Mobile TV – a new killer application?

Studies have shown that there is a rising customer demand for mobile TV. It may not be a killer application yet, but at least mobile TV is a promising new service. The original plans to roll out mobile TV services on the mass market before the football world cup in Germany have not materialized. However, there are a number of pilot projects, and the majority of customers in these pilots have responded positively to new service.

The forthcoming Beijing Olympics in 2008 could be the starting signal for mass-market adoption of mobile TV. The market forecasts for mobile TV are very positive. BBC News quotes a report by analysts Informa which predicts that more than 210 million people will be watching TV on their mobile by 2011. By the next World Cup in 2010, 10% of handsets in 2010 will be able to handle broadcast mobile TV signals, according to the report.

Before this will happen, a number of issues need to be solved. One limiting factor is that there is a competition between different technologies, like DVB-H, DMB, and streaming via UMTS, which may confuse potential customers and could, thus, limit commercial success. Pricing is the next critical issue. In a pilot project in Helsinki, customers expressed they would be ready to pay 10 euro per month for mobile TV services.


World Cup ushers in mobile TV era
Article in BBC News, 7 June 2006

The latest issue of Eurescom mess@ge, a European R&D magazine for telecommunications edited by me, features some articles which explore technological and business aspects of mobile TV:


Mobile TV – the next European mega trend?
In his introduction article, Eurescom mess@ge editor Peter Stollenmayer provides a concise overview on the main technologies and the state-of-the-art of mobile TV.

Mobile TV technologies
Mobile TV, Mobile Broadcast, Mobile Media Services, or Handy-TV in Germany, ometimes in combination with the adjective "interactive", are different terms, basically meaning the same: bringing video and audio content and services to mobile devices. In this Tutorial CELTIC Director Heinz Brüggemann explains some of the most prominent mobile TV technologies and their advantages and disadvantages.


DVB-H pilots in four European countries
From March 2005 to June 2006, pilot trials on mobile TV services via DVB-H have been conducted among consumers in Finland, the UK, Spain, and France. Eurescom mess@ge editor-in-chief Milon Gupta summarises the results.


European DMB project MI FRIENDS kicks off
MI FRIENDS is a pilot project on mobile TV via the DMB standard, which was initiated by the Bavarian Regulatory Authority For Commercial Broadcasting (BLM). In an inside report, Peter Kettner from BLM explains what the project is about.


Better quality for mobile TV
Mobile TV puts specific challenges to service providers in regard to the quality of service. Based on results from EU research project DAIDALOS, Karl Jonas from Fraunhofer FOKUS explains how multicast distribution can be improved to make watching soccer matches on mobile devices more fun.