Never miss a favorite TV-program with mobile TV

- Mobile TV is definitely growing. People want more freedom when it comes to watching TV. Just like not wanting to wait in front of a fixed telephone line for an important call, people no longer want to miss a single episode of their favorite TV show. People also have plenty of spare time – for instance, while travelling on taxis, busses or by train – so why not pass the time watching television, says Marianne Hynninen, President of Mobile TV operations at Digita Oy, the leading Finnish wireless network operator.

Mobile TV is a television service delivered to subscribers via wireless networks and devices such mobile phones, laptops and PDAs.

Today, some 40 million users watch mobile TV based on broadcast networks, in addition to those watching mobile TV streams via 3G networks. The popularity of the service is expected to grow, and a recent study from management consultancy firm Arthur D. Little shows the number of subscribers rising to 140 million by 2011.

So far growth not up to expectations

Currently, only about 1% of all mobile phone users worldwide have subscribed to mobile TV services. One hurdle to faster mobile TV adoption has been the existing flurry of competing mobile TV standards across the globe.

DVB-H, one of the three main formats, has been chosen as an “official” European standard by the European Commission. Major competitors of this technology include Korea’s Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), Qualcomm’s MediaFLO in the US, and Japan’s ISDB-T standard, each of which differs in technical aspects such as channel capacity, channel bandwidth and other factors affecting the cost of the network and user qualities.
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- DVB-H technology combines high-quality mobile TV broadcasts with low power consumption. It is also efficient in using frequencies, and it gives the option of simultaneously receiving broadcasts while using other mobile services such as telephony and internet, Hynninen says.

Towards the mass market

To boost mobile TV usage, the industry needs to continue improving the service in terms of wider network coverage. A broader range of affordable mobile TV devices is also needed to help attract more users. Additional TV channels to choose from would be an added bonus.

- The potential market demand for mobile TV is huge and more mobile TV content will definitely help push new users to tune into it. People coming from different parts of the globe have different interests. In some countries, like in Italy, operators are already rolling out mobile TV services that are showing football matches to help attract a specific user group in the country. The amount of TV content is important, but so is the type of content, says Eric Sun, Country Manager at Chinese telecommunications equipment provider ZTE Corp.

Mobile broadcast TV services are likely to expand in the future, keeping pace with growth in the availability of terminal devices and content. So far, mobile broadcast TV is not even close to being a commercial success story outside Japan and South Korea.

- Early adopters of new mobile TV services are definitely young people who are into exploring new things and new technologies. Eventually, mobile TV will become more of a service for the masses, says Eric Sun.