Mobile
TV gets
mass approval
states report |
| A
NEW report, ‘New Mobile Services - Europe 2006’, from
Portio Research (the result of a survey of European mobile phone
users in early 2006), gives a resounding thumbs up for mobile
TV. Among the significant findings of the research were that
over 50% of those interviewed were interested in mobile TV and
were prepared to pay for it. Portio says that it is clear that
mobile TV will create a market for more TV viewing in addition
to that already done at home, delivering the notion of ‘TV
snacking’ whilst on the move. |
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A KEY finding of the Portio survey concerns consumer attitudes
to mobile advertising, with over 65% of those questioned expressing
zero tolerance to what many consider to be an unwelcome intrusion
into their mobile world. As well as being likened to e-mail
spam, advertising was considered unacceptable if it intruded
on paid for time watching mobile TV. |
Demand grows
for long-form
mobile content |
|
THE
market for long-form mobile/portable video content (video
content of greater than 30 minutes) is currently in an experimental
phase, and will remain at this stage for at least two years,
according to a report from In-Stat. However, the research
house expects the industry to gain traction. "The greatest
potential for this market rests with its ability to complement
the existing video industry. For example, there will be over
50 million portable media players in use worldwide by 2008,"
says Michael Inouye, In-Stat analyst. "The portable/mobile
long-form video market will not cannibalise sales from the
DVD and other traditional markets, but rather, supplement
top-line growth."
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MARKET
OPPORTUNITIES |
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| Streamed
to broadcast switchover |
|
The
market opportunity lies in identifying the transition
from poor quality streamed mobile TV services to QVGA
quality broadcast mobile TV, according to Juniper Research.
Concerns
over unicast streaming highlight the inability of streamed
services in dealing with large numbers of users simultaneously,
says Juniper. Although alternatives exist in the form
of Multimedia Broadcast and Multimedia Services (MBMS)
and TDtv, the research firm believes that the trend
towards having dedicated broadcast mobile TV networks
poses a more attractive alternative, allowing the delivery
of larger amounts of mobile TV content at higher quality.
With the impending capacity issues in streaming and
the signs of user demand surfacing in various mobile
TV trials, it is a trend that the research firm confidently
expects to continue.
So much so that in 2006, Juniper estimates that streamed
services will reach $583.4m compared to broadcast, which
even though is regarded as in its infancy, already totals
$94.57m. In the near future, 2008-2009, Juniper expects
that broadcast services will take over as the primary
means of mobile TV services and by 2011 will be $11.7bn
compared with streamed services that will be worth $4.2bn.
Competing technologies
With a number of broadcast mobile TV technologies competing
with each other in gaining access to the largest market
share, Juniper sees competition among multiple technologies
as likely to result in improved quality and services,
while providing competitive prices to consumers. Technologies
involved in the upsurge of broadcast mobile TV popularity
will likely include the European led DVB-H, Qualcomm’s
MediaFLO, the Korean led DMB and BT Movio led DAB-IP
and Japanese ISDB-T. Significantly, Juniper points out
that China is planning a roll-out across three separate
DMB networks during 2006. And with China playing host
to the largest of regional subscriber markets, this
is expected to provide a shot in the arm to the DAB/DMB
camp.
In
terms of trials and launches however, DVB-H is identified
as leading its competitors in terms of numbers, and
has roll-outs (already active or in final stages) in
the second half of 2006 in Finland, Germany, Italy and
the US. In terms of percentage share of subscribers,
DVB-H will continue to grow from 25% to 54%, while DAB/DMB
will fall from a height of dominance at 61% to 25%,
in the period from 2006-2011.
| 2006
transition 'Official' says Juniper |
|
Juniper
Research sees 2006 as marking the official beginning
of the switchover from streamed to broadcast mobile
TV, yet hurdles must be overcome.
Aditya
Kaul, Senior Analyst with Juniper Research, says
that development of the market does have some
challenges. Contrary to popular belief, he does
not expect handset price to be one of them as
he expects that as demand picks up the costs will
become more attractive.
 However
what he does feel is that among the biggest challenges
to market development, spectrum availability will
figure rather highly. He comments: "I think
the single biggest issue and challenge is spectrum
availability, especially for DVB-H, the broadcast
Mobile TV standard. The UK, for example, will
have to wait until 2012 to deploy DVB-H on a widespread
basis, as this is the time when analogue TV will
be shut off and spectrum for DVB-H will become
available.
"It’s
clear that DVB- H has the largest pool of trials
and rollouts around the world and in Europe, thus
it is the most sought after standard in terms
of broadcast Mobile TV. [However,] how soon will
the trials turn to rollouts is dependent on whether
there will be spectrum available.
"The
analogue switch off timeline is an indicator.
The transition from 3G streaming Mobile TV to
Broadcast Mobile TV is crucial for the future
of Mobile TV and with DVB-H in a position to lead
that race, spectrum becomes a key hurdle."
FIFA
World Cup springboard
Among the springboards for market development
that will take place in 2006, Juniper sees the
World Cup as one of the most significant, proving
a well-timed platform for launching mobile TV
broadcast services, with Italy and Germany launching
their networks to cater for increased demand.
Kaul adds that one boost for the market this year
has been the World Cup, which acted as a showcase
for Mobile TV technology and services, both streaming
and broadcast.
He
says: "It was an opportunity for fans to
watch their matches on an alternative medium.
Operators like 3 UK have seen 3.6 million streams
during the World Cup; 3 Italia signed up 111,000
clients in the first six weeks, largely attributed
to the World Cup."
However,
despite these undoubtedly impressive figures,
Kaul warns that there have been issues reported
on the quality of the pictures, especially for
3G streaming services, which may have detracted
from the expectations of customers and promises
of the providers.
He
explains: "This is not surprising to me when
60,000 people try and stream the same content
daily, as was the case for 3 UK. It's very similar
to what some people experienced on the BBC website
that was also streaming live games. The pictures
were sometimes jerky and low quality when demand
was the highest.
"To
sum it up, the World Cup on mobile TV might not
have actually lived up to the hype that was created
before, but it has definitely created awareness
of the technology, and most importantly has proved
that for certain content, especially live telecasts
of sports events, broadcast mobile TV is a better
alternative."
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