KPN Launches Mobile Broadcast TV Service in the Netherlands

Reuters reports that KPN, the Dutch telecoms group, is staring to offer a mobile broadcast TV service based on DVB-H technology this month. The service will cost 10 Euros per month, and will include 10 channels. Samsung and LG will supply the initial handsets to support the service, and a Nokia device will be added at a later stage.

13 French Mobile TV Licenses Awarded

CSA, the French media regulator, has awarded mobile TV licenses to 13 TV channels. The French Mobile Broadcast TV service, using DVB-H technology, is expected to start by the end of this year. It is interesting to note that only two of the channels, EuroSport and CanalPlus will charge a subscription fee for viewing, while all the other channels will be included in the basic, "free" mobile TV package (part of the mobile subscription fee).

AT&T Launches Mobile Broadcast TV Service Today

AT&T is launching its mobile broadcast TV service today in the USA, based on Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology. The service will be priced at $15 a month for 10 TV channels, and will be available in 58 markets. AT&T is also launching two new handsets today to support the service: The LG Vu and the Samsung Access.

AT&T To Launch Mobile Broadcast TV in May

AT&T announced that it will start offering a Mobile Broadcast TV service in the USA based on Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology in May this year. The service will include 10 channels, two of them exclusive to AT&T, and will be supported by two handsets: The Samsung Access and the LG Vu. Pricing for the service has not been announced.

AT&T is the second provider of MediaFLO mobile TV in the USA, following Verizon who launched the Verizon Vcast mobile TV service one year ago. Verizon announced that it will also add two exclusive channels to its service, ESPN Radio and MTV Tr3s. However, Verizon has not released any subscriber numbers for its mobile broadcast TV service yet.

Mobile Broadcast TV Users in Korea Reach 11 Million

Telecoms Korea reported yesterday that as of February 29th 2008, the number of satellite DMB subscribers reached 1.31 million, and the number of terrestrial DMB users reached 9.69 million, giving a total of 11 million mobile broadcast TV users in Korea (I am using the term "users" for T-DMB since it is a free-to-air service, and not a subscription service).

Monthly sales of T-DMB devices are in the range of 400-500K a month, meaning that by the end of March the number of T-DMB users alone will pass the 10 million mark. S-DMB growth is not reported in the article, but it seems that S-DMB has stalled in Korea since similar numbers were reported at the end of 2007.

AT&T Mobile TV Rumors

According to sources quoted by RCR Wireless News, AT&T is planning to launch its own MediaFLO-based Mobile Broadcast TV service in the US next week, following Verizon's launch of the service last March. The service will launch on February 5th, and will include two additional exclusive channels, on top of the 8 basic channels which Verizon also offers. It will feature the LG Vu (CU-920) handset, which is similar to LG's Prada and Viewty handsets, priced between $200 and $250.

Korea's Satellite Mobile TV Calls for Help

The world's only satellite-based mobile broadcast TV service is in deep trouble. According to an article in the Korea Times, TU Media which operates the S-DMB service in Korea has accumulated a debt that will reach 270 Billion Won (about $270M) by the end of this year. There are 1.2M subscribers to the service, but their number hasn't grown since this summer.

One of the main obstacles for the service is regulation: The S-DMB service is not allowed to broadcast the main Korean terrestrial broadcast channels KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS. TU Media's request from the government to ease these regulatory restrictions has been unanswered, and their plea for additional funding from SKT, TU Media's largest shareholder, has also been declined. According to the Korea Times, there are reports that SKT may even withdraw from the S-DMB business in the near future.

Mobile TV License in Germany Awarded to T-Systems

Screen Digest reports that T-Systems Media & Broadcast (TSMB), a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, has received a license to broadcast DVB-H in the UHF frequency band from the German Federal Network Agency.

TSMB plans to start the commercial mobile TV service in spring 2008 in Hanover, and expand to the capitals of the 15 federal states by the end of 2008. According to the license terms, the broadcaster is expected to cover 90 per cent of the German population by 2015. Additional mobile TV broadcasting licenses will be awarded in Germany by the end of this year.

AT&T Delays Mobile TV Launch in the USA

AT&T announced that it is delaying the roll out of its planned MediaFLO mobile TV service in the USA to the beginning of 2008. Originally, the service was scheduled to start by the fourth quarter of 2007. The company didn't give a specific reason for the delay, other than stating that they want to make sure that the service meets customers' expectations.

Aloha Networks Sells Mobile TV Spectrum

Aloha Networks, the parent company of US Mobile TV operator HiWire, has sold its 700 MHz spectrum to AT&T for $2.5B. It is not clear yet whether AT&T plans to use the spectrum for mobile TV broadcast services, or for wireless web access enabling combined voice/data/video services. It seems that the second option is more probable, since AT&T has already signed a deal with MediaFLO for using its mobile TV broadcast network. In that case, the deal signals another hit to the global mobile broadcast TV market, after the shut down of the Virgin and Modeo services earlier this year.

The Ups and Downs of Mobile TV

Mobile TV has always been a controversial issue. The big players who sell handsets, network equipment and mobile services, keep taking the optimistic side, and pushing the analysts in that direction. On the other hand, there are always people who ask "Who would like to view TV on a a tiny screen, and pay for it?". In the last few weeks it seems that the debate is shifting more to the negative side, especially when discussing subscription-based mobile TV services.

Still on the optimistic side, Juniper Research is predicting that the number of users who receive mobile broadcast TV services will increase from 12M in 2007 to 120M by 2012, with service revenues expected to exceed $6.6B. And France is pushing forward with the introduction of Mobile TV services in the summer of 2008, just in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The launch of DVB-H in France during 2008 follows the introduction of DVB-H in Italy during the 2006 Soccer World Cup, and in Finland during 2007. While the Italian service enjoyed a high adoption rate initially, the latest reports show that service uptake has flattened. And the service in Finland was stalled for several months due to the lack of compatible handsets and compelling content. The situation in Europe is quite inline with Gartner's recent survey, which found that only 5 percent of European subscribers are interested in watching video or TV on their phones.

Industry analysts have also shifted their positions in view of the market situation, demonstrated by the discontinuation of mobile TV services offered by Virgin and BT Movio in the UK, and by Modeo in the USA. The EE Times says that Mobile TV chip makers "struggles to hold on", as the market has proven successful only in countries that offer free-to-air broadcasts (Japan and Korea). Stephen Wellman from Information Week asks "When Will Anyone Actually Watch Mobile TV?", claiming that small screens and poor marketing have probably killed the service, although service providers in the USA don't reveal any numbers.

Mike Masnik at TechDirt writes about "The Ongoing Blind Belief In Mobile Broadcast TV", stating that mobile users don't have the time for watching broadcast TV programs, and would prefer short video clips on demand instead. He also says that people can broadcast their own TV from home, and watch it on their mobile device using a SlingBox and an unlimited data plan, meaning they don't have to pay mobile operators for such services. Indeed, the introduction of SlingPlayer Mobile for SymbinOS is likely to be a disruptive move in this direction. Russel Shaw at ZDNet takes the same position, claiming that "Mobile TV is So Overhyped".

So what's your take on the future of mobile TV, and in particular subscription-based Mobile Broadcast TV services? Please comment on this post to voice your opinion.

Virgin and Modeo Discontinue their Mobile TV Services

BT Movio and Virgin have decided to pull the plug on their DAB-IP based service,which was launched in the UK last October. Among reasons cited for this action are lack of user acceptance, lack of compatible handsets, and the decision by the European Union to back the rival DVB-H technology.

In the US, Crown Castle decided to stop the DVB-H Mobile TV service of its Modeo subsidiary, and to spin-off the company by leasing the spectrum and the assets it owns to two venture capital firms. Crown Castle did not provide any reasons for this step, but it is probably related to Modeo's failure in getting any mobile operator on board its service, and the success of the rival MediaFLO service which has been adopted by Verizon and AT&T.

VCast MediaFLO Service Review

USA Today has published a review of Verizon's VCast Mobile TV service, which is based on Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology. The reviewer was quite satisifed by the overall quality and content, but notes some issues with the reception in Orlando and the external antenna. Similar to my experience from 3GSM, the reviewer notes an excellent channel switching time of only 2 seconds, compared to 8 seconds with the Modeo DVB-H service which he tested in New York.

3GSM 2007 Mobile TV Highlights

As expected, 3GSM 2007 was packed with Mobile TV demonstrations everywhere - including handsets, chipsets, network infrastructure, enabling technologies and content.

On the handset side, the show's major announcement was probably the Nokia N77 DVB-H handset. As rumored just before the show, this is a mid-range handset, which is targeted at initial DVB-H deployments in Vietnam, Italy and Finland. I took a look at the video quality, and it was quite good at 15 frames per second. However, every minute or two there was an occasional error in the stream (picture freezes or breaks into blocks). The demonstrator at the N77 stand in the Nokia booth claimed that this was due to the "crowded network at the show", which seems highly unlikely since DVB-H is a broadcast network... The channel switching time was also quite long, at 4-6 seconds. The long switching time was also apparent in other DVB-H demos at the show, and I also noticed this issue in CES demos last month, which leads to the conclusion that this is probably an inherent issue with current DVB-H implementations. The Nokia representative told me that the handset will cost 370 Euros without subsidies, and has a 5 hour TV viewing time, and 7.5 days standby time.

Another DVB-H handset was demonstrated by Sagem. Sagem is not a top-tier mobile handset vendor, but their myMobileTV handset is very nicely designed, and features an innovative auto-rotate feature which rotates and expands the image based on the direction in which the device is being held, using an acceleration sensor. In this demo I also witnessed the long channel switching time, and the occasional frame error every 1-2 minutes. The Sagem demonstrator came up with another original excuse for this, claiming that it was due to a low battery on the device (although the device was connected to a power supply and charging...). Another interesting handset demonstrated at the show was the Samsung SGH-F510, a slim DVB-H phone which blends well with the company's "thin is in" design.

Qualcomm showed the MediaFLO handsets which will launch with Verizon's service at the end of this quarter, the Samsung SCH-U620 and the LG VX9400. Qualcomm also showed a prototype handset of its own design, which is used mainly for testing the service. Judging by the video quality, it seems that MediaFLO currently has the edge: Frame rate is about 20-25 frames per second, and channel switching time is 2 seconds. MediaFLO also had a larger variety of channels at the show: 20 TV channels vs. only 9 channels which were available on the SIDSA DVB-H demo network at the show.

Other vendors were showing unicast live TV over cellular networks, circuit-switched streaming (using 3G video telephony for content delivery), and TV interactivity solutions. Compared to last year's show, 3GSM 2007 demonstrated the maturity of mobile TV technology and the range of available handsets, driven by commercially deployed services. However, subscriber numbers for paid mobile broadcast TV services in Europe remain low, both for DVB-H and for DAB-IP, so the question of return on investment still remains.

3 Italia Signed Up 300,00 Mobile TV Subscribers in 2006

Variety International reports that 3 Italia has signed up more than 300,000 subscribers to its DVB-H mobile TV service, but overall growth is occurring at a slower-than-expected rate. 3 expected to reach 500,000 subscribers by the end of 2006, but did not reach its target despite a surge in subscribers during the run up to Christmas, and 3 Italia's round-the-clock coverage of "Big Brother."

3 Italia is planning to offer a new phone, with a 4.3 inch screen, in hope of attracting more subscribers to its service. The company will also export its knowledge to other countries, starting with a 3-month trial of DVB-H with Malaysia's Maxis Communication.

UK's DAB-IP Service Fails to Attract Subscribers

According to a report in the Guardian, the Mobile TV service based on DAB-IP technology, which was launched by BT Movio and Virgin in the UK last October, has attracted less than 10,000 subscribers. Despite a major marketing campaign starring Pamela Anderson, and a price cut on Virgin's "Lobster" handset, the service has not taken off with UK subscribers.

Among the reasons attributed to this failure are the availability of a single handset which supports the service (a rather bulky Windows Mobile device designed by HTC), and the relatively limited content offering (only 5 TV channels).

CES Mobile TV Highlights - Part 2

I got a closer look at the LG VX9400 today at the MediaFLO booth. The video quality was very good, with no frame drops, and a surprising channel switching time of less than 2 seconds. The phone itself has a nice design, and is not bulky as you might expect from a phone that incorporates an additional receiver. The only issue is the external retractable antenna, which resembles the cellular phones we had 10 years ago. It seems fragile and looks completely out of place - hopefully newer models will feature an internal antenna.

I also saw the Samsung SCH-U620 MediaFLO phone at the Samsung booth. At first, it seemed that quality is much worse - frequent frame drops, and a channel switching time of 4-6 seconds. But, when I moved the handset a few meters to another location, the reception improved significantly, and I witnesses similar reception quality to the LG phone. The Samsung handset is also very nicely designed, althugh the screen doesn't rotate 90 degrees as with the LG model, and there is still the issue of the external retractable antenna.

The Modeo DVB-H phone, designed by HTC, was also demonstrated at the show, both at the Microtune stand in the IBM booth (local playback only), and at the HTC stand in the Microsoft booth (live TV reception). Quality was lower than the MediaFLO service, with frequent frame drops and a channel switching time of 6-8 seconds.

The demo of TV over Wimax, mentioned in my previous post, was shown at the Intel and Samsung booths. The demo shows streaming television at 1 megabits per second, including an integrated TV channel guide. It turned out that the demo, which is implemented using a USB dongle receiver by Samsung, does not use standard WiMax but actually WiBro, the pre-standard version which is deployed in Korea.

IPTV, HD content download from the Internet, home media distribution and wireless HDMI were also major topics at this year's show, but not for this blog...

CES Mobile TV Highlights - Part 1

Yes, it's that time of year again, when 140,000 people gather in Las Vegas to see the latest consumer electronic products and services. The major announcement of the first day was the official launch of the MediaFLO Mobile TV service by Verizon in the USA. The printed edition of USA Today which I got at the airport on my way to CES featured this item on the front page. The service will go live at the end of March, with CBS, NBC, Fox, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Verizon will offer phones from Samsung and LG to support the service.

I saw the LG 9400 MediaFLO phone at LG's booth today, and TV reception quality is very good. You can see pictures of the phone at gearlog. LG also had a DVB-H phone at their booth, but it wasn't receiving any TV signals...

Modeo, which plans to launch a competing mobile TV service in the USA using DVB-H technology, announced its "commercial quality mobile TV beta service", which will start in the first quarter of 2007 in New York. Modeo's service will feature TV content from FOX and The Discovery Channel, and radio content from Music Choice. The choice of handsets, however, will be limited to a single handset designed by HTC.

As if we didn't have enough mobile broadcast TV standards, Samsung announced its own mobile TV technology which is being trialed this week at CES. The technology, called Advanced-VSB (or A-VSB for short), is an enhancement of the existing VSB digital television standard used by ATSC, and enables broadcasters to transmit a mobile digital TV signal on the same frequency as they use for standard television broadcasting. And another emerging bearer for mobile TV is WiMax: MobiTV, NDS and RunCom are demonstrating mobile TV over WiMax at the show.

More on Mobile TV at CES tomorrow...

Korean S-DMB Subscribers Near 1M

According to an article published in techworld, Korean's S-DMB service has signed up 950,000 subscribers so far. This figure was quoted by Young-Kil Suh, president and CEO of TU-Media, the SKT subsidiary which operates Korea's satellite mobile TV service. Mr. Kuh also claims that the average TV viewing time per subscriber is 62 minutes per day. This is well above the numbers witnessed in mobile broadcast TV trials around the world, which typically amount to 15-20 minutes a day. Commercial cellular TV services in Europe have reported much lower viewing times, of 2-3 minutes per day. This figure was quoted in an article in The Register, titled "Telefonica admits customers don't understand mobile TV".

Russian Commercial DVB-H Service expected in 2008

According to a source quoted by Cellular News, Sistema Mass Media subsidiary Digital Television Broadcasting is acquiring mobile TV frequencies in 16 Russian cities, and plans to launch a commercial service in 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympic Games. It is not clear accoridng to the report whether this will be a DVB-H or T-DMB service, but the service will be launched in collaboration with SK Mobile of Korea T-Systems from Germany. The service will initially include eight channels, and will cost between $5 to $15 a month. By 2010, the company plans to have over 500,000 subscribers.