Primetime viewing for mobile video is largest during the afternoon and early evening, according to Telephia, a consumer research firm.

According to Telephia’s Mobile Video Diary Report, 30 percent of mobile video users watch mobile TV and video clips on their cell phones during the hours of noon and 4 pm, and 31 percent watch during the early evening commute hours of 4 pm to 8 pm.

Telephia also says contrary to popular belief, mobile video usage is being consumed by older age groups. Fifty percent of mobile video users are 25-36 year olds, compared to 24 percent of the total mobile population.

MediaFLO, HiWire, Modeo and Mobile WiMAX using 700 Mhz, 1.6 GHz and 2.5 GHz frequencies respectively, promise to multicast dozens of audio/visual channels to millions of mobile devices – often integrated into cell phones.

Sprint and Cingular use MobiTV for streaming video on cell phones. MobiTV currently uses a single 1.25MHz CDMA EV-DO channel for every viewer. MobiTV is also trialing a tv service using a mobile WiMAX network that will span a number of Northern California cities. Live HDTV delivered over a Navini pre-mobile WiMAX network has been demonstrated, too.

But portable devices need power conservation. That’s what DVB-H does. If Sprint and Clearwire have the bandwidth, perhaps there’s nothing to stop them from dedicating a slice to multicasting in DVB-H.

By dedicating (another) 6 MHz of bandwidth (for mobile television), perhaps WiMAX operators could deliver both local channels and premium channels at 640×480 (using MPEG-4 AVC). Pick it up on a WiMAX-enabled Zune or iPod. Mobile MTV.

MobileTV News, TV Phones and the MobileTV Blog have more.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 3:29 am .