MOBILE TV: BROADCAST AND MOBILE MULTIMEDIA, a new strategic report by Informa Telecoms and Media, states that for the next few years, the most advanced networks will be S-DMB and T-DMB services, dominating broadcast TV handset sales worldwide from its strongholds of South Korea and Japan. By 2010, there will be 18.11 million terrestrial DMB subscribers, compared with 15.02 million satellite DMB users worldwide. “Despite its slow start, DVB-H will become the dominant format in 2008, reaching significant levels worldwide reaching 74.03 million users by 2010, equating to almost 60% of all broadcast mobile TV users”, says David McQueen, author of the Mobile TV report.

In terms of devices, the market is forecast to grow from a total of 0.13 million units in 2005 to 83.5 million by 2010. In comparison with mobile video-capable phones, broadcast handset sales will be outstripped by almost 5-to-1 by 2010.

Whilst the mobile TV industry is beginning to generate interest from many sectors of the mobile and broadcast industries, including mobile operators, handset vendors, broadcasters and content providers, there are still a number of issues and problems that need to be resolved. Amongst the biggest hurdles are regulation, capacity and spectrum planning. “At the heart of the mobile TV industry is the tussle between broadcast and cellular networks to find the optimum solution for all players to benefit in an extremely complex business model” adds McQueen. “The degree to which these networks will become either competitive or complementary will ultimately determine the fate of market. Collaboration between players is crucial to leverage on the potential for interactive TV services, which although being somewhat lacklustre in the digital TV arena has the potential to be a real driver behind mobile TV services and revenue generation”.

The success is also dependent on the availability of desirable, popular content to the end user which will depend to a large extent on how fast consumers adopt the services and devices. There is a definite need for the industry to decide what formats will work for users while they are on the move and what services will be attractive to mobile subscribers, bearing in mind current viewing habits. This is further dependent on the availability of quality handsets, providing users with a large high resolution colour display, a good user interface, and lasting battery life.

But charging users for broadcast mobile TV content also has its pitfalls. The provision of TV channels in these broadcast models has a bearing on how TV content should be charged for, bearing in mind that a number of channels currently available in the digital TV space are ‘free-to-air’ and others can be advertising-supported. Undoubtedly, the most likely charging scenarios of subscription or pay-per-view will be easier to implement in partnership with mobile operators who already have a billing relationship with the end-user, but the principles of how content is handled in the public broadcasting and mobile spheres are very different owing to certain criteria set on breadth and quality of content.

It cannot be disputed that in many major markets worldwide TV is a large part of many peoples’ daily lives and mobile subscriber penetration in a number of markets has reached, if not even surpassed, a high saturation level. MOBILE TV: BROADCAST AND MOBILE MULTIMEDIA concludes that because of these two reasons, and the subsequent convergence of the broadcast and mobile industries, broadcast mobile TV has undoubted potential, with interactive TV and the extension of advertising at the forefront of that success.

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