Frederic Martin's List: Mobile TV

• CMMB mobile TV now in 150 cities in China

• 3 UK Adds Mobile VOD, Full-Length Shows
• Three is adding video-on-demand to its mobile TV offering, offering pay-to-download shows including episodes of The Hlls and South Park for between £1.29 ($1.79) and £1.99 ($2.76) for a week’s access.
• Shows come from MTV, Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Turner.
• It’s a partnership with Mobix, whose Adrenalin platform is powering the new “3 On Demand” section of the operator’s mobile portal.
• Product manager Alex Woodhams, in the release, said it’s about giving customers a “wider choice of on-portal content”.
• Three’s other TV initiatives also include its 3 Live streaming channels and Sky Sports’ mobile packages.

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• Video service infrastructure provider Anevia, is to launch a carrier grade mobile video solution offering live mobile TV, video-on-demand (VOD) and time-shifted services such as pause TV, start-over or catch-up TV.
• Anevia believes that the introduction of 3G+/HSDPA and high quality video screens will result in mobile video services reaching an inflexion point by granting to end users an access to a premium video viewing quality.
• In order to address this evolution, Anevia will launch for mobile operators what it claims will be a highly scalable and reliable mobile video solution.
• Components will include: a carrier grade DVB to IP gateway, (combined with third-party transcoders); live TV distribution to mobile phones; video servers for VOD and time-shifted pause/start over, catch-up TV; content preparation modules for multi-format transcoding. Other components will include load balancing and management systems and a content delivery network management system.
• Commented Pierre Yves Le Berre, Anevia's Marketing and Business Development Director, "the mobile industry [is moving] to video services implementation, to address new customer behaviour like content snacking.
• With the launch of our mobile platform, we [will] help operators increase ARPU with new services like VOD/live TV bundle or start-over/pause TV and to grow customer's loyalty with ad-funded content like VOD or catch-up TV."
• For fixed-mobile operators aiming to launch mobile video services, Anevia has designed a three-screen solution, with triple screens video servers, enabling an end-to-end video infrastructure solution delivering to mobile, IPTV and Internet devices.

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• 63 TV stations to launch mobile DTV service this year

• The number of mobile TV subscribers in Korea grew by almost 60% in 2008 following aggressive marketing campaigns and the Beijing Olympics, reports the Yonhap News Agency.
• The number of DMB users totalled 17.25 million at the end of 2008, up 59.9% from a year earlier, according to the Terrestrial-DMB Special Committee.
• South Korea started the world’s first DMB service in 2005, which is operated through terrestrial and satellite broadcasts.
• According to the committee, which represents six service carriers, 15.4 million terrestrial DMB devices, including mobile phones, were sold as of the end of 2008, up 70 percent from the previous year.
• The number of subscribers to the satellite platforms (S-DMB) rose 45% annually to 1.85 million last year.

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• According to a new report from Nielsen Mobile, only 5% of all U.S. cell phone owners subscribe to a mobile TV service.
• Yet that number is the highest out of of all the other worldwide markets tracked by the company.
• Only France and Italy came close, each at 4 percent.
• According to Nielsen, mobile video use isn't more prevalent due to lack of differentiating capabilities, high cost, and lack of compelling content.
• In fact, we are now even seeing mobile video's plateau - a point where you would normally expect to see adoption slow considerably.
• In the U.S., 10.3 million mobile phone subscribers watch video content on their mobile phones each month.
• But the mobile video subscription market has barely grown during the past year. In Q3 2007 it was at 6.4 percent and by Q3 2008 it was only 7.3 percent.
• And only 26% of subscribers who paid for mobile video services during the third quarter of 2008 used them at least once a month.
• Taken at face value, these numbers look bad for mobile TV's future, but don't count it out just yet.
• New developments in the mobile video marketplace have the potential to reinvigorate the industry and allow it to grow once again.
• Says Nielsen, the expanded use of mobile web and mobile web video, an improved advertising subsidy to subscription-based streaming mobile video services, and the rollout of mobile digital television (mobile DTV) could combine to be mutually beneficial for carriers, device manufacturers, content providers, advertisers and consumers.
• The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), announced that a new mobile DTV service will soon arrive in 22 U.S. cities, covering 35% of U.S. television households.
• The mobile service aims to provide live, local and national over-the-air digital television to mobile devices.
• Included in the service are 63 stations from the 25 major broadcasters that are on board.
• Those include NBC Television, Gannett Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Fox Television, Belo Corp., Grey Television, Scripps Television, Hearst Argyle Television, ION Media Networks and Lin Television.
• This mobile TV service may succeed where others have failed because it bypasses the carriers altogether.
• Of course, in order for this new technology to work, you have to have devices capable of receiving the signal. LG Electronics is prepared for that - they showed off prototype phones at CES along with DTV-enabled laptops, portable navigators, and in-car DTVs. Some laptops were shown with a USB dongle that included a long antenna which could bring DTV to anyone's computer.

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• TV stations in 22 U.S. cities announced Thursday that they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems.
• Unlike current mobile TV services, the broadcasts would most likely be free, and would provide access to local news, weather and traffic updates.
• In getting cell phones with TV receivers into the hands of consumers, broadcasters face a substantial obstacle: the cellular carriers. The largest, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, sell phones that are compatible with a rival mobile broadcasting system run by Qualcomm Inc. It provides 10 channels for $15 per month.
• The Open Mobile Video Coalition, the mobile TV broadcaster group, said it has had discussions with the carriers, and expects there to be deals with at least some of them.
• The 22 markets where "Mobile Digital TV" will be rolled out this year cover 35 percent of U.S. households, the OMVC said.
• New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington and Atlanta are the largest participating markets.
• In total, 54 commercial network affiliates have committed to launching broadcasts. Another nine PBS affiliates are considering joining them, the OMVC said.
• Audiovox Corp. announced at the show that it will make an in-car receiver for Qualcomm's MediaFLO service.
• The receiver that will work with existing in-car entertainment screens will be available in eight to 10 months for less than $500, the company said.
• There are 20 million U.S. cars with such screens, according to Hauppauge, N.Y.-based Audiovox.
• AT&T and RaySat Broadcasting Corp. said they will start marketing a satellite TV system called CruiseCast for cars this spring, providing 22 TV channels and 20 radio stations for about $28 per month. It requires a bowl-shaped antenna with a suggested retail price of $1,300.
• Lastly, Alcatel-Lucent and ICO Global Communications Ltd. were at the show to talk about their hybrid satellite-terrestrial broadcasting system, which can broadcast up to 15 channels to somewhat smaller antennas. They're hoping for a commercial launch next year, said Olivier Coste, head of Alcatel-Lucent's mobile broadcast division.

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• MediaFLO USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), today announced plans to make the award-winning FLO TV(TM) experience available to more than 200 million consumers across more than 100 markets in 2009.
• The market launch schedule will commence within weeks of the February 17, 2009 digital television (DTV) transition date and continue throughout the year.
• roadening its FLO TV footprint, MediaFLO USA plans to work with its wireless operator partners to introduce the service in major markets including Boston, Cleveland, Houston, Miami and San Francisco.
• The government's forthcoming DTV transition will free spectrum across the country for the delivery of advanced wireless services, creating new opportunities for mobile subscribers to experience FLO TV.
• MediaFLO USA's extensive market research and viewer usage data confirms that consumers are progressively adopting mobile TV services and, once adopted, using their services with increasing regularity.
• Metrics show that FLO TV viewers are spending an average of more than 20 minutes per day watching television on their phones.
• This is comparable to the average time U.S. cell phone users spend per day talking on their cell phones, according to CTIA's Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey.
• FLO TV's most dramatic viewership increases in 2008 occurred during live events, illustrating the service's immediacy and its resonance with today's mobile consumers:
• Viewership increased 103 percent over the daily average during this year's epic U.S. Open golf championship playoff featuring Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate.
• FLO TV's dedicated Olympics channel, available exclusively on AT&T Mobile TV, was the most-watched channel on the AT&T Mobile TV service during the live Olympics coverage.
• Live coverage of Hurricane Ike helped spike viewership by 31 percent during the storm.
• On Election Day, FLO TV subscribers spent an average of 22 percent more time watching TV on their phones.
• "In collaboration with our carrier partners, MediaFLO USA will continue to lead the evolution of live mobile television and extend FLO TV to tens of millions of previously unreached consumers in dozens of new markets across the country."
• All programs featured on the FLO TV service are available to consumers through leading wireless operators in more than 65 major metropolitan areas nationwide, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

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• écouverte dans la matinée de cinq pains d'explosif, sans système de mise à feu, dans le bâtiment magasin Homme. "On est en train de mettre en place des mesures renforcées, pour la sécurité du personnel et des clients", a expliqué le directeur général Pierre Pelarrey.
• "Si vous ne faites pas intervenir quelqu'un avant mercredi 17 décembre", précisait la lettre, "elles exploseront". "Faites parvenir ce message

• ­The European Commission has taken a decisive step towards the promotion of  Mobile TV services within the EU. It has published a set of guidelines for the  authorisation of Mobile TV to accelerate roll-out of the service across Europe.
• The commercial services launched before summer 2008 in some European countries  show that there is an increasing consumer demand: in the Netherlands alone, 10  000 users had already subscribed to the service at the beginning of autumn.
• "Successful commercial launches of Mobile TV in Austria, Italy, Finland  and the Netherlands have proved that efficient authorisation procedures are a  key factor for the fast take-up of Mobile TV.
• "This is why we want to give Member States guidance on how to allow  industry to get these innovative services on track as quickly and smoothly as  possible. We stand for a collaborative approach between all actors involved  including broadcasters, mobile operators and platforms operators, and we oppose  heavy regulation or burdensome authorisation procedures for the introduction of  Mobile TV in Europe."
• To date, only a few Member States, such as Austria, Finland, France and  Germany have adopted legislation for new Mobile TV services.
• The Commission's  guidelines aim to keep up the momentum for Mobile TV at EU-level, in order to  create a regulatory environment for take-off and take-up of this new service.
• The guidelines say that a straightforward, transparent and non discriminatory  procedure for awarding licences is the key to a successful approach avoiding  delays.
• The quality of the service delivered to customers, including indoor  coverage and transmission quality, should be part of the award conditions.
• The  guidelines furthermore recommend that frequencies made available for Mobile TV  should be withdrawn if the service has not started within a reasonable period of  time.
• They also advise regulators to keep the authorisation process open to all  industry players and create conditions which encourage cooperation between  telecoms operators (providing the service) and broadcasters (providing the  content).
• Finally, they call upon the industry to make sure that DVB-H based  Mobile TV services in every EU country work together.
• One way to do this is  choosing non-proprietary technologies, which all consumers would be able to use  without extra plug-ins and regardless of which device they use, to access Mobile  TV content.
• Light regulation and clear licensing regimes will give industry the legal  certainty needed to rapidly launch Mobile TV offers.
• The Commission will keep a  close eye on progress made and will not allow any unreasonable demands to delay  progress in Europe.
• The Commission will continue to promote the exchange of  information, experience and best practice between national authorities and other  stakeholders.
• Moreover, the switch-over process from analogue to digital TV and  the Telecoms reform will facilitate access to new spectrum, which can be used  for the provision of Mobile TV services.

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• The European Commission will present a new document aimed at paving the way for the spread of mobile television in Europe "within a few weeks," EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding told EurActiv in an interview.

• The multi-screen offering includes exclusive films and programming from HBO and Warner and is designed to firmly position Orange in the French market as a heavyweight pay-content provider.
• However, the Orange announcement, which brought executives from HBO and Warner into town, was clouded by the publication earlier this week of a newsletter by Arcep.
  
  The French regulator expressed concern that the concentration of content in a few hands will adversely affect competition in the French telecoms market.
• "If a large content aggregator is able either to grant exclusive content distribution rights to a particular network operator, or to offer access to all operators, but on unequal terms, then normal competition between network operators is compromised," said Paul Champsaur, head of Arcep.
• Canal+, which is part of the Vivendi group, is France's largest pay-TV provider.
  
  Vivendi in turn has a controlling stake in SFR, which recently merged with Neuf Cegetel to form a fixed-mobile operator that expects to report revenues of €12 billion in 2008.

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• more than 330 million mobile users worldwide will own broadcast TV-enabled handsets by 2013, less than 14% will opt for mobile pay-TV services.
• Although mobile broadcast TV will generate global annual end-user revenues of $2.7 billion by 2013, this level is markedly lower than previously forecast.
• “the development of terrestrial TV-capable receivers with comparatively low power consumption, and the availability of these receivers in mass market handsets, throws into question the business case for the deployment of a dedicated network in many markets.”
• The report notes that operator decisions to offer DVB-T handsets in Germany has effectively closed the door for DVB-H in Germany, and argues that the strong take-up of analogue TV handsets in China, and of one-seg handsets in Japan, indicates that FTA services will continue to predominate.
• However, the report also notes that this trend in turn has created a further opportunity for streamed TV services.
• “there will always be a market for some form of premium TV service on the mobile handset, and with broadcast TV in many markets likely to consist simply of the free-to-air terrestrial signals, the gap in the market is likely to be filled by streamed VOD services over the 3G network.”
• - In terms of end-user revenues, the US will be the largest single market for mobile broadcast TV services in 2013, followed by South Korea and China.
• - MediaFLO services are likely to be deployed in parts of Asia and in the UK by the end of 2010.
• - Adoption levels for streamed TV packages are higher than previously envisaged, reflecting the reduction in anticipated deployment of dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks.

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• Sky has announced two new appointments to support the strengthening of its mobile operations.
• David Gibbs is promoted to become general manager for mobile while Tim Hussain joins the company as its first head of mobile advertising.
• Gibbs was previously in Sky’s commercial group, working on Sky Mobile TV, 24-7 Football, Sky Anytime on Mobile, and the syndication of Sky content to network operator portals.
• He will now oversee the day-to-day operations of Sky’s mobile products and services while continuing relationships with mobile operators in the UK and Ireland.
• Tim Hussein joins Sky Digital Media, the broadcaster’s dedicated ad sales house for online and mobile from AOL where he was head of mobile. He takes up the newly created post of head of mobile advertising. He will work with media agencies to exploit brand opportunities.
• Sky has been offering mobile content for a number of years and launched its own Sky Mobile TV platform in September 2005.

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• Mobile TV market to stage a major uptick starting 2010, says Siano executive

• The global mobile TV market is expected to experience robust growth starting 2010 now that the prices of mobile digital TV chips have fallen to below US$5 per unit on average while the leading branded handset and notebook vendors are expected to launch more portable devices with built-in mobile TV functions, according to David Chang, director of business development for Taiwan, Siano Mobile Silicon.
• The development of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies began to take off robustly when unit prices of the related chips dropped to the important barrier of US$5, and the development of the mobile TV market is likely to follow the same pattern, Chang explained.
• Vendors of handsets, notebooks and other terminal-end devices are expected to start introducing more products with built-in mobile digital TV modules once the related chip prices fall to the levels around US$5 per unit, Chang added.
• In addition, the network architectures for various mobile TV standards, including DVB-T, ISDB-T, T-DMB, ASTC and CMMB, have all been established, with support of abundant content. The falling chip prices and mature technology will help push the popularity of the mobile TV industry, Chang contended.
• The market of mobile TV devices is expected to reach 50 million units in 2008, with the market size likely to double to 100 million units in 2010, Chang estimated.

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• China and India have the largest mobile TV audiences, according to a new global survey carried out by Telegent, the company that makes television mobile with its high-performance single-chip mobile TV solutions.
• The survey revealed that 72 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed have watched mobile TV, making it the highest ranked country in terms of overall viewing experience of television on a mobile phone. However China only won by a narrow margin as India, with 71 percent, came in at a very close second place.
• Interestingly, while 60 percent of surveyed mobile TV users reported watching the news on their mobile phone, and 33 percent reported watching sport, global events such as the Olympics garnered a significant increase in mobile TV viewing interest.
• A global average of 88 percent of mobile TV users were interested in watching the Games on their mobile phones, which included a staggering 95 percent of mobile TV users surveyed in India, followed by Thailand at 93 percent, and Brazil and China at 89 percent.  In the US the figure was 87 per cent and in the UK it was 80 per cent.

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• From the period of 2007 to 2010, subscribers for Global mobile TV are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 60 percent, a report forecasts. Western Europe will generate the majority of mobile TV revenues by 2010, followed by Asia-Pacific and North America, also mobile ad spending to grow at more than 42 percent from 2008 to 2013, significantly bolstering operator income, report reveals.

• Reporters was informed from the China Mobile Group that by August 19, more than 1 million people watch Olympic video through China’s mobile network, the programmes clicks were nearly 7 million, a total of more than 0.3 million hours, and with substantial concessions on the Mobile Charges of mobile TV in Chongqing, the cost of watching one hour TV mobile phone was only about 0.18 yuan, many people have begun to try this new audio-visual form.
• Mobile phone streaming for seeing Olympics has created history. China Mobile says  that  the opening day on August 8, 200,000 mobile phone users in China TV Olympic zones, than the day before suddenly grew by more than doubled.
• China Mobile also launched a dedicated mobile TV software, as at present, the software has been downloaded 30 million times. ( Mobile Dating )

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