Tag: mobile TV

DVB-H set to be future of mobile TV: report

MUMBAI: The concept of providing television services on a mobile device is generating much enthusiasm among the wireless industry, in turn driving the growth and development of digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) technology. Overwhelming support from the wireless industry is likely to be one of the major drivers for the growth of the technology, as will be the increasing demand for content on the move. In short, DVB-H could well become a global standard similar to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), creating an altogether new market for television viewership.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, DVB-H Technology-Market and Potential Analysis, reveals that revenues in this market totaled $60 million in 2006 and is likely to reach $2.04 billion in 2010.

“Many participants in the wireless industry support the DVB-H technology as it is an open industry standard, and this non-proprietary feature of the standards is likely to vastly assist its growth in the wireless market,” notes Frost & Sullivan research analyst Nagarajan Sampathkumar. “Furthermore, DVB-H delivers an improved end-user experience over current video streaming services that utilize cellular networks, while also providing, broadcasters, cellular operators, handset manufacturers and silicon providers with tremendous growth opportunities.”

This apart, the quality of service (QoS) is likely to be better due to the use of a dedicated broadcast network. Additionally, though DVB-H claims speeds of 25 frames per second (fps), trials show practical speeds of 15-16 fps, which seem to be sufficient for existing screen sizes and resolutions. However, in future, these speeds are likely to increase to 20-25 fps for fixed digital TV in Europe.

Despite the promise, one of the biggest challenges to adoption of DVB-H by mobile operators is the issue of business and revenue models. With DVB-H, mobile operators are likely to prefer to continue operating in their area of domain expertise service provisioning, billing, and customer care and therefore, broadcasters would have ownership of the content and the overall visual experience.

“Hence, mobile operators would need to differentiate their offerings and provide value to ensure customer loyalty and remain profitable,” says Sampathkumar. “This also means that mobile operators are likely to serve only as a link to customers and would not be in a position to negotiate for better revenue splits with others in the value chain.”

Service providers would be required to work very closely with content creators, aggregators, and broadcasters, and ensure secure content and support digital rights management in an effort to protect copyrighted content. While revenue issues could be addressed through subscription models, event-based, pay per view, and even interactive services, the most important challenge is likely to be the optimizing of battery life of the handsets, the study concludes.

February 7, 2007
Broadcasters feel need for diversifying TV content, want level-playing field for growth

NEW DELHI: Mobile TV is going to be popular but there is a need to address compatibility issues by using a single chip on the hand held device. That is what was stressed in the `International Conference on Multifaceted Broadcasting – Present and Future’ held as part of the BES Expo 2007 – the 13th Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting.

Speaking on the last day, speakers – including LD Mandloi of Doordarshan, Brajeshwar Singh of All India Radio, Ashok Ogra of Discovery channel, and retired Prasar Bharati official MP Lele – admitted that there was need to diversify content on TV and mobile TV but said viewership appeared to be driven by some accepted formats.

However, this made niche channels like Discovery and National Geographic very important. They also agreed that the content on news channels was driven only by sensationalism.

Referring to some government actions like banning of the AXN channel while letting Fashion TV to continue its telecasts, they felt there was need for a level-playing field for growth of the media.

The three-day event – inaugurated on 1 February by information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi at Pragati Maidan, was organized by Broadcast Engineering Society (India). It was approved by the Union government and endorsed by International Association of Broadcasting Equipment Manufacturers (IABM), and supported by Prasar Bharati (AIR and Doordarshan), Unesco, Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), DIT and IGNOU.

Speakers said IP-based delivery systems – DVB-IP and IPTV for television and DAB-IP for radio – were going to be very popular. Mobile TV on the Hand held devices is already here.

Keeping in view the large rate of growth of mobile cells in the country, Mobile TV was going to be very popular. Some speakers stressed the need to bring provisions of Emergency Warning Broadcast Systems (EWBS).

It was accepted that there was a marked shift in the consumer behaviour pattern, with people wanting ‘any time anywhere interactive access’ which can be achieved only by the convergence of broadcasting, wireless and mobile technology. The consumer will decide the primetime and the platform.

Some of the speakers stressed the need to permit private players to set up Community Radio stations instead of keeping this low-cost technology confined to some niche institutions.
Digital Radio and High Definition TV (HDTV), which provide much better quality, were going to be introduced in the country in the very near future.

Around 40 speakers from India and abroad explained the latest technological development in areas like Mobile TV- Anytime Anywhere, Digital Radio – emerging scenario, Role of broadcasting in Warning and Disaster Management, Digital media life cycle, Content creation – cutting edge technology, interactive broadcasting, broadcasting in India: Challenges ahead, and assuring audio and video quality.

Sixty-five exhibitors from India and abroad displayed the latest broadcast equipment systems and services in the field of radio, television, satellite, internet and interactive broadcasting.

February 5, 2007
Broadcasting Bill to be fair and open: Dasmunsi

NEW DELHI: “Investors in the broadcast sector must realise that the government’s policy is open, and when the (broadcasting) bill is ready, the world will see and realise this,” said information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi at the inauguration of the three-day Broadcast Engineering Society Expo 2007 today.

Dasmunsi said, “There is a huge potential for development of broadcasting in India and we have a lot of advanced technologies available with us. What we need to have is proper selection of technologies suiting our requirements.”
I&B secretary SK Arora, in his remarks said that in devising a regulatory framework, the interest of the consumer is foremost in government’s mind. The business models have to suit the large number of our consumers. Policy framework and the business models have to be in sync to cater to the consumer interest, he added.

Sharing with his audience the excitement of living in this amazing age of broadcasting revolution, he stressed nevertheless that the government would ensure a level playing field for all, and more than that, not allow most of the consumers to be deprived of the benefits of technology. Prices need to be controlled to keep them affordable.

“We must allow full play of technology, business and management to take shape successfully,” he said, adding, “the regulatory regime is crucial for the success of innovative ideas and products.”

He had a critique of the government sector too, which, he said, lacked management skills. “The public sector must realise the commercial aspects, and be acutely conscious of working out systems to facilitate innovations and business models to become successful,” Arora held.

He stressed that the core philosophy of the government was simple: the consumer. “Everyone must keep this in mind,” he added for good measure.

Prasar Bharati’s experience in introducing newer technologies (TV, FM radio, DTH, now digitalisation and mobile TV) has helped develop the regulatory environment.

“We have depended on the technological expertise of Prasar Bharati while designing the regulatory regime,” he explained.

He felt that though the regulatory framework must have adequate provision for segmentation and exploitation of the market by investors, the business models they develop must be appropriate and new technology is carried to the people at affordable prices.

The inauguration ceremony also saw BES president AS Guin, David Astley, secretary general of AsiaPacific Broadcasting Union, and Roger Crumpton, CEO of International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers address the more than 300 persons attending the function.

‘BROADCASTING MULTI-FACETED, MULTI-DIMENSIONAL’

In his keynote address, Crumpton said that broadcasting is not only a multifaceted affair, as the title for this year’s Expo suggested, but a multidimensional one, in which the engineering challenges were just huge.

Especially in India, he added, explaining that whereas only 19 per cent of the people in the US and 20 per cent in the UK were under 15, the figure is 35 per cent for India, and with this population the multiplicity of platforms is not important: content is everything.

“It does not matter on what platform they are accessing it, but they want it where and when they choose and what they choose. This is the young demographics we are dealing with, which is cash-positive and time-negative,” Crumpton said.

What was important in his speech was that he made presentations of when the first TV sets came and then the first colour TV sets came and it all seemed to people like him, and these are the people who are having to design technologies and content, so this aging generation of experts need to be in synch with the young demographics facing them.

The challenge is that for this generation, there must be a clear agenda for creation and delivery of content, which will be constantly repurposed in real time, a situation where broadcasting will face this problem. Because there is a paradigm shift from tapes-based programming to file-based one, he explained.

“There has to be a radical shift,” Crumpton argued, “for training, qualifying and accreditation systems.”

And he saw a huge opportunity for India. He says this paradigm shift, combined with an ageing skilled workforce in the West has already started creating problems of skill shortages in the globally $11 billion broadcasting market, which is also facing revenue streaming threats from telecom and IPTV.

February 1, 2007
US ready for pay mobile TV: study

MUMBAI: American consumers are willing to pay enough for watching TV on mobile phones to justify what it would cost carriers to build a new broadcast network to guarantee quality service, according to just-released study.

The study by the Mobile Digital TV Alliance discusses the economic viability and consumer adoption of mobile TV and concludes that a successful proposition for mobile TV in the United States is high-quality video and service and flat rates of about $20 a month for unlimited viewing.

To meet those standards, the alliance suggests building a separate broadcast network, which would cost a carrier between $500 million and $2 billion.

“The Economics of Mobile TV,” authored by Yoram Solomon, discusses how open standards promote mature competition furthermore improving the economics of mobile broadcast TV, how mobile TV adds a new dimension of value to existing products; as well as why – contrary to popular belief – consumers will pay to use this added service.

January 27, 2007
Security concern over social networking, user-generated content: Deloitte

MUMBAI: Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) industry group has predicted that this year expanding social networks will create a greater need for security and copyright protection technologies

Meanwhile, user-generated content (UGC) from blogs, amateur filmmakers and others will both complement and threaten traditional media outlets.

With global internet traffic reaching capacity, investment in laying new cable or lighting existing fiber may be needed — but may be stifled by continuing declines in wholesale capacity prices.

Predictions 2007 is a series of three reports examining emerging developments and how they will shape the TMT market. They were written by the Deloitte TMT industry group with input from industry analysts and executives. Each report includes recommendations on how to best take advantage of these trends.

Key trends identified in the reports include:

— Social Networking Evolves — Social networks will continue to expand, creating a need for identification improvements, the ability to remove copyrighted material quickly, and making downloads as instantaneous as possible.

— Digital Storage Expansion Driven by Laws — Digital storage needs will be impacted by companies’ legal obligations to keep years and petabytes worth of data, with costs passed onto the user.

— Internet Capacity Woes — With the Internet reaching capacity, investment in laying new cable or lighting existing fiber may be needed

— but may be stifled by continuing declines in wholesale capacity prices. Solutions will be found when Web surfers rebel after quality of service declines.

— The Next Killer Application — Mobile TV may be the next killer application, taking video content off the phone and onto a device with a better screen.

— Reinvention of TV — IPTV is poised to launch as a reinvention of television, rather than a pale imitation of current services. Operators could position the service as an affordable way for all content providers to deliver niche media to a growing mass audience, without the commission costs of broadcast-network middlemen.

— The Consumer as the Media Mogul — UGC is increasing. Blogs, amateur filmmakers and others are creating content that complements — or perhaps threatens — traditional media outlets. Smart media companies will serve up user-generated content as a powerful promotional vehicle and use it as an
effective medium for scouting talent.

— It’s a New Media World After All — New media metrics are taking over, with old media metrics becoming a thing of the past. Development of comparable statistics will emerge, enabling companies, their customers and their investors to more accurately gauge performance.

— DVD versus Vod: No Clear Winner in Sight — Simultaneous availability of movies on DVD and Vod will make them closer competitors.

January 22, 2007
‘A revolutionary year that was also one of the government’s total failure to control the broadcasters’

One healthy thing is that the industry is moving… maybe slowly in some areas, but it is definitely moving, which was not there earlier. The manufacturers lobby which had become stagnant are looking forward again. Fibre optical networks are spreading.

New technology is coming, and words we had never used two years ago, like IPTV & Mobile TV, are now common usage. DTH has been launched already and this will give competition to the cable sector and they will be bound to improve their services. HITS is on the way and if it is operated on C band then it will be good for the cable industry, but if it is put on Ku band, that will kill the cable industry. That will be a disaster.

If it is on C band, digitalisation will become faster, but if it is on Ku band, all the DTH players would start giving out their signals, because they are already on Ku band. And the consumer will also suffer because one after another DTH players will come and ask for money for their channel bouquets if the subscribers want them, so this will hurt the latter’s interests.

But I must say that Trai has given importance to the last mile operator, and this has been a major positive this year, they have realised the worth of the LMO and understood that it is the last mile people who have created the industry. They know now that the LMO is the one who gives the connection and actually works in the field.

Thus, to get 25 per cent to carry pay channels on the network was worthwhile. That was not there at all and that is a great achievement. You can say this is only in the CAS area, but a beginning has been made, that these people ought to get this much, which is a model now. So now we can take this forward and at least demand what we deserve. When voluntary CAS is extended to the 55 cities, we shall at least get some margin for letting them use our networks, based on this model.

Again, Trai for the first time has worked out the pay channel rates. Rs 5 for CAS areas and even for the non-Cas areas they have set an upper cap and declared the prices. Yes, of course the broadcasters will protest because they do not want to be controlled. The problem for the cable operator is that he never, before this, knew what he was going to charge the customer, who also never knew what he was being charged for and at what rate.

But the best came from the High Court, the order that CAS had to be rolled out. The courts, whether TDSAT or High Court or Supreme Court has been acting only in public interest, and two of the major decisions related to fixing the price of a sports channel, when Neo wanted to charge an astronomical price but was not allowed, and when the court upheld the government Act on sharing sports events of national importance with Doordarshan.

But beyond the rosy developments, the two worst things that happened this year were failure to extend CAS, and the failure to control the broadcasters. And in fact non-extension of CAS is mainly due to resistance from broadcasters lobby. They have earned too much of money in a non-addressable system and wants the market to stay that way.

I feel sad also that the government this year did not heed to our demand, the only demand, that we be given funds for going digital, which would have really helped, but that was turned down. It is small money and the government should have facilitated the LMOs by telling banks to make it easy for them to get small loans to facilitate digitalisation.

For the government this was a year of failures on several fronts, I am a member on three government committees, and all three here failed to deliver because of lack of will of the government and the most dangerous development is vertical integration, creating absolute monopolies, and the governments failure to implement cross-media restrictions.

As far as CAS is concerned, extension, even under voluntary effort will be good for the industry. But even if an LMO, say in a place like Kota in Rajasthan ushers in voluntary CAS, the broadcasters will not give him the decoders under one pretext or the other, saying that his SMS or some other system is not accurate and he is still under-declaring his subscriber base. The government has thus squarely failed to reign in the broadcasters on all fronts.

In passing, I must say one thing: the image of the LMOs so far had been that we are rowdy, uncontrollable. But in a series of meetings the government has seen who is rowdy, the journalist broadcasters or cablewallahs and officials are now saying, at least the LMOs have some dignity! That is why the goodwill for us has increased in the government quarters.

January 4, 2007
Chyron, Madison Road Entertainment to develop ad solutions for mobile TV

MUMBAI: US firm Chyron which provides graphics software for the world’s television broadcasters and an emerging player in the field of mobile TV graphics has partnered with Madison Road Entertainment which works in the field of branded entertainment.

Together, the companies will launch a new advertiser-supported mobile TV software suite and web-based out of home (OoH) network services platform in 2007.

Under the partnership, the companies have agreed to develop and market a series of software application tools that will connect advertisers more efficiently with viewers through various devices and networking protocols including cell phones, OoH networks and the Internet.

The partnership was formed to address the accelerating demand for multiple media content delivery systems, as the large, traditional audiences, which mainstream advertisers covet, spend more of their time out of home and connected to new forms of content delivery – much of it portable.

Chyron president and CEO, Michael Wellesley-Wesley says, “Chyron has been developing its capabilities in this area for several years now.

“Recognising that the future requirements of advertisers will include a truly immersive experience that extends beyond TV – to include cell phones, OoH networks and the Internet – we identified Madison Road, its advertising, branding, entertainment programming expertise and connections as the perfect partner and choice to integrate Chyron into these new areas of content creation.

“Madison Road’s experience with social networking trends and viral marketing models, as well as their positioning at the crossroads of advertising and mainstream entertainment, fits well with Chyron’s competence in developing software-based solutions for content creation and content management in the digital video space.”

In 2005, Chyron launched its ChyTV business unit to develop technology solutions for middle-service providers, addressing the newly-emerging retail digital signage and OoH networks space. Based on its initial development of proprietary content creation and scheduling software, as well as low-cost playout devices, ChyTV is now poised to offer a turnkey, web-based services solution to these high-growth, emerging markets.

December 18, 2006
70 per cent subscribers use Mobile TV weekly: GFK study

MUMBAI: A study by Growth From Knowledge (GfK) Technology has found that 70 per cent of active subscribers are tuning in to mobile TV services at least once a week.

The majority of these subscribers watch mobile TV for less than half an hour at any one time, with 38 per cent claiming their typical viewing session is more than 20 minutes.

More than half of the respondents said they signed up to mobile TV in order to have something to do during downtime. According to the study, 18 per cent said the main reason for acquiring mobile TV was to watch a programme when away from my main TV and 10 per cent said it was so they could catch a particular programme.

GfK Technology director Colin Strong said, “The findings were encouraging and demonstrated a growing market for mobile TV services. As a time-filler the proposition of mobile TV is a good one but it is a vulnerable position to have as there are plenty of other activities that can become time fillers. Tapping into the drivers for TV has much more potential for growing the market.”

The study has found that news, weather, sports and music videos were the most popular forms of mobile TV attracting 65 per cent, 56 per cent and 46 per cent of users respectively.

“This is partly due to the viewer demographic which is somewhat younger and more male than the overall population, but also due to the nature of the medium which will be more appropriate for particular types of content,” added Strong.

Technology consultancy Strategy Analytics predicts mobile firms will have about 50 million users of mobile TV by 2009, which it estimates will generate £3.5 billion in revenue.

December 9, 2006
DD to start mobile TV trials in tie-up with Nokia

MUMBAI: Nokia has announced its latest digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) broadcast mobile TV pilot with national television broadcaster Doordarshan, using Nokia’s open standards based DVB-H solution.

The Nokia Mobile Broadcast Solution will be delivered to Doordarshan via SHAF Broadcast in early 2007.

During this pilot, Doordarshan will test the reception quality of the broadcast coverage, and explore the options of supporting different service schemes, such as advertising and interactive services. The pilot will also enable Doordarshan to gauge consumer expectations of the service going forward, informs an official release.

The pilot will use DVB-H technology, a broadcast technology now used to support several field pilots globally, chosen based on its merit to support mobility, small screens, indoor coverage, optimised use of battery and in-built antenna that are specific to handheld devices such as mobile devices.

Doordarshan director-general LD Mandloi said, “Doordashan has taken a lead in adopting DVB-H standards and this was a logical extension of our DVB-T services. DVB-H over IP based on open standards will provide a discerning mobile broadcast experience to Indian consumer and we are confident of its success in our country which has historically been on the leading edge of broadcast technology and content creation.”

“India becomes one of the leading countries in Asia to deploy live broadcast mobile TV bringing Indian consumers a step closer to watching their favourite programmes on their mobile devices,” said Nokia Asia Pacific director multimedia Jawahar Kanjilal. “We are excited to collaborate with Doordarshan to enable their mobile TV services. This is a great opportunity for the vibrant content industry in India to take advantage of bringing television into the pockets of the Indian consumers.”

November 30, 2006
Alcatel demonstrates Europe’s first live mobile TV in S-band

MUMBAI: A few days ago Paris based communications service provider Alcatel successfully demonstrated Europe’s first broadcast of live TV channels on mobile handsets in S-band. It is using the new DVB-SH standard (Satellite services for Handhelds), which is currently being drafted by the DVB Project. To perform this demonstration, Alcatel was assisted by UK broadcasters Sky, ITV and BBC.

Representatives from European mobile operators, TV broadcasters, industry analyst firms and regulatory bodies attending this demonstration were able to enjoy high quality images displayed on SAGEM myMobileTV handsets. These terminals are using the S-band telecom frequency between 2.17GHz and 2.20GHz, which is adjacent to the 3G/UMTS band. 30MHz of spectrum is currently available all across Europe and in other major regions in the world.

DVB-SH is a new technology targetting the S-band. DVB-SH is a related standard to DVB-H. With DVB-SH technology, Mobile TV signals can be broadcast from satellites as well as from terrestrial transmitters directly to handhelds. DVB-SH handhelds can be designed in such a way that they become compatible with DVB-H so that both standards can be received in one end-user terminal.

In addition, Alcatel demonstrated two possible key technical features using the DVB-SH standard. Reception Antenna Diversity, a feature using two antennas inside the same mobile device, enables improvements in the signal quality under difficult conditions. Furthermore, improved Time Interleaving overcomes fading impairment in mobility conditions. The significant quality enhancement was demonstrated by implementing these DVB-SH features.

Professor Ulrich Reimers, Chairman of the Technical Module of DVB Project said, “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to witness a live Mobile TV demonstration in the S-band even before the new Mobile TV standard has been finally designed. Within the DVB -Project, we have decided to give that standard a new name – DVB-SH – digital video broadcast from satellite for handhelds. DVB-SH is a perfect complement to other standards, such as DVB-H, which is typically using UHF frequencies but is capable of using the L-band. Thus DVB-SH may have a significant impact on the global Mobile TV industry.”

Alcatel’s mobile broadcast activities president Olivier Coste said, “Quality of service is essential for operators to attract and retain Mobile TV users. Today, we demonstrated that high quality live Mobile TV using the S-band works. This can be up and running commercially very soon. With the additional benefits of universal indoor and countrywide coverage, the fundamentals of our solution are already solid enough to enable operators to profit from sustainable mobile TV market growth thanks to the S-band.”

November 29, 2006