Have you ever gone through the trouble of rushing back home to catch your favorite television show? I have. How you wish that you could bring your television around with you, a feat impossible awhile ago, is now reality.
Mobile TV is a television service delivered to subscribers via mobile telecommunications networks to mobile devices like your mobile phone (Wikipedia.org).
The first glimpse of mobile TV was announced in Korea by electronics giants Samsung in 2003 when they announced their TV phone (Hesseldahl, 2003).
But what would the content on mobile TV be like? According to MobiTV COO Paul Scanlan, it would be a combination of both premium content from studios and television service providers, and user generated contents, just like it is today (Forbes.com).
Mobile TV has sparked a new trend for entertainment and also as a source for revenue for telecommunication and electronic companies. According to Annikki Schaeferdiek (2008), vice-president of marketing and strategy for Ericsson's multimedia division, Mobile TV will be the biggest revenue stream by 2011 (Sinclair, 2008).
The ideal time limit for mobile content would be 15 to 30 mins because most people would be using it while commuting or during down-time, but some may also watch it at home. A difference between mobile tv and old television is the context the user is in. Schaeferdiek says that mobile TV would be a more personalized experience (Sinclair, 2008).
IMS research forecasted that by the end of 2011, about half a billion people would be watching television on their mobile phones worldwide. Juniper research said that revenues would grow tenfold to exceed US$6.6 billion per year by 2012 (Forbes.com).
Mobile TV provider MobiTV now has over 4 million subscribers and this growth looks steady (Frommer, 2008).
Now, there are multiple formats of Mobile TV to choose from (Wikipedia.org):
- GPRS
- 3G
- DVB-H/SH
- S-DMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcast) - South Korea, Japan
- CMMB (China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting) - China
- MediaFLO - launched in US, trialed in UK and Germany
- ISDB-T (Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting) - Japan and Brazil
- 1seg (One Segment) - Mobile TV system on ISDB-T
- T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcast) - South Korea, Germany
- DAB-IP (Digital Audio Broadcast) - UK
The European Union chose DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds) over other versions of the technology as a single standard because it is the most widely used mobile-TV format in Europe and is supported by many handset makers (Australian IT).
Mobile TV is on the rise, humans are developing and we would be sure to watch out for more news on mobile TV in the near future. New content are already in development for mobile TV such as mobisodes.
Other readings:Videos:
TV Past Meets TV Future At Mobile TV Party - Daily Motion
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EU chooses mobile TV standard, Australian IT, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,23348291-15306,00.html>.
Forbes.com 2008, Mobile TV Shake-Out, Forbes.com, video link, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/tech/km_mobitv050908>.
Frommer, D 2008, ‘MobiTV Passes 4 Million Subscribers’, Growth Steady, Silicon Alley Insider, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/mobitv_passes_4_million_subscribers_growth_steady>.
Hesseldahl, A 2003, ‘A Mobile Phone That Tunes in TV’, Forbes.com, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/29/cx_ah_0729tentech.html>.
Mobile TV, Wikipedia.org, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_tv>.
Sinclair, L 2008, ‘Mobile TV next big battleground’, Australian IT, viewed 11 November 2008, <http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,23348291-15306,00.html>.
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