Mobile TV

Major developments in digital broadcast technology have provided opportunities for established services to branch into new mobile formats. Digital broadcast television, which has been restricted to in-home viewing, now has the ability to transmit very high quality television services to handheld mobile devices. Newly developed mobile TV standards, such as DVB-H and MediaFLO, have made this progression possible.

Using broadcast technology, broadcast Mobile TV can, in any given coverage area, service an unlimited number of users. Millions of viewers can watch services at the same time, just like regular television. Broadcast technologies have this significant advantage over cellular technologies such as 3G which are constrained, both in terms of quality of service and the number of simultaneous users who can view any channel at any one time.

Broadcast Mobile TV technologies are different to terrestrial broadcast technologies in a number of ways. They are:-

• Designed to provide a larger number of channels targeted at handheld devices;
• Adopt techniques such as:-
  
  • “time slicing,” which maximizes battery performance by minimizing the power requirements of the handset;
  • Forward error correction, which ensures quality of service is maintained in otherwise difficult situations such as traveling at speeds up to 120 km/hr; and
  • Network coverage design with the objective of ensuring service quality is maintained on handheld devices both on the move and deep in buildings.

Commercial mobile TV services are now available in several countries including Italy, Finland, Japan, and South Korea. Many other countries will be introducing these services in the next few years, including Australia with the allocation of “Channel B”, which is likely to be used for mobile TV services.

Trial Experience

Together with its sister company Arqiva in the UK, Broadcast Australia has several years experience at trialing the various mobile TV standards including:-

• DVB-H Technology Trials, Sydney, Australia, 2005 to 2007;
• DVB-H End User Trial, Sydney, Australia, 2005 to 2006;
• Mobile TV showcase at Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 2006;
• DVB-H Trial, Oxford, UK, 2005 to 2006;
• MediaFLO Trial, Cambridge, UK, 2006; and
• DAB / DMB L-Band Trial, London, UK, 2005 to 2006.

The Sydney DVB-H technology trials were conducted in partnership with various partners including; Radio Frequency Systems, Harris Technologies, Nokia, Thomson, Irdeto and Samsung. The end user trial was also conducted in partnership with Telstra and Foxtel.

The Sydney trial included a line-up of 16 channels, 3 existing free to air channels and a mix of popular pay TV channels. The end user trial involved 400 participants with a variety of user profiles in terms of age, mobile spend, income levels, existing TV preferences and more.

Key lessons learnt from these trials include:-

• Users use mobile TV services in a wide variety of situations. For example, commuting to / from work, at work and as a 2nd or 3rd TV at home;
• Users highly valued to personalized convenience of mobile TV;
• Handset design and quality of service were very important to users;
• Users are prepared to pay for mobile TV services; and
• A wide variety of programme genres is important, as is a good mix of traditional long format and “made for mobile” TV.

Getting It Right

Building an optimal mobile TV depends on a number of criteria:-

• Clear understanding of the end “customer proposition”. Specifically, how many channels are required, what quality of service, where is service required, etc;
• Making the right technology choices. There is no one size fits all technology. The different technology choices will suit some markets better than others. This needs to be considered carefully;
• Design and build of the Single Frequency Network (SFN). In most markets frequencies are in short supply and so making best use of the spectrum available is essential;
• Building a mobile TV network. Where possible, building a mobile TV network as an overlay to existing broadcast infrastructure offers significant advantages;
• The importance of “broadcast quality”. Consumers will expect a quality of service at least as good as that they experience on their in-home TV; and
• Speed to market. The “early mover advantage” of some of the licenses likely to be issued soon is significant and should be made best use of.

For more information on the Mobile TV, please read Mobile TV - A Technology Profile or contact:
Martin Farrimond
General Manager – New Platforms
Tel: +61 2 8113 4629
Email: martin.farrimond@broadcastaustralia.com.au