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Consumers have reacted favourably to mobile
television in the markets where the services
have been launched. Close to 76 per cent
consumers in the UK are willing to pay for
mobile TV. On the other hand, consumers
in Finland and France are willing to shell
out € 10 and € 7 respectively
per month for mobile TV.
In turn, what consumers want is good picture
and sound quality, value for money, right
selection of channels, service availability,
simplicity of use and a multimedia device.
The speakers for the session comprised Broadcast
Australia broadcast services director Clive
Morton, Kobeta Korea manager of planning
team Hyun Ho, Qualcomm MediaFLO director
of international business development Jeffrey
Brown, TBS Japan development manager Hidefumi
Yasuda, Nokia director of strategy Juha
Lipiainen, TeamCast France executive director
Gerard Faria and Enenys France president
and CEO Regis Le Roux.
While the service is gaining popularity,
there seems to be ambiguity in terms of
the regulations required for the same. Should
the broadcaster be the ultimate content
regulator for mobile TV or should it be
the telecommunications company? That is
one area where not much progress has been
made. Brown said, "The spectrum regulation
for mobile television services is fragmented
per country per industry. It isn't clear
still whether the broadcasting authority
or the telecommunications authority is responsible
for regulating content. But the transition
is slowly happening as the industry is understanding
the value of mobile television."
Interestingly, while the number one telecommunications
company in Korea S K Telecom accepted and
adopted this new technology easily, there
was resistance from KTF and LG Telecom,
who were reluctant to offer mobile television
technology - T-DMB - on their mobile devices.
The
reason behind this was that since mobile
television was being offered free, consumers
would watch more television on their handhelds
and in turn use less of SMS and internet
services, which in turn would mean a significant
revenue loss for them. However, these two
companies had to eventually succumb to the
popularity of mobile television and started
offering the technology on their devices
late last year.
The requirements for a mobile TV device
are:
*Watch
up to four hours TV
*Large anti glare screen
*Simple to operate TV
*Recording capability
*Always up to date Electronic Service Guide
*Camera and camcorder to record own content
*Consumers use mobile television mostly
to pass time, for example, while waiting
for something. They also use it to stay
updated with news, to relax or entertain
oneself, as a background entertainment while
doing other things, to create their own
space ( e.g. in public transportation) or
as a second TV while the household's TV
is used by others.
The top three usage situations among active
users of mobile TV are:
*When
traveling using transportation
*When at home
*When at work
According
to Brown, the potential mobile TV users
globally in 2008 - 2010 will be in the range
of 100 - 200 million. As per a research
done by Nokia in major cities in 32 countries,
it was found that by end 2005, there were
two billion mobile phone subscribers globally
and is expected to reach three billion by
end 2009. While there were 735 million mobile
phones sold in 2005, the projections for
2009 are 944 million.
So does mobile TV have future potential?
Yes, but assuming that the pricing and content
are in line with consumers' expectations
and needs.
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