Broadbandindia Magazine

With the advent of newer technology in the home entertainment media such as the latest LED and LCD TVs, we see a change in the technology that brings TV into our homes be it on the regular TV screens or even through the internet on our computer screens. However the latest technologies that have come up also show a trend where TV will be available on the move through mobile TV and even the latest technologies that allow you to receive DTH service within your vehicles. The question that arises then is will TV remain predominantly a home entertainment media or will it play a bigger role on the move?

It’s a question one might ask of mobile broadcast TV. When it was first proposed, mobile TV created quite a stir in the technology and communications community with a promise of grandeur. Research company InStat notes that this promise is easy to understand in that mobile TV combines the greatest communications trend in the last 20 years, mobility, with the people’s love of TV.

“Mobile TV, however, has been a disappointment to many,” an InStat report claims. “After many years of digital standards melees, the growth of subscription-based digital TV subscriptions has not materialized to the degree that was originally anticipated, despite some impressive service offerings that have been brought to market.”

Olivier Dhotel, Director Mobile TV, Group Strategic Marketing, tells Mobile Europe that although the operator is experiencing great growth on its TV services, the promise of digital broadcast TV seems to be receding. The problem this brings is that broadcasters and content providers look at the numbers of subscribers  viewing TV streams on mobile, and see nothing like the scale they are used to. The numbers, growing though they are, remain in the few hundred thousands, rather than the millions that the broadcasters are used to.

India’s market for mobile TV services is immense, according to the latest report by Springboard Research.’ Mobile TV is a technology that allows people to view regular live television content on their mobile phones or other mobile devices that they get through traditional cable or pay TV subscriptions at home. The Springboard Research report says that in the first year of operation, mobile TV could reach a penetration level of 5 to 6% of the total mobile subscriber base in India.

“Mobile TV marries the two dominant consumption trends of entertainment and mobile telephony in India,” said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, manager- Syndicated Research at Springboard Research. “The market is ripe for the launch of mobile TV services and we believe India will have around 12 million mobile TV subscribers within the first year of launch of service,” said Pandey.

Demand from mobile users

According to the report, 84% of mobile phone users are interested in using Mobile TV service provided the service is commonly available and affordable. Close to 60% of these will prefer watching the same content they get on TV at home. News, sports, music videos and game shows were the four dominant types of content the surveyed users will prefer watching on mobile TV. These findings are based on a survey conducted among 1,215 mobile users in six major Indian cities by Springboard Research. “A majority of mobile users in India are interested in trying out mobile TV and would invest in new handsets for using the service. This willingness is definitely a positive sign for those considering offering mobile TV in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile services market,” said Pandey.

Public service broadcaster Doordarshan is the only company currently offering limited mobile TV service. the market has seen increased activities from various stakeholders including technology providers, network equipment vendors and mobile service providers. Nokia, Spice Telecom, Qualcomm and Samsung are few of the stakeholders actively promoting the adoption of Mobile TV in India. “Mobile telephone operators will have an advantage over standalone mobile TV operators in that the former already have users subscribing to their value-added services. However, the success of either operator will be dependent on content offered and price charged for the service,” added Pandey. One of the recommendations in the report is that service providers should offer on-demand, pay-per-view option that does not tie a user to a monthly subscription for Mobile TV. Springboard also recommends close cooperation between mobile operators and broadcasters for a profitable business model for mobile TV service in India.

Advantages & Disadvantages

There are advantages and disadvantages to both for mobile operators. While mobile operators can rely on their own network and offer more channels via 3G mobile TV streaming services, the video quality may not be consistent. The 3G mobile TV service is only available to those with 3G handsets and plans, so 3G mobile TV services cannot be offered to the entire subscriber base, unlike a mobile TV broadcast service. The method of monetization for 3G mobile TV is typically subscription fees. Monthly subscription fees range from a few dollars per month to over $15 per month, depending on the number of channels offered and the service pricing for the region. Some operators offer hourly, daily, and weekly options to encourage usage as well.

Micromax, the leading Indian mobile handset manufacturer, announced with MTNL the launch of Micromax H360, the first operator branded 3G mobile TV handset in India. Micromax H360 demonstrates the cooperation of Micromax – India’s leading mobile handset manufacturer, MTNL, the state-owned telecom services provider and the first telecom operator to launch 3G services in India and Qualcomm – a leading developer and innovator of 3G and advanced wireless technologies, products and services.

With Micromax’s quality manufacturing, MTNL’s efficient 3G network services and Qualcomm’s highly regarded technology, the H360 is all set to provide an enriched 3G experience. The H360 will come pre-loaded with unique applications to enable video calls, mobile TV, social networking, wireless business solutions through web browsing and other Internet-based services. These handsets will initially be available in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi. MTNL became the first 3G mobile service operator in the country by introducing its “3G Jadoo” service recently in Delhi and Mumbai.

Digital Broadcast

There is a fragmentation of standards for digital mobile TV broadcasting that appears to be the way of the future. In digital mobile TV broadcasting, several standards are being used, each mainly in one country, and that situation is likely to continue in the future. Examples are MediaFLO in the US, CMMB in China, and T-DMB in South Korea. The most widely deployed standard is DVB-H, in terms of number of countries in which the standard is available. In addition to being promoted by the European Union, DVB-H trials or limited services are operating in the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, and Indonesia. Even though DVB-H has the widest deployment, it is fair to say that up-take has been fairly sluggish. It is important to note the In-Stat predicts that the number of viewers of mobile digital free-to-air services will be greater than the number of subscription-based mobile digital viewers. Unlike 3G mobile TV, handsets capable of receiving mobile digital TV need a special embedded digital tuner chip. This results in a higher per unit cost in the range of $30 to $100 to the consumer as well. In geographies such as the US where the operator subsidises the cost of the handset, the operator has extra pressure to recoup this higher subsidy cost in the form of higher ARPU.

Increasing broadband penetration

Increasing penetration of broadband Internet access by consumers has contributed to an increase in online viewing of video content. The Internet can also provide access to TV and video content consumers already “own,” delivered to their homes by cable or satellite providers and stored in digital format on digital video recorders. “Place shifting” represents a way to access that content from a remote location using the Internet. The content is provided on a best effort basis, lacking the reliability that is expected from TV. Also, much of the valuable live content that drives demand for real time TV such as news, sports, and weather is often not available without a subscription fee as major media conglomerates have purchased those rights.

As the number of handsets with larger screens and data plans has increased, the popularity of consuming over-thetop content has also increased. Essentially, the handset is increasingly becoming another client upon which users can consume Internet video content, making it a competitor of mobile TV services. The monetisation method of this content is usually advertising, making the content “free” to the end user. However, the video is not without cost. Unless the viewing device is using a personal area connection (PAN) like Bluetooth or a local area connection (LAN) such as Wi-Fi, the handset will incur data charge.

Analog Broadcast

Another option for mobile TV broadcasting was brought to market in Asia in 2007 and has since achieved consumer adoption in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia/ CIS, the Middle East and Africa. Telegent Systems, a fables CMOS semiconductor company, has developed a successful single-chip mobile TV receiver that enables mobile handsets to receive analog TV broadcasts. Mobile handsets began shipping with analog TV receivers in mid 2007 and have become quite plentiful. By mid-2009, Telegent shipped more than 40 million ATV chips in a two-year period.

There are many markets where digital broadcasts have not begun and analog shutoff is years away. Analog TV is free and the consumer just has to buy a handset with a receiver. This makes for an attractive proposition, similar to the one that has prompted consumers to snap up digital mobile TV broadcast receivers in Japan and South Korea, where the digital service is free-to-air. Similar to digital mobile TV, analog mobile TV requires a separate tuner chip to enable the functionality.

The cost to add the TV feature is less than US$10 per unit. It should be noted however that even though the analog broadcast solution requires an additional TV tuner, the feature can be implemented in low cost models and is therefore able to reach a consumer segment not addressed by higher end phone models, such as those that support 3G streaming solutions As the various digital mobile TV standards were grabbing all the headlines, analog mobile TV-enabled handsets were quietly shipping. There were not any fights over standards. There were no new broadcast towers going up. And by the end of 2009, there will about 54 million  analog mobile TV enabled handsets in service.