Q&A: Mobile TV

Is Mobile TV the next big application?
Which technology does 3G Americas support?
What are the current Mobile TV standards?
Is Mobile TV commercially available today?
What is MBMS?
Why DVB-H?
What benefits does DVB-H have over the existing cellular network?
Is DVB-H used in the U.S.?
Due to the use of the SIM, does the GSM family of networks hold a security advantage with regards to mobile TV?
What do wireless subscribers around the world think of Mobile TV?

Is Mobile TV the next big application?

Mobile TV combines two of the most popular consumer products of our time: the mobile phone and the television. With increasing wireless penetration in most countries, Mobile TV has the potential to appeal to the mass market and promises to be a potential revenue generator for key players such as telecom operators, broadcasters, content providers, equipment manufacturers, etc. For Mobile TV to be successful, a combination of mass market content and mainstream phones is crucial. Quality of content, personalization and interactive experience will also play a key role in market acceptance.

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Which technology does 3G Americas support?

3G Americas recognizes the prominent choices such as DVB-H, MediaFLO and MBMS, but has not endorsed any one technology.

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What are the current Mobile TV standards?

GSM and CDMA operators are considering different technologies. But five transmission technologies - DMB, DVB-H, ISDB-T, MBMS and MediaFLO - are receiving a majority of the attention in the Americas. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. The main proposed transmission technologies include the following:

• DMB - Digital Multimedia Broadcasting: This is an extension of the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) standard which was started in some European countries (including Germany and others) without success. The government of South Korea invested heavily to extend the audio-only technology to enable multimedia broadcast (now called DMB), and became the first country worldwide to launch mobile TV. South Korea has the most successful mobile TV market worldwide. There are about 20 countries that are deploying or have commercially launched DMB mobile TV services including Australia, Brunei, China, Ghana, Italy, France, Germany, Singapore, and the U.K.
• DVB-H - Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld: an extension of the DVB-T (Terrestrial) standard now being used for digital service to TV sets in Europe. Programming is fed from satellites (could be different according to countries) to transmission towers, and then distributed to receiving devices. It’s designed to accommodate the unique reception requirements imposed by mobile users and the limits of an antenna embedded in the handset environment.
• ISDB-T - Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial: a satellite-to-tower system similar to DVB-T, today used in Japan to provide digital service to TV sets and handheld mobile units. It has a bandwidth of 5.6MHz with 13 channels embedded.
• MBMS - Multimedia Broadcast Service: uses the 3G pipe to send streaming video and audio to subscribers via 3G cellular networks. There are two modes: broadcast, and multicast. However, many design issues remain in order to provide multicast service. Overlaying MBMS to 3G networks will impact the network capacity for individualized voice and data (for which the networks were originally designed - and which many operators have invested large sums of money to acquire.)
• FLO (Forward Link Only): a Qualcomm-supported technology and network that uses a limited number of high-power transmission towers. In one of its operation modes, the technology provides network-scheduled delivery of multimedia content over the network during off-peak hours. The content is then stored on the handset for future viewing. (In the U.S., FLO (QCOM) also owns the spectrum in most markets to deliver this service).
• IPDC - Internet Protocol Datacasting: an IP-based service used to deliver audio, video, data and graphics via virtually any type of broadband pipes. When the data/playload is TV content, it is also called IPTV. Both DVB-H and MBMS are a form of IPDC. Using IPCD, data can be multi-casted simultaneously to a large number of subscribers uni-directionally. Since the transmission of data is through the IP pipes, this scheme could take advantage of the emerging IP-centric interfaces such as WiMAX (806.16x), and WiFi (802.11x).
• [Additionally, STIMI, or Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multiservice Infrastructure, is being used in China and DAB-IP (Digital Audio Broadcast) is used in the UK.]

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Is Mobile TV commercially available today?

In North America, Verizon and AT&T are the first operators to offer broadcast Mobile TV based on FLO. Major European operators such as H3G Italy, TIM Italy, T-Mobile in the Czech Republic and MTN in South Africa have commercially launched Mobile TV based on DVB-H technology. DMB is widely used in South Korea, and Japan has mobile TV in most major markets. The market is expected to grow worldwide between $US5 and $27 billion by 2010. Figures differ based on the different forecasts by research analysts but they all seem to agree on the fact that there is a bright future for Mobile TV.

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What is MBMS?

MBMS is Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service, an important new feature of 3GPP Release 6. MBMS is a point-to-multipoint service where multiple users receive the same information using the same radio resource. This creates a much more efficient approach for delivering content, such as video programming, to which multiple users have subscriptions. In a broadcast, every subscriber unit in a service area receives the information, whereas in a multicast, only users with subscriptions receive the information. Service areas for both broadcast and multicast can span either the entire network or a specific geographical area.

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Why DVB-H?

The European Commission (EU) has backed a single standard, DVB-H, for the rollout of Mobile TV services across Europe. This decision aims at speeding up service implementation, which the EC believes could reach 500 million customers worldwide by 2011. DVB-H is being rolled out in several countries in Europe and Asia and has been launched in Italy, South Africa, and Vietnam. An advantage of DVB-H is the fact that full end-to-end solutions including terminals already exist. It is also based on open standards meaning competition on all levels of the solution, and more value for the consumer. As of September 2007, more than 270 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 35 countries are committed to the DVB Project, an industry-led consortium that supports DVB-H technology for broadcast mobile TV.

GSM operators also embrace DVB-H’s technical merits: DVB-H is an open system suitable for small screens, small antenna, battery power, true mobility and indoor coverage, DVB-H is a true digital broadcast (one-to-many) solution.

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What benefits does DVB-H have over the existing cellular network?

Most digital TV services today are delivered via the cellular network, which reduces network capacity for voice calls. Additionally, because DVB-H uses a separate air interface rather than the cellular network, live TV can be broadcast in real-time, rather than streamed over the network. DVB-H also enables faster frames per second viewing so you are seeing 25-30 fps versus 1-15 fps. The combination of the increase in frames per second, available bandwidth advance Video and Audio codecs DVB-H offers a better end user experience for the consumer. Due to the nature of the broadcast technology large amounts of media can be delivered to multiple subscribers in a “one to many” fashion reducing the cost of transport for delivery to the mass markets. If this amount of content were to be delivered over the 3G network the carrier would see an impact to traditional voice and data services due the delivery of such “bandwidth hungry” entertainment services.

Therefore, from a carrier’s point of view, the DVB-H network is seen as a complimentary network to existing 3G infrastructures, enabling a cost-effective delivery of a TV service to the mass market. Simulcast delivery of unique video content over the 3G network will still have a part to play in the carrier portfolio, enabling the carrier to market content to the single subscriber for which a premium charge can be applied, leaving the delivery of similar content to the mass market to the DVB-H network.

Cellular networks and services can also be used as an advantage with DVB-H broadcast. For example, a DVB-H reception together with cellular connectivity opens up possibilities for TV-related interactive services such as voting, polls, gaming and e-commerce. Different pay-TV models like subscriptions and pay-per-view can also be supported.

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Is DVB-H used in the U.S.?