Disqus
South Africa – the Department of Communications has announced it wants Mobile TV, in the DVB-H format, licensed for SA by end of Q1 2009. Apparently there has thus far been delay due to the finalising of the policy – and that has been slowed because of cross-media ownership issues.
The Electronic Communications Act imposes strictures on companies and individuals controlling newspapers from owning commercial broadcasting services under certain conditions. MultiChoice currently dominates the satellite pay TV market and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of newspaper giant Naspers. MultiChoice is keen on entering the mobile TV market and has run a trial of DVB-H broadcasting with mobile operator Vodacom. It also on-sells some of its satellite bouquet to Vodacom for broadcast over 3G. MultiChoice yesterday said it was “excited and encouraged” by government’s new push for mobile TV. But Naspers’ dominance in the newspaper market and satellite environment may affect its mobile TV prospects.
Vodacom has said that it is going to wait and see on the outcome of the DVB-H license process – it already streams around 24 channels to 31K Mobile subs over 3G.
So South Africa is “next in line” to get Mobile TV – and again DVB-H is the planned bearer. Certainly when multiple bodies (Content partners, Operators, Regulatory) are involved, there does seem to be a swaying towards recognised and supported standards. Let’s see how this one plays out…..
[Via: itweb.co.za / Map image originally via: sa-venues.com]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
