Play it again, Mobile TV

La tv digitale mobile terrestre ci riprova. Al NAB di Las Vegas un nuovo consorzio di broadcaster americani, tra cui NBC, COx, Hearst TV, la Open Mobile Video Coalition, ha presentato i suoi piani per la diffusione di programmi con sistema ATSC M/H, omologo del nostro DVB-H. Secondo la coalizione ci saranno 800 emittenti locali e si parte da inizio maggio a Washington DC e Detroit. Offerta che va a scontrarsi con FLO TV di Qualcomm e che utilizzerà in parte i canali lasciati liberi dalla transizione al digitale che ha riguardato anche gli USA. Tra i primi annunci di apparati il Tivizen (presentato all'ultimo CES di Las Vegas come Tivit) della coreana Valups. Tivizen/Tivit è un ricevitore ATSC M/H che ritrasmette la tv digitale "mobile" via wi-fi verso laptop, iPhone e altri dispositivi. Bella idea, ma alla faccia della mobilità!

L'istituto di ricerche TDG sta per pubblicare lo studio intitolato “Assessing Consumer Interest in New Mobile Video Services” e si dice molto scettico sui livelli di accettazione da parte del pubblico. A parte la questione della concorrenza con l'incompatibile FLO TV (anche per la radio digitale satellitare c'erano due concorrenti che sono stati costretti a fondersi), l'analista di TDG Brian Platts osserva giustamente che finora la tv mobile è stata un flop. Anche l'idea che l'uso di una piattaforma di distribuzione di tipo broadcast separata rispetto alle infrastrutture telefoniche mobili di terza e quarta generazione possa funzionare è molto in forse. Finora i consumatori non hanno affatto dimostrato di apprezzare la tv mobile ricevuta con chiavette e moduli aggiuntivi per pc, preferendo semmai accedere ai contenuti video degli operatori mobili (con buona pace di chi pensa di "alleggerire" le loro infrastrutture con il DVB-H o l'ATSC M/H). Anche per la TV si sta affermando il principio "ostativo" della molteplicità di dispositivi. Nessuno vuole mettersi in tasca una moltitudine di scatolette e appendici varie quando può disporre di un unico dispositivo convergente, il telefonino. L'insuccesso abbastanza clamoroso ottenuto dai telefonini che integrano stadi di ricezione DVB-H aggiunge un ulteriore elemento di analisi. Anche avendo un solo dispositivo la gente non è interessata, almeno in mobilità, a un consumo televisivo di tipo convenzionale, lineare, ma preferisce lo stile on-demand che si è affermato con Internet. E' una riproposizione dello scontro ormai epocale tra broadcast e punto-punto.

Broadcasters To Create National Mobile TV Network

Brian Platts, Contributing Analyst

April 23, 2010

In a press release last week at the NAB convention in Las Vegas, Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Fox, Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., ION Television, Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., NBC, Post-Newsweek Stations Inc., and Raycom Media announced plans to form a new U.S. mobile video service. Using existing broadcast spectrum, the service would allow member companies to provide a full range of video content to mobile devices. These broadcasters are also members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which includes more than 800 TV stations and has been working for years to establish a single national mobile TV standard.

But delivering broadcast TV programs to handsets is already being done in the U.S. and with very limited success. Is there reason to believe this new approach will be more successful?

Mobile DTV is delivered via the same infrastructure as digital over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts to home TVs but with special enhancements for viewing on mobile devices. So far, 45 U.S. broadcast stations are sending test mobile DTV signals using the ATSC-M/H standard, with mobile DTV service featuring similar broadcasting to fixed DTV. This will kick off in Washington D.C. on May 3, 2010, shortly after which two stations in Detroit will follow.

This is all good news for consumers, though not so good for FLO TV, Qualcomm’s own branded mobile TV service, which recently launched to supplement its resale by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Neither carrier has seen much success with the service, primarily because it is currently available on a just a few phones. And therein lies the problem.

For mobile TV to gain wide acceptance, it must be available on a wide range of popular devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android-based phones. Instead, Qualcomm and DTV broadcasters are relying on the sale of dongles and other after-market accessories that plug into mobile devices to enable their mobile TV capability and allow consumers to receive the broadcast signals.

The first available mobile DTV consumer device is the “Tivizen,” which receives mobile ATSC-M/H TV signals and then re-transmits them to Wi-Fi devices, such as a laptop or mobile phone – effective, no doubt, but hardly an elegant solution. To make matters worse, users must fork out about $150 for the device and remember to take it with them. Qualcomm is expected to introduce similar solutions by mid-2010.

Apple proved with the iPhone that, in order for mobile services to be successful, it must be simple, intuitive, and convenient. That maxim applies to the mobile TV experience just as it does to mobile Internet access. For broadcast mobile TV to flourish, there must be widespread diffusion of handsets capable of supporting the service natively, a feat not at all difficult given today’s miniaturization technology. The challenge is identifying a truly compelling business case for doing so. Manufacturers have no interest in adding capabilities that (a) are unlikely to be used, and (b) unnecessarily drive up costs. Then again, without a variety of appropriately equipped handsets available to consumers, it is self-fulfilling that subscriptions to mobile TV will remain low. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Furthermore, when the time comes to change handsets (at contract termination time, for example) customers typically select a new handset based on price, fashion, and overall appeal rather than for a particular feature of the device that may require an additional subscription (in this case, mobile TV). While dongles and accessories may help indirectly promote the use mobile TV among early-adopters, they will not drive large-scale growth.

Neither DTV nor FLO TV will initially serve rural communities, meaning mobile TV will remain an urban offering for years to come. Furthermore, although the performance of mobile TV service in moving vehicles (think trains and autos) is decent, TDG believes the application will appeal to a very limited market. The result, in our opinion, is that, until native reception becomes a standard feature on most mobile phones, mobile TV uptake will remain sluggish.

Separately, any claims that DTV will somehow provide relief to congested wireless data networks are premature at best. In fact, the reverse could end up being true. If mobile TV remains an “after-market” phenomena—requiring dongles and other appendages—and is embedded in only a few devices, most consumers will reject it out of hand and instead rely on cellular service for mobile video content. As use of the mobile Internet to access “free” online TV websites grows, data usage will accelerate and, in turn, impose increased loads on existing cell networks. It is thus in the interest of mobile operators and device vendors alike to push for embedded support of digital mobile TV solutions.

These and other issues are discussed in detail in TDG’s soon to be published report “Assessing Consumer Interest in New Mobile Video Services”.