The hardest part was not knowing what was going to happen.
– The War
Europeans’ interest in watching mobile television is as tiny as cell phone screens, a new study showed on Monday, says C/Net. On Sept. 24, Gartner Research said only 5 percent of Europeans are interested in watching TV on their cell phones in the next 12 months although Asia were closer to 20 percent favorable.
Juniper Research painted a more optimistic picture with mobile TV services projected to exceed $6.6 billion by 2012 and 120 million mobile users in 40 different countries. There currently are fewer than 12 million.
In Europe, three countries have started commercial networks. Mobile operators hope that mobile TV could encourage users to spend an extra 5 to 10 euros a month, compensating for declining revenues from voice calls, but mobile television and video downloads ranked close to the bottom of consumer interest in a Gartner study in Europe.
Research firm Informa has projected entertainment services–games, music, TV, adult content and gambling–would grow to $38 billion by 2011 from around $18.8 billion in 2006.
Because spectrum availability is not a problem in many Asian countries, commercial DVB-H broadcasts have already started in India and Vietnam, with Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia also set to open networks this year.
HiWire’s mobile broadcast TV service trial is operating in Las Vegas. HiWire is using the DVB-H standard on the 700 MHZ band. The competing 700 MHZ MediaFLO service is also activated in Las Vegas.
RCR News compares the two services;
We say: This service is ready for primetime. HiWire’s offering is clean, crisp and does nothing to remind you it’s still in testing.Aloha Partners’ HiWire has only been trialing its mobile broadcast TV service in Las Vegas for two months, but the service already looks ready for launch. It offers an extensive programming lineup of 24 channels from a variety of entertainment, news and network content providers. If you like news or stocks and bonds, they’ve got it; if you like women in bikinis, they’ve got that too.
Indeed, the two-tower HiWire network in Las Vegas features a channel lineup that outstretches MediaFLO’s commercially launched offering by a 3-to-1 ratio. Kudos to HiWire for pushing the envelope—that could very well be what differentiates the company from its counterpart in San Diego.
Of course, MobileTV provider Modeo was kiled by Crown. They were going to establish a national network at 1.7 GHz using DVB-H.
Some people think Charles Townsend is just a spectrum speculator. Now why would they think that? Sure, HiWire didn’t bother to register hiwire.com . . .
Lots of people say lots of things. Nobody knows what will happen. But the cost/effectiveness of datacasting to a million+ people — simultaneously — from one, 50,000 watt tower is hard to dispute.
Related Dailywireless stories on Mobile TV include; ICO Wants Its Mobile TV – via DVB-SH, MobileTV: Modeo KOed by Crown, HiWire: 24 Mobile TV Channels, Mobile/Handheld TV: Killer App?, Nielsen Does Mobile, Mobile TV War at NAB, NAB 2007: Dead Man Walking? and FCC Finalizes Rules on 700MHz: Limited Open Access, No Wholesale Requirement.
