industry analysis


delivering video content to a multitude of mobile platforms in what will inevitably be a converged multi-screen video environment.


The future for mobile video is to transcend the traditional. In the home, video will arrive at a set-top box or other receivers and will then be delivered at acceptable levels of quality to portable media players of all description. Outside the home there will still be a place for delivery of video over telecoms networks, where coverage and cell saturation permit, and also increasingly over Wi-Fi for live and also download and play later modes.


The seemingly unstoppable success of the iPhone has prompted the launch of more and more smartphones capable of supporting mobile video. In addition the success of catch up TV services delivered over the Internet has driven service providers to launch converged video services and offer on- demand and live content to any IP device over any IP network, such as Wi-Fi, and wired Internet connections as well as LTE and WiMAX.


Mindset shift This new world means operators


will need an infrastructure that encompasses real-time and offline content ingest, transcoding, DRM integration, video streaming and content distribution and leverages their existing services to extend a high quality digital TV experience to multiple screens. Video content will likely be repurposed for the growing on-demand and multi- screen consumption models, making it possible for operators to offer a mix of live streaming and time-shifted or on-demand video to legacy phones, smartphones or other Internet- connected devices. A mind set shift is also required so that that mobile does not necessarily equate with phone. Laptops, tablets and netbooks enable even richer and thus potentially more monetisable experiences. The IPTV market has grown rapidly due to concurrent advances in both network and set top box technology making the video experiences of high enough quality for people to want to invest in. The mobile video industry needs to show the same type of advances in devices’ video processing and storage capabilities and also in the provisioning of high bandwidth networks. The end user experience that such a combination will provide will


almost certainly excite consumers and encourage them to spend money.


The benefit of such converged wired and wireless video services to operators is that they can leverage their IPTV brand to couple it to mobile video so that the value delivered to customers can be monetised and used to acquire new subscribers on IPTV and mobile TV. Furthermore, video-supporting smartphones are becoming widely deployed, already paid for and so need no additional investment from operators. For their part, subscribers get relevant services in three potential modes depending on their coverage: live streaming, side-loading (to support near DVR) or catch up TV. They can watch their paid for video content anytime (in time- shift mode), and anywhere in Wi- Fi (download) or out of coverage (download and play).


Business models


There are a number of potentially successful business models for mobile video but the key is that it is all about value. In any market, when you bring value to consumers, consumers will pay. For example there is DVR which when it became available not many people thought that anyone would pay $5 a month for. But the


undoubted success of Sky Plus in the UK in addition to network- based


solutions has proven the value not only of DVR as a


technology but also the business model it enables.


Live video over telecoms networks at


content2mobile 4


present demonstrates the converse. The aforementioned network limitations hinder tremendously the potential for a successful mobile TV business model: why would people pay for services that if they are lucky enough to receive in the first place will not be of consistently high quality? In launching a mobile version of its flagship Sky Sports package for iPhones and Nokia devices, the UK broadcaster stipulated that video is accessed over Wi-Fi and not the telecoms network, safe in the knowledge that once people get Wi-Fi coverage, which is increasingly free these days, there is very good and consistent quality and scalability of video.


A business model will likely emerge whereby users pay an incremental fee per month to be able to download video to their handsets over available background Wi-Fi networks whilst not overloading or degrading the general performance of handsets’ 3G connectivity. Furthermore, just as they have learned from targeted adverts in IPTV streams, operators can run pre- and post-roll ads as well as live insertions. Such services are under active consideration by a number of leading operators and telcos and commercial services based on such a model will likely be rolled out in the near future.


Basic transformation There is a transformation that operators need to make so that they can catch the consumer everywhere, that wherever consumers go they can connect to video. The convergence of mobile with IPTV in general into a unified service delivery model will result in many more channels available for viewing on the mobile screen, something that offers both real value for end users and a realistic business model for operators.


Fundamentally this convergence will reshape the landscape of pay TV as a whole. So, mobile TV is dead. Long live mobile video.


september 2010


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