What Impact Will The 3G iPhone Have On The Mobile TV Industry?
As you probably know by now, Steve Jobs unveiled the 3G iPhone at the Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco yesterday. The new phone has some pretty awesome specs, and with its built-in GPS should spawn some hot location-based applications. But what affect will the new phone have on the mobile TV industry?
According to Analysys Mason, the new iPhone "could become the mobile video delivery device of choice for many consumers, by providing a compelling mobile TV and video proposition before mobile broadcasting networks, such as DVB-H become widely available". And although 3G video streaming has some drawbacks, it has enough going for it to push the mobile TV market forward with the help of the video-friendly 2nd-generation iPhone.
Not only does the iPhone has a large, high-quality display, but it has a suitable amount of internal memory and a bunch of energy saving features that drastically reduce the battery drain typical of mobile TV playback. Apple is also plowing content optimized for the iPhone into its iTunes platform like crazy-as of May, iTunes had a catalog of over 600 TV programs and 1500 full-length movies. Plus the iPhone supports a bunch of different methods of video content delivery including sideloading, indoor WLAN and of course high-speed 3G data access over cellular networks worldwide. One of the drawbacks of 3G video streaming is that it can only support a minimal amount of mobile TV users, but with sideloading and WLAN support, the strain put on 3G networks is greatly reduced.
With the first generation iPhone, Apple put a strangehold on its worldwide availability, but the new 3G iPhone will be available in 22 countries July 11, another 24 countries by the end of the summer and eventually available in 70 countries. Says Dr. Alastair Brydon of Analysys Mason, "If the iPhone is able to achieve significant worldwide market share, it will be well-positioned to have a significant impact on the way mobile subscribers purchase and watch mobile TV and video content".
Mobile TV: Femtocells, Sideloading Could Threaten 3G And Dedicated Broadcasting Networks
A recent study by Analysys Mason concludes that unless 3G networks and dedicating mobile broadcasting networks embrace femtocell and sideloading delivery methods, the initial two mobile TV technologies could be in jeopardy. 3G networks deliver mobile broadcasts and video-on-demand over individual 3G connections, but is only really cost efficient when the number of users is relatively small. Broadcasting networks such as MediaFLO and DVB-H don't have the capacity problems of 3G networks but as of yet no standard broadcast format has gone global nor has a common bandwidth spectrum been allocated. Plus broadcast networks completely control what mobile TV viewers are able to watch. While developers continue to work on these two technologies, the study pointed out that trials of the DVB-H broadcast standard have revealed that 36%-50% of mobile TV viewers actually watch at home even though their traditional TV is sitting right there. Indoor networks utilizing femtocells or WLAN networks could be a more effective method of streaming mobile video indoors taking the stress off of 3G networks and potentially streaming higher-quality video. Another effective indoor method is known as sideloading which is simply uploading video content that is possibly pre-recorded and not-time-critical onto your mobile phone for viewing at a later time. An example would be downloading a TV show from iTunes and then uploading it onto your iPhone. iTunes video is encoded at 1Mbit/sec whereas 3G video is encoded at 128Kbit/sec resulted in a huge improvement in video quality from sideloading the iTunes content.
Here are some interesting tidbits from the report:
Key findings of the new report include:
Trials of DVB-H services have shown significant indoor usage of mobile TV services, with 36-50% of participants using these services mainly at home. Indoor systems such as femtocells could successfully carry this traffic, potentially with higher quality than is achievable with outdoor 3G and broadcasting networks.
Sideloading can be a highly effective way of delivering content that is not time critical, such as pre-recorded TV programmes (for example soap operas, dramas, situation comedies and documentaries) and movies. Compared to other mobile TV distribution methods, sideloading can provide guaranteed reliability in any location, with very high quality. For example, video content available on iTunes for Apple iPods and iPhones is encoded at a data rate of over 1Mbit/s, compared with 128kbit/s for some 3G services.
MNOs that are unable to deploy broadcasting networks could potentially deliver a compelling proposition without filling up the capacity of their 3G networks. If 75% of mobile TV content was delivered using sideloading and 60% of streamed content was consumed indoors, then 3G networks would need to carry just 10% of total mobile TV traffic.
According to Broadcom Corporation you could be watching high-definition television on your mobile phone as early as 2009. Broadcom, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments all have HD processor ready to go that can encode and decode 1280x720 pixel content at 30 frames per second. Renesas Technology Corporation in Japan is going all out, currently developing a processor that'll support full HD 1920x1080 content on your cell phone. Several problems remain to be solved though. Processing HDTV for a cell phone takes up a huge amount of power sucking the life right out of the phone's battery, plus HD picture quality is likely not even noticeable on a screen size typical of a mobile phone. Manufacturers say the way around this is to allow connectivity between mobile phones and HDTV's, leaving the processing up to the TV set and providing a screen size more suitable for HD content. That means the mobile phone is relegated to nothing more than a streaming device. The challenge here is that the current HDMI 1.3 standard will have to be about half the size to properly connect a mobile phone to an HDTV. Look for a solution to this problem next year, but as cool as mobile phone HDTV sounds we doubt it'll catch on anytime soon.
AT&T successfully launched its mobile TV service using Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology at the beginning of May and it looks like with one launch under its belt, MediaFlo is now headed for the UK. Qualcomm just acquired a chunk of the UK's L-Band spectrum, a part that can be for, among other things, mobile TV. Although the company has declined to say exactly what it will do with spectrum, they did test out MediaFlo with service provider BSkyB last year touting it a success. And now the president of Qualcomm Europe, Andrew Gilbert also bears the title of president of Qualcomm Internet Services, MediaFLO Technologies. I'd say that would be a pretty clear indication of the companies intentions. The only barrier in Qualcomm's way is the European Union's recent adoption of the Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) standard which they hope will eventually be a cross-continent mobile TV broadcasting standard. However, not everyone looks eager to jump on the DVB-H standard, leaving the door open for MediaFlo to make its move.
LG, Samsung Team Up To Create Yet Another North American Mobile TV Standard
LG and Samsung are teaming up to develop a mobile TV technology they hope will become the North American standard. The two have signed a contract and developed a proposal they will submit to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the digital television standards board for the United States and Canada. The proposed mobile TV standard will combine LG's Mobile Pedestrian Handheld (MPH) technology with Samsung's A-VSB, or advanced-vestigial sideband, creating a broadcasting standard that will benefit both broadcaster's and consumer's alike. The standard should be fully developed and ready for testing this summer.
Out and about and worried about missing the NBA semifinals? No worries, because MobiTV's mobile television platform will have all the games live on its ESPN channel. Starting tonight at 7PM EST Cleveland's playing Boston followed by San Antonio and New Orleans at 9:30. Friday, May 9, also known as tomorrow, LA plays Utah at 9PM EST and on Saturday at 5PM, you can check out Detroit gearing up to battle Orlando. And if you're not a basketball fan, MobiTV says that's okay, because all month long ESPN Mobile TV will have plenty of sports action from MLS soccer to boxing to arena football.
Broadcast TV Will Only Be Useful For Big Events In 15 Years: NBC's Ben Silverman
If you happen to be a broadcast TV fanatic, none to happy about the growing web and mobile TV sectors, you need to read this. Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC, predicts that within the next 15 years broadcast TV will be event-driven. The prediction, made during Silverman's keynote at the Upfront Summit, means that broadcast TV would be useful for nothing more than live events such as the Super Bowl and reality shows such as American Idol. Although traditional episodic shows will debut on broadcast TV, they'll have to extend to multiple platforms to survive. NBC plans to experiment this fall, attempting to drive TV viewers of its new series, Kath and Kim, online after each episode with extra scenes and storyline continuations completely unique to the web. Looks like it might be time for you to either look for an HD computer monitor or start tweaking your HTPC setup.
AT&T's MediaFlo Mobile TV service we told you about in March is ready to roll. Accessible on the Samsung Access and LG Vu handsets which are set to go on sale May 4, AT&T customers will pay about $15/month for unlimited mobile TV access. The service will have at least two exclusive channels including the Sony PIX movie network as well as 10 major broadcast networks including Fox, plus live CNN content. The LG Vu will cost you $300 after a $100 rebate and 2 year plan and the Samsung Access will put a $200 dent in your wallet, once again after a $100 rebate and 2 year contract. Check out the service in action in the video above.
Free-To-Air Mobile TV Hot In China, Key Driver Of Cell Phone Sales
While mobile TV struggles to catch on in the western world, across the pond in China, the mobile landscape is just plain hot. A survey by mobile TV chip provider Telegent Systems, conducted in China where there are more than 3 million regular mobile TV users, revealed that 85% of cell phone buyers bought the phone mainly for the mobile TV feature. Amazingly 74% watch mobile TV for 30 minutes or more at a time, showing an increased interest in longer form programming, and 54% watch at least 5 times per week. Admittedly this survey may be a little on the biased side being conducted by a mobile TV solution provider and all, but even if we cut those numbers in half, they're still impressive compared to the stickiness of mobile TV in North America. A total of 400 cell phone buyers were surveyed at the point of purchase between July and September 2007 and February 2008.
Other interesting revelations from the survey include:
90% found the free-to-air TV feature interesting or useful, even 4-6 months after purchase
60% recommended mobile TV to their friends and family
about 50% of users watch mobile TV when traveling, 43% watch at home, and 17% at the office
the most popular time to watch mobile TV is between 7-8PM, followed by morning commute time of 8-9AM
88% of those surveyed find mobile TV picture quality "acceptable"
Dish Network And Alcatel-Lucent Teaming Up To Test New Mobile TV Standard In The US
Back in March, the European Commission formally defined and added the Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) mobile TV standard to their official list of telecommunication standards. Now Dish Network and Alcatel-Lucent are teaming up to test the next-generation DVB-SH satellite standard in the US, taking place at Dish Network's lab in Atlanta between May and August, to test the cost-efficiency and performance of the new mobile standard.
The most powerful mobile broadcast standard in the world today, DVB-SH is built on the DVB-H mobile TV standard, but has evolved globally seemingly leaving North America behind. Dish Network feels that the testing is the first step in the company staying on the cutting edge of consumer TV technology, and Alcatel-Lucent have pledged a commitment to the success of the DVB-SH standard in the US.
Verizon Wireless Packs TMZ And Others Onto Its V CAST Video Mobile TV Service
Verizon Wireless just keeps on announcing new channels for its V CAST Video service. Now TMZ TV, an entertainment news and gossip channel, based on the popular TMZ.com will be available to Verizon Wireless customers. All commercial-free highlight clips from the TMZ television show will be available on TMZ's mobile station 24 hours after broadcast, enabling busy Hollywood gossip mongers to keep up to date with the dirt on their favorite stars.
The cellular provider will also be adding Bollywood Music by Saavn, bringing Bollywood music videos to the American mainstream, local TV news highlights via a partnership with News Over Wireless, CondeNet featuring video clips from popular sites such as Wired.com, Spanish language channel Univision Movil, and Election '08 featuring presidential campaign coverage,
Verizon Wireless Gets Two New MTV Networks Channels, And Funny Or Die, For Mobile TV Fans
Verizon Wireless will be getting another two MTV Networks channel tacked on to their V CAST Video mobile TV service-GameTrailers and The N. GameTrailers, a mobile channel for gamers will feature game trailers and reviews, and even an original series called Go Gaming which focuses solely on mobile video games. The N will features clips from popular teen shows such as Degrassi.
The two new mobile channel additions add to a growing collection of MTVN channels available on Verizon Wireless phones. MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, Logo, Spike, MTV Tr3s, and Atom Films are already featured on V CAST Video and just a couple of days ago on March 29, Verizon announced V CAST Mobile TV which features full-length, broadcast-quality streams of popular shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, as well as MTV Tr3s.
Will Farrell's popular online video site, Funny Or Die, will also get its own dedicated V CAST Video channel featuring regularly updated clips from some of the funniest stuff found at Funny Or Die's website.
Fox Launching Fox Mobile Entertainment Network Bringing An Awesome List Of TV Shows To Your Mobile Phone
If you're a big fan of Fox shows like 24, Nip/Tuck, and Family Guy, and a busy person on the go constantly, you'll be happy to know that Fox Mobile Entertainment announced yesterday the launch of the Fox Entertainment Mobile Network.
Bringing a whackload of content from stations such as Fox, Speed, FX, Fox Reality and the National Geographical Channel as well as over 30 mobile sites dedicated to hot programs, the Fox Entertainment Mobile Network can be accessed on your mobile phone's browser at FoxMobile.com bringing mobile TV's most popular content to one destination.
All wireless subscribers will have access to the service, which will also be available via MEdia Net on AT&T and Sprint's Wireless Web.
Hulu for mobile could be coming to your cell phone in the near future, according NBC Universal's Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff. The online video industry was "at a similar log-jam a year and a half ago" said Kliavkoff at CTIA tonight, leading to NBC's launch of Hulu. "I don't know why we couldn't do something similar for mobile", he said.
When questioned directly if Hulu Mobile was coming, Kliavkoff replied that mobile TV is definitely of interest to NBC, but Hulu Mobile is "total speculation". Take note that there is no flat-out denial there.
Other interesting revelations from NBCU's CDO include live programming and highlights from this summer's Beijing Olympics broadcast onto mobile networks via MediaFLO and a partnership with Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion that'll see a number of NBC network TV sites coming to the cellular networks' supported phones.
What Impact Will The 3G iPhone Have On The Mobile TV Industry?
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