Reiter's Mobile TV Report

LIN TV, News Over Wireless develop BlackBerry mobile TV software

LIN TV in conjunction with Capitol Broadcasting’s News Over Wireless is offering mobile TV software for BlackBerry phones, LIN says (pdf file).

LIN operates 27 television stations and released BlackBerry software on August 7 that was customized for six of the stations: WISH, WAVY, KRQE, WANE, WALA and KXAN (see below).  LIN also offers iPhone applications.

New Over Wireless has been a pioneer in developing platform and client software for mobile television, and I’ve written about the company several times.

Mobile TV might have many detractors, but there certainly are a variety of ways to obtain it in the United States — from cellular operators, directly from content providers and from TV stations.

Mobile DTV tests planned for seven Washington, D.C. stations, other cities

The ATSC Mobile TV protocol, promoted by members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), will be tested in seven Washington, D.C. television stations and additional stations in at least five other cities through this August, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Anne Schelle, executive director of the OMVC, says in the article that Washington, D.C. is interesting because the seven stations will be testing broadcasts different power levels.  In addition, a VHF station, WUSA TV, is testing the protocol, and some engineers are wondering whether VHF is viable because it generally requires a larger antenna than UHF, Broadcasting & Cable reports.

The OMVC in partnership with the Association for Maximum Service Television will be conducting tests in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

Mobile TV among regular digital TV

The article notes how the TV stations are integrating their regular broadcast signals with Mobile DTV signals.  Jay Adrick, a vice president at Harris, is helping six of the Washington, D.C. stations employ exciters and encoders for mobile television.  He says most of the stations are using 3.7M bps for Mobile DTV, out of their total 19.4M bps for digital TV.

The mobile transmissions use MPEG-4 compression and a great deal of forward error correction for reliable performance, the article says.  As a result, only about 25 percent of the 3.7M bps — some 900K bps — is employed for transmitting the mobile DTV audio and video signal.

Africk says the Mobile DTV standard enables a station to reduce the error correction and transmit one video stream using a total of 900K bps.  Broadcasting & Cable says encoder manufacturers, such as Harris, Harmonic and Tandberg, are working with their customers to help efficiently compress their regular digital program transmissions in order to free bandwidth for mobile TV.

Harris has shipped Mobile DTV equipment to ten stations and has received orders from three more, the article says.

ATSC raises Mobile DTV status; formal standard perhaps in September

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the standards body working on the protocol for Mobile DTV, has increased the classification from “candidate” to “proposed standard” status, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Officially designated the ATSC-Mobile/Handheld standard, it is being promoted by members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) to provide mobile television to cellular phones and other electronic devices by using TV broadcasters' existing spectrum.  All that remains for Mobile DTV to become a formal standard is a vote by ATSC’s entire membership, which could occur next month, the article says.

If the vote is favorable, the standard could become official in September.

ION’s Mobile DTV

As I wrote, ION Media Networks in late June launched Mobile DTV in New York City and in a suburb of Washington, D.C. (Manassas, Va.).  Other Washington, D.C. area stations are slated to begin broadcasting the mobile TV signal this summer.

Commercial Mobile DTV service is expected to begin late this year or in 2010.

ION executive says Mobile DTV greatest financial potential since 30-second ads

John Lawson, the executive vice president at ION Media Networks, says mobile television employing the ATSC Mobile DTV protocol “represent[s] the biggest financial upside for the television broadcasting industry since the invention of the 30–second spot,” according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

“We see tens of millions of mobile DTV users in a few short years, an audience much larger — and much younger — than the remaining over-the-air viewer base today,” Lawson says.  Lawson certainly isn’t a disinterested observer; just a few days ago ION launched Mobile DTV in New York City and in Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., as I wrote.

ION is a founding member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), which promotes the Mobile DTV standard.  Also, Brandon Burgess, the chairman and CEO of ION, is the president of the OMVC.

ION’s Chapter XI

ION certainly would like mobile TV to become a big money-maker.  A few weeks ago the company filed for Chapter XI, and its financial status is unclear.

As I previously wrote, ION’s DTV effort is part of the company’s “triple play” offering for which it also launched a regular high definition channel and two digital networks.

Akamai to offer HTTP adaptive streaming for iPhone 3GS, iPod touch

From Gigaom I see that Akamai Technologies’ servers will offer HTTP adaptive streaming to the Apple iPhone 3GS and iPod touch via the newest OS X mobile operating system version 3.0, says Akamai’s press release.

As I wrote several days ago, HTTP adaptive streaming adjusts and compensates for data rate fluctuations in streaming video — wireless or wired — to offer the best quality based on the data speed.  It’s not a new technology, but it’s available now in the iPhone 3GS and will be available when the Apple’s new operating system version, Snow Leopard, is released later this year.

Akamai has established a demonstration Web site to showcase the technology (see below).  Content companies providing videos for the site include the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Discovery, Fox News, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, MTV, NPR, Turner Sports and USA Today, Akamai says.

Inlet Technologies’ software is encoding the live and video on demand highlights on that “iPhone 3.0 Video Showcase” site.

Business implications

As I noted in my previous blog posting, HTTP adaptive streaming runs in the Safari browser, without requiring a specific application.  That means content companies can offer video streaming without an app downloaded from iTunes and, possibly, without either Apple’s or AT&T’s approval.

Will Apple's HTTP adaptive streaming improve video viewing, revenues?

Liz Gannes of NewTeeVee has published an article in Business Week that suggests Apple’s use of HTTP adaptive streaming could dramatically improve the experience of viewing videos.  Gannes also implies it could affect business models.

In essence, HTTP adaptive streaming uses the highest available data rate and adjusts the video to compensate for different speeds of transmission.  A high speed data link typically will offer higher quality images than a low speed link.  But a key factor is the software will dynamically compensate for variable speeds without significant buffering so the video plays smoother rather than stuttering.

The iPhone’s Safari browser already incorporates this technique, although Apple’s computers won’t be able to take advantage of it until the new Snow Leopard operating system is available later this year, Gannes writes.

Business implications

Adaptive streaming isn’t a new concept and other companies offer it, such as Microsoft, Move Networks and Swarmcast, she says.  Apple didn’t publicly announce it until June, although the company worked secretly with video encoding firms Envivio and Inlet Technologies to produce demonstration projects.

Offering better quality cellular videos, especially with fluctuating data speeds, obviously is a useful feature.  But perhaps even more interesting is the possibility of using HTTP adaptive streaming for a new business model — at least from an Apple perspective.

“Because HTTP streaming is possible through the browser, developers who use it don’t need to pass through Apple and AT&T’s thorny App Store approval process.  (They also don’t have to expend the cost and effort of building out a specialized app.)  At this point, anyone who enables the technology is free to run it on 3G or WiFi,” Gannes says.

One commercial iPhone app

One iPhone application that already employs adaptive streaming is MLB.com’s At Bat program for live streaming baseball games and displaying a wealth of statistics, as I previously wrote.  At Bat costs a one-time $9.99, but MLB.com might offer new features — such as streaming local games that are now blacked out or more detailed statistics — for additional fees.

Obviously, streaming better quality video from Web sites directly to phones is another way to offer mobile video and mobile television programs.

ION Media Networks launches Mobile DTV in New York City, Washington, D.C.

ION Media Networks has launched ATSC Mobile DTV service — a mobile television protocol promoted by members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) — over its stations in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area, the company says.

The signal is available over ION’s WPXN (Channel 31) in New York and WPXW in Manassas, Va., a suburb of Washington.  The service is part of ION’s “triple play” launch which includes a regular high definition channel, two digital networks and Mobile DTV.

However, I’m not sure who is actually viewing the mobile TV offering.  As I’ve been writing about the OMVC since it was established in early 2007, the Mobile DTV protocol is still under development.  I don’t know if consumers may purchase any receivers, either standalone, in cellular phones or for computers.

Still testing

I assume Mobile DTV is being tested with prototype receivers by ION’s engineers and some executives.  Still, this isn’t to be dismissed because Washington has been designated as the “showcase” city for the mobile TV service’s launch, as I’ve previously written.

If the launch progresses as scheduled, Mobile DTV will generate greater interest later this summer when more mainstream TV stations in Washington, D.C., including CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS, will begin broadcasting the mobile TV signal.  I live in the area, so I certainly hope to be able to test it.

Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO of ION Media Networks, says in the press release, “Digital technology lets us reach more homes, enables HD quality and new digital networks, as well as mobile reception.  Among all these benefits, Mobile DTV may prove to be the most significant in the long run, allowing broadcasters to think beyond the living room and bring live television and real time information to consumers wherever they may be.”

Brett Jenkins, vice president of technology at ION, says, “The Mobile DTV ecosystem has now developed to the point that broadcasters are able to launch beta services, and we’re beginning to think through consumer and business implementations.”

Crave U.K. disparages European mobile TV quality, praises FLO TV

Crave U.K. doesn’t like the progress and quality of mobile television in Europe, but has nice things to say about Qualcomm’s FLO TV when the writer visited the United States.

Crave writes: 

“Is TV on our mobile phones destined to suck?

“We were leaning towards yes, after failed attempts by BT and Virgin which went down quicker than a brick Titanic, and the EU-favoured DVB-H system, which is going nowhere fast.  TV on the Web has exploded, but we tried BBC iPlayer on the Nokia N96, and it was a jerky reminder that TV over 3G doesn't really work yet — and the networks are none too happy to be providing the pipe that gets clogged up with our daily fix of the boob tube.

“But on our recent trip over the pond, Qualcomm showed us how it can be done...if you've got a few years and the budget of a small oil-rich kingdom.”

FLO TV shows the way

Crave says that with an investment of about $800 million, transmitters across the U.S., an advanced control center and a satellite, FLO TV is showing “the rest of the world how it’s done.”  The article notes that Qualcomm wants to offer mobile TV to the U.K. and other countries in Europe, and owns a significant amount of spectrum in the U.K.

I wouldn’t think many European would be pleased with Crave’s reaction, even though, arguably, FLO is technologically superior to DVB-H.

As I’ve written previously, FLO TV has an uphill battle trying to provide mobile TV in Europe, where Qualcomm isn’t especially liked, to put it kindly.  European countries aren’t thrilled with further lining the pockets of the company that for many years has been exacting licensing fees for its cellular patents.

Also, the European Commission has blessed the DVB-H standard, although not every EU nation wants to march in lock-step.

Los Angeles Times examines mobile TV platforms

The Los Angeles Times today has published an overview of mobile television, including Qualcomm’s FLO TV, MobiTV, the standard promoted by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) and the platform company Transpera.

Bill Stone, the president of FLO TV, says the company might have rolled out the service a bit early because of a lack of devices and coverage, but it’s now the leader in the United States for live streaming mobile TV.  Although other mobile TV companies might disagree, especially MobiTV, I’ve watched FLO and it definitely offers excellent quality video compared to other platforms.

Qualcomm has spent some $800 million on FLO, and is actively looking for new devices — besides cellular phones — on which to offer service.  In-vehicle entertainment systems, such as AT&T/RaySat CruiseCast, mobile TV, and portable media players, are among the possible FLO devices in the future.

Which investment makes sense?

Despite FLO’s efforts, the founder, president and CEO of Transpera, Frank Barbieri, says in the article that FLO ‘is going to go down as one of the colossal business mistakes of the first decade’ of the 21^st century.”  Transpera sells a mobile TV platform and offers an advertising distribution network.

(I really like the short videos, instead of photos, of Transpera’s management team.  The “moving” people are very Harry Potterish.)

Compared to FLO TV’s investment, the funds required by Open Mobile Video Coalition members to offer broadcast TV to mobile devices are minimal.  It costs $50,000 – $150,000 to equip a TV station for broadcasting signals that employ the ATSC Mobile DTV technology, notes Anne Schelle, executive director of the group.

As I’ve written previously, OMVC members this summer will use the Washington, D.C. metro area (my neck of the woods) to showcase free, advertising-supported mobile TV.  TV stations use their existing spectrum for mobile TV, so they don’t have to purchase expensive spectrum.

It’s inevitable

The Los Angeles Times reports that Terry Denson, the vice president of content strategy and acquisition at Verizon Wireless, says Verizon anticipates mobile TV becoming a mainstream product in three years.  I think that’s a reasonable timeframe, although is very country-dependent.

Mobile TV already is mainstream in South Korea and Japan.  It could become mainstream — faster — in the United States — if Apple implemented it on the iPhone and iPod touch.  But I don’t think that’s likely to happen.

China Telecom launches mobile TV, video streaming over CDMA EV-DO

China Telecom has launched mobile television and mobile video services in China over its CDMA 1xEV-DO network using equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks, according to EFYtimes.  The article doesn’t provide any information about the type of programs or pricing. 

I’ve watched a fair amount of mobile TV in the United States over EV-DO on Verizon Wireless and Sprint.  The quality over 3G varies,, but it’s not bad.  However, it’s not as good as Qualcomm’s FLO.TV service that’s broadcast over Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility.

The Chinese government is aggressively promoting mobile TV employing the Chinese protocol, CMMB, and the Chinese 3G protocol TD-SCDMA, as I recently noted.