering Mobile TV services on a commercial basis over their wireless networks. Early deployments suggest that more people are watching television on their mobiles than originally anticipated. Meanwhile, subscriber numbers and volumes of video traffic are still low enough to avoid network problems. However, with increasing Mobile TV adoption, networks will become increasingly congested. To overcome the capacity problems of wireless networks, many operators worldwide are carrying out trials with complementary broadcasting networks. In a broadcasting network, a mobile picks up the signal directly from the ether. In Southeast Asia, some operators have already launched commercial services on this basis.

One problem, however, is the lack of consensus on a universal technology standard. Nokia has adopted the DVB-H standard, while Samsung is pushing DMB. Qualcomm has developed its own proprietary standard MediaFLO. In Japan, the ISDB-T standard will be used for Mobile TV. The Pacific region is driving the DMB-technology, while in the United States, both MediaFLO and DVB-H will be the main standards. In nearly all European countries, mobile operators are piloting the DVB-H standard. Complicating this issue further is the fact that none of these standards is compatible with another.

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