feature mobile TV
So what’s the answer? offer the potential to generate ROI andalternative, largely because it shifts
which provide a natural fit for viewingcontent delivery over to an entirely
on mobile. The fact remains that the globalseparate broadcast infrastructure,
penetration of people who are payingthereby freeing up the mobile
The bottom linefor mobile video services remainsnetwork. Broadcast compliant
Despite fairly low at around 2.5% according to
handsets continue to use CDMA, GSM,
offering a
Despite current network restrictions,Pyramid Research. This of course3G or similar mobile networks for
method to
streaming offers the flexibility to growdoesn’t represent 24/7 videovoice, text and web access but save
deliver
innovative services as mobilestreaming for each individual user.on the heavy traffic burden of video
content off
networks improve and to meet theRather, it refers to viewers regularlydelivery, offering the advantage of
growing consumer demand for videosnacking on short clips meaning thatscale through point-to-multipoint
the mobile
services. Current developments pointat any given time the actual numberdelivery on a dedicated broadcast
network and towards a future in which streamingof concurrent viewers watchingnetwork.
saving
can offer up a tailored, unique viewingmobile video is far lower (in theWide scale broadcast is therefore
bandwidth
experience for mobile users and thethousands) than the total number ofable to service an almost limitless
headaches
ability for operators and contentservice subscribers (in the millions).number of subscribers with seemingly
providers to control, monitor, bill and
for
Through a global study, Nielsenno impact on the mobile network. So
advertise effectively through video. found that subscribers view onwhy haven’t operators and
operators, Broadcast certainly has a role toaverage just over 3.5 hours of video
broadcasters thrown up masts and
the lack of
play in the adoption of mobile videoper month. The average video streamhead-ends to drive mobile video
consumer
and is an efficient way to deliver thelasts for 2 minutes and 48 secondsadoption?
deployments
most popular content to a massand interestingly it’s paid-for news,For all its promise, broadcast creates
indicate that
audience - but it can only really besports, music and comedy clips thata number of challenges such as cost,
considered viable in the longer-term ifdrive the most traffic above andfragmentation and the flexibility of
broadcast
demand for linear TV on the mobilebeyond free sites such as YouTube. services on offer. Deploying broadcast
adoption network ever becomes high enoughThis usage model lends itself to theinfrastructure comes at incredible cost
across
to generate acceptable levels ofstreaming model for which the only- from back-end delivery systems and
mobile is
revenue to recoup the initial costs ofdownside is bandwidth constraints onmast construction through to lining up
slowing.
deployment. As this story plays out,the network when distributing manythe radio chipset and integrating
broadcast and streaming need to
Conversely,
individual streams concurrently. Withadditional antennas into the handset.
coexist to deliver a complete mobilemobile video penetration expected toFor subscribers to receive the
streaming TV experience where broadcastrise to around 8.5% globally by 2014
broadcast services, they need to have
may yet
delivery will cater to mass(Pyramid Research) it’s reasonable toa compliant handset which would
provide the
simultaneous audiences andassume that mobile networks as theymean a complete overhaul of phones
boost that
streaming to mobile users for thecurrently stand won’t be able to keepon the network, another monster
mobile video
majority of the content they desire. up with demand. But with theexpense that consumers certainly
Currently, live events are perhapsindustry talking about 3.5G, 3.9G andwouldn’t want to pay for either
needs to
the only circumstance in which aeven 4G on the horizon, targetingdirectly or indirectly. In summary, the
become a broadcast delivery model could scaledownload speeds between 1 to 5initial investment is huge and relates
mainstay
up in terms of getting enough viewersMBps per user, these sorts ofto ROI which, depending on consumer
service,
to make it financially viable. But withnetworks will easily be able to handleadoption, may never come.
allowing not
mobile networks continuing tohuge numbers of concurrent viewersAdding to the complexity,
improve their efficiency on their path
only mobile
each streaming individual clips tofragmentation of the number of
to 4G and with operators continuing totheir handset.broadcast solutions increases risk,
operators deploy streaming services to
poses interoperability problems and
but also
Where we are now? increasingly bigger audiences, the ROIreduces economy of scale. The sheer
number of proposed broadcast
broadcasters
from deploying mobile broadcast is
and other
pushed out even further. ViewingThe prediction for the future growth ofsolutions ramps up the overall
content
habits need to be monitored closely tomobile video gives the impressioncomplexity of what’s on offer with
determine if enough content is everthat adoption is sluggish at best, butDVB-H, DVB-SH, T-DMB, S-DMB,
providers to
being viewed linearly or concurrentlysome of today’s real-world evidenceMediaFLO, ISDB-T and MBMS
derive value to warrant the large upfrontsuggests differently. RealNetworks’(leverages existing wireless networks
from the
investment in broadcast.Helix media delivery platform is– inband multicast) all being potential
most
Despite offering a method to deliverdeployed by over 100 mobilecandidates.
personal of
content off the mobile network andoperators globally and by severalThere is additional inflexibility
saving bandwidth headaches for
the three
hundred content providers whoassociated with the broadcast model
operators, the lack of consumeralready use the platform to provisionin that subscribers will only be able to
screens. deployments indicate that broadcaststreamed mobile services. Granted,
‘tune-in’ to the selected programmes
adoption across mobile is slowing.many of these mobile services are onoffered on the select channels the
Conversely, streaming may yeta relatively small scale butoperators choose to broadcast, at the
provide the boost that mobile videoRealNetworks is seeing increasingexact time the operators wish to
needs to become a mainstay service,traction with operators looking to offerbroadcast them. In the world of
allowing not only mobile operatorsmobile video to concurrent vieweriPlayer, YouTube and any number of
but also broadcasters and othernumbers topping 100,000 people. Thissimilar pick-your-own VoD services, it
content providers to derive value fromsort of capability is particularlyis likely that very few consumers will
the most personal of the threeimportant for delivering live eventspay for linear TV on mobile delivered
screens. such as large sports games, whichin this manner.
26 l ibe l september/october 2009 l www.ibeweb.com
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