According to ABI research, the approaching switchover to all-digital TV broadcasting in major countries will create an unprecedented opportunity for the mobile TV market. Although mobile TV was pioneered in Japan and South Korea, following the switchover traditional and mobile TV broadcasters and carriers in many regions will launch mobile TV services that are set to attract over 500 million viewers by 2013.

ABI Research’s senior analyst Jeff Orr argues that mobile TV viewing will not solely be on mobile phones, but also on MIDs and automotive infotainment systems. “I believe that once the content is available and the services launched, mobile TV will enable more classes of mobile devices that are ‘natural fits’ for mobile entertainment,” he added.

Apparently mobile TV adoption will bring benefits to all the parties involved — including content developers and providers; device vendors, especially MID and handset OEMs; and service providers. In addition, multimedia and security software, semiconductor and network infrastructure vendors are also expected to gain from mobile TV.

ABI Research believes the timing of the market’s emergence is good. As 2009 progresses, signs of economic recovery may emerge, and allow the fledgling industry to establish a foothold before the holiday shopping season… More information about ABI Research’s study “The Mobile TV Market” is available from their website.

QuickPlay Media has revealed the fings from it’s latest (Q4 08) consumption analysis – aggregating the results from 15 representative services it runs – and simply put, mobile consumers are continuing to show interest in streaming and downloading Mobile TV and video.

Video Streams

• Total live TV and video streams viewed grew 118% from Q3 to Q4 2008, compared with a 27% increase from Q2 to Q3
• Total streams per user dropped slightly to 17.4 in Q4 from 19.3 in Q3
• Average stream duration in Q4 2008 was slightly longer at two minutes and 48 seconds when compared to two minutes and 47 seconds in Q3

Video Downloads

• Average download per user experienced its best quarter of 2008 with an average of 6 per user vs. 4.1 per user in Q3
• Total video downloads showed an increase of 73% from Q3 to Q4 vs. 87% from Q2 to Q3

In addition to the figures above, consumers continued to show preferences when it comes to the types of content they stream and download. Popular live TV streaming genres were news, music video, most-watched television programs and weather, while video streaming favorites included music and movie previews. For downloads, music, sports and comedy represented some of the top categories.

So this is some good news, in the face of the tide of negative stories about Mobile TV recently. This data does appear to be based on 3G-like service, which are already existing – but as I’ve said before, the bearer should (although often isn’t) be less important, rather than the service running over it. Encouraging data, nonetheless.

[Via: businesswire.com]

Qualcomm and Abertis Telecom have announced that they will collaborate to bring a live MediaFLO (that’s broadcast Mobile TV to you and me) demo to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2009. The broadcast will actually stretch through Barcelona, where MWC is now hosted annually.

Abertis Telecom is collaborating with Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) to promote mobile broadcast services at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Demonstrating a citywide MediaFLO network provides an opportunity for show attendees and potential mobile TV ecosystem partners to witness the many advantages of mobile broadcast services first-hand. Abertis Telecom, as a telecommunication infrastructure operator, believes that telecom networks and infrastructure providers should be ready to support different technologies and business models that best meet consumer needs within an open and transparent regulatory structure.

The MediaFLO demonstration will feature more than 30 channels of content, including a large collection of Spanish programming from Abertis, and international channels from France24, ProSieben and others. IP datacasting, Clipcasting(TM) media and interactive services for voting, chatting and m-commerce, as well as updating social networking sites while watching mobile TV shows, will round out the applications on display. Devices will include commercial and pre-commercial handsets, mobile TV receivers and Wi-Fi(R) accessories for MediaFLO that allow Wi-Fi enabled smartphones to receive live television broadcasts using the MediaFLO platform. The Wi-Fi accessories are concept devices intended to show a possible means for bringing broadcast mobile TV services to the large installed base of smartphone users.

The citywide MediaFLO network is supported by three transmitter sites placed throughout the city of Barcelona. The 8 MHz network will run on European Channel 56 (754 center frequency). MediaFLO technology demonstrations can be seen at Mobile World Congress in Qualcomm’s booth (Booth B53, Hall eight) and Abertis’ booth (Courtyard 11, CY11, Spanish Pavilion).

The MediaFLO broadcast mobile TV platform is designed for the delivery of high-quality entertainment and information, including streaming video and audio, Clipcasting media, IP datacasting and interactive services. MediaFLO technology is an open, globally recognized technology standardized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and recommended by ITU-R for the broadcasting of multimedia and data applications. Invented for mobility, MediaFLO technology provides increased capacity and coverage, as well as reduced costs for multimedia content delivery to mobile devices. More information about MediaFLO technology is available at www.mediaflo.com.

Well if I was going to MWC this year, this is definitely something I’d want to check out – those of you going, see if you can spot people watching super-clear Mobile TV on (probably) screen-rotated clamshell mobiles!

[Via: prnewswire.com]

Hitachi’s got some nifty dual-hinged, TV-enabled handset called the Wooo Ketai H001 now available, supporting 3D video viewing. You’ll probably need some big goofy glasses to make that work, but hey, you can pull off anything in Japan. KDDI is also showing off a bunch of other new handsets for their spring ‘09 collection , but this looks like the most interesting. Full specs include:

• 51 mm x 111 mm x 18.6 mm, 145 G
• 220 minutes talk time
• 260 hours standby
• 3.1 inch, 3D TFT display
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and 8X zoom
• 30 FPS VGA video recording
• 500 MB internal memory with microSD support
• Bluetooth, Infrared
• 1SEG TV tuner

[via The Register]

Babelgum, a Web TV service, has launched a 6-month trial of “Babelgum Mobile” with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) UK. The service will see a stack of clips across a range of genres, all available for that best of prices – free!

Checking out Babelgum’s site, it tells me:

Whatever your passion, Babelgum has something for you: intriguing, unconventional bite size videos for your mobile from Comedy.com, BBC, EMI (Coldplay, Robbie Williams etc) and Sony BMG; plus exclusive content from Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics, Franz Ferdinand and Irene Grandi.
You can also get previews from the Babelgum Online Film Festival and the Music Video Awards, dedicated to upcoming filmmakers and musicians from all over the world, with Spike Lee and Michel Gondry heading the juries.
… Plunge into your Passion and watch videos for FREE right on your mobile!

Vodafone users can download the app from Vodafone Live!, which is initially for contract customers – in addition users must have an N95, an N96, or 6210.

Check out Babelgum’s site here.

[Via: Pocket-Lint.co.uk]

Well it’s a question I’ve asked a number of times before, citing pieces of evidence both for and against. However, I’ve come across two articles within the same week that are both asking the question about whether Mobile TV is going to continue as a viable service…

The first article on Broadband TV News states “Mobile TV – looking for the right business model” – and as the title suggests, the business model is a major issue. It was somewhat of a surprise to some within the Industry that actually people wouldn’t fancy paying £5-£10/month (on top of their existing mobile bill) to access TV on the move. Since then, the white knight has been Advertising – yep, if we can offer Ads on the channels, then we can offer channels for a reduced cost, or even free. Well newsflash: Mobile Advertising has yet to be proven also (certainly in the rich media sense, an example of which is Mobile TV!)

The second article on Read Write Web asks “Does Mobile TV have a future?” – and covers quite a few bases regarding the issues being faced, and what needs to be done. It does however end with one neat statement, that says dongles for Laptops might actually be a nice idea – and I couldn’t agree more. People get that idea of having to plug a USB dongle for their Laptops to access mobile broadband for example, so Mobile TV rendering on a Laptop via a USB dongle? Oh yes. Otherwise you are looking at a very specific device with certain chips embedded in – and those devices (generally) don’t sell in volume…

So the state of Mobile TV today, especially in the current financial turmoil doesn’t look too hot – with it’s high cost barrier-to-entry, and somewhat of a chicken-and-egg situation with Operators/networks and devices, thing have definitely been more rosy. Let’s see what the next six months brings…

Yep, Australia has decided it’s DVB-H trial-time according to Rapid TV News:

The broadcast TV via mobile trial, being conducted in Sydney and coordinated by the Australian Industry (Ai) Group’s Australian Digital Suppliers industry Forum (ADSIF), is partly to demonstrate the interoperability of current handsets with start of the art head-end mobile TV encoders. It is also further assessing the transmission coverage of mobile TV broadcasts. A previous trial, which ended in 2007, used handsets that were not then commercially available. That trial was predominantly to assess technical matters.

Now, who do we think could be involved in a DVB-H tirla on the handset side? Well, it would have to be our favourites, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, and LG – all of whom have a bevy of DVB-H-able devices.

Apparently there will be nine streams in the trial, including channels such as ABC1, Fox Sports News, and MTV. The trial has a license to run until Feb 28th only – so if you know someone who’s involved, you can watch some video-on-the-move until then…!

[Via: Rapid TV News]

Well it’s a relatively small one, but it’s brighter news in the face of bleak economic news – so it’s worth a mention…

Bluestreak Technology has managed to raise $4m in finance from it’s major shareholders. In case you are wondering what Bluestreak do exactly, they have a Flash-based engine that runs what is called “rich media apps” – Mobile TV being one example.

Their product, the MachBlue player, is deployed already on a stack of Mobile devices, and their portal has been taken on by Orange, who are certainly no slouches in the Mobile TV department.

Of course, the eternal question of whether Mobile TV is/can/will be successful does exist, but Bluestreak’s investors have obviously seen something they like – which makes me think we should keep an eye out for them in the news going forward. At any rate, getting investment in this climate is good work – congrats!

[Via: Digital Media Wire]

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and ABC have just locked down a deal to deliver a bunch of full-length on-demand TV shows to mobile through V CAST. Sprint has been enjoying a partnership with ABC for awhile now, and now VZ’s customers will also be able to tune in to:

• ABC Entertainment: “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost” and “Ugly Betty”
• ABC News: “Nightline,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “World News with Charles Gibson” and “20/20″
• Disney Channel: “Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life on Deck” and “Phineas and Ferb”

Not a bad selection at all, and expanded ESPN clips will also be available for the sports nuts out there. $15.00/month gets you all the goodies.

[via PRNewswire]

VarietyAsiaOnline.com is reporting that 3 Mobile TV licenses will be put up for auction in mid-2009. Apparently the licenses will run for 15 years, allow up to 20 TV channels to be shown, and use the DVB-H standard. Oh, and an additional 6 using T-DMB (a predominantly Korean standard).
Well this is all good news as a push for DVB-H, but how interesting that another standard gets matted up against it. You can see the sorts of unique factors in Hong Kong that cause for this ‘democratisation’ of standards, but I wonder whether practically Operators might collaborate (if they went for a license).

The good news is won’t have to wait too long to find out – those that win have to have a service up and running by the end of 2010!

[Story via: VarietyAsiaOnline.com/ Image via: Wikipedia]