Mobile TV faces legal hitch over ad rights

Mark Sweney
Wednesday August 9, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk

Mobile TV: broadcasters may need to clear rights separately to show TV ads

The broadcasting of TV shows over mobile phones has hit a legal grey area over advertising rights that may hamper the roll-out of several new services in the fledgling, but potentially lucrative, market.

Legal problems could temporarily affect ITV1's new simulcast channel deal with mobile company 3 and Virgin's roll-out of a mobile TV service backed by broadcasters.

At the heart of the problem is the question of whether broadcasters need to clear the rights separately to show TV ads over digital channels.

Channel 4, which last month pulled ads from its simulcast broadband TV service over this issue, has maintained that broadcasting online is simply "an extension of its TV activities".

However, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has raised the potential issue of actors and musicians suing agencies over copyright infringement.

ITV is launching its service, which will simulcast ITV1 content such as Coronation Street on 3's network, in the autumn.

The broadcaster is to enter discussions with the IPA and other key parties about securing mobile rights, but it may be necessary initially to launch the ITV mobile TV service with no advertising.

Virgin, which is yet to announce broadcast partners, is also planning an autumn launch for a mobile TV offering.

The IPA has been planning to tackle the issue once and for all with a large-scale meeting of all the parties involved, but this is not thought to be likely to occur until next month.

Because the mobile TV market is in its infancy, the issue does not have the same urgency as resolving the rights clearance issue for ads in the increasingly popular broadband TV market.

Channel 4 is yet to resume running ads on its broadband service.

It is also thought that mobile TV will be simpler to resolve because geographically the services will be available only within the UK.

Broadband TV services could be accessible internationally, creating a much larger headache when it comes to the main sticking point of music rights.

Last month, Australia changed its laws to bring live webcasts within the remit of broadcast content regulation, following the internet streaming of an alleged sexual assault during Big Brother.

The law change was prompted after Network Ten in Australia was able to avoid prosecution over the incident because in a legal loophole, the internet fell outside existing TV regulation.

The UK broadcasting industry regulator, Ofcom, has taken the position that, wherever possible, it actively wants to avoid regulating the internet.

Ofcom - in line with the government - has made clear its opposition to the European commission's proposal to extend the scope of broadcasting regulation to include new media platforms such as the internet.

Mobile Podcasting Not There Yet - It’s Starting to Happen

Статья из блога PodTech.Net про мобильные подкасты с небольшими моими комментариями.

What about mobile podcasting? That is podcasts on cell phones? I get this question all the time. I’m not bullish about it in the short term but it is obvious that it will happen. The question is when? Today Alltel announced that they are offering podcasts. AllTell, the No. 5 U.S. cellphone provider, said on Tuesday it will provide a service to download audio clips from the Internet to cellphones in a bid to expand its business beyond voice services.

Personally there are many reason why podcasts aren’t on cellphones now and why adopting isn’t happening at itunes like breakneck speed. It has nothing to do with demand. It’s a combination of technical and vendor issues. Also there is the impact of music and DRM which also hold back podcasting.

Some thoughts on mobile podcasting

• Mobile podcasting will initially take off as side-loaded solution to phones that have memory cards (e.g. Motorola Q) + phone-based search and tagging of podcasts.
• Over-the-air streaming will come later supported by a monthly subscription service or mobile advertising.
• Ad-driven white-label mobile podcasting service/software has some potential to succeed.

Mobile music

• Arriving within the next year in the US

Several barriers currently to Music – main ones are:

• lack of good, open-DRM software or tracking software
• labels asking for too much rev-share and not willing to try non-DRM solutions

Mobile podcasting

Key challenges

• No money in the system today - who pays for what is a big question on people’s minds especially the carriers

Деньги в системе есть, пусть и небольшие

• Has to be supported by mobile advertising – podcasters will get a rev share of all ads generated from listening to mobile podcasts

Совсем не обязательно, хотя и, конечно, желательно

• Mobile advertising is early but coming along

У нас пока отсутствует как класс.

• There is no way to charge consumers for podcasts

Может быть в Америке это и так, а у нас вполне можно найти способ принимать платежи.

Technical complications

• File sizes can be large - 3-4 hours long which is a big problem – average podcast is 30-60 minutes long

Думаю, что по 3-4 часа мобильные подкасты никто слушать не будет - 10-15 минут максимум. Так что проблема не актуальна.

• The files are MP3s, not all compressed like AAC+ or WME-Advanced

Что мешает компании, обеспечивающей вещание, перекодировать все в нужный формат?

Factors in favor of mobile podcasting

• DRM doesn’t matter for podcasting (as opposed to mobile music)
• Flat-rate data plans – being adopted fast by consumers – Sprint charges $15 per month

Для нас не актуально пока

• Content and Carriers are testing the market with a mobile podcasting prototypes

У нас пока до тестинга дело еще не дошло

It is clear that mobility is the killer app for podcasting as both an entertainment and communications tool but first music needs to penetrate first. It’s a matter of time but just not this year.

Companies working on this:
There are some firms working hard to “crack this code”. Check out Melodeo, VoiceIndigo, and Spodradio out of Germany.

446 Million Watching TV on Their Cell Phones By 2011

IMS Research forecasts that by the end of 2011, nearly half a billion people will be watching TV on their cellular handsets. Driven primarily by the adoption of broadcast-based services such as DVB-H, mobile digital TV will experience 50% year-on-year growth through 2010.

Based on a recent study from IMS Research entitled Mobile TV " A Complete Analysis of the Global Market " 2006 Edition, mobile TV delivered over the cellular data network should experience strong growth and build on its early lead in the marketplace. However beginning early in 2010, cellular network-based mobile TV subscriptions will be overtaken by even quicker growth in digital broadcast services. By then, more than half of the world's mobile TV subscribers will receive their video via a mobile digital broadcast service.

"Given the right conditions, mobile TV has the potential to spread from one customer to the next like few technologies before it," stated one of the report's authors, Stephen Froehlich. "If providers effectively supply compelling content, quality reception, and affordable, attractive phones, then every new mobile TV subscriber can become a mobile TV evangelist. However, to make their customers into product evangelists, mobile TV service providers and their partners must invest enough in infrastructure and technology to enable both wide population coverage and good indoor reception."

Mobile Streams Expands Into Latin America

NEWBURY, UK, 26 July 2004
Mobile Streams, the global mobile content company, announced today that it has established operations in the Latin American region with the opening of four subsidiary companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

Simon Buckingham, CEO of Mobile Streams said: “Opening the subsidiary companies in Latin America is a further demonstration of our commitment to be the global content company with a local presence. Mobile Streams is expanding at a phenomenal rate, and we are keen to ensure that our customers enjoy superior service and relevant content”

“Establishing local subsidiaries in Latin America has enabled Mobile Streams to enter into contracts with network operators and music publishing agencies, hire local staff and invest heavily in this exciting region” said, Warren Platt, VP of Global Business Development at Mobile Streams. He adds “Mobile Streams expects to execute multiple contracts in Latin America in the very near future and position ourselves as the premier provider of mainstream and innovative mobile content”

About Mobile Streams
Founded in 1999, Mobile Streams is a leading global supplier of mobile content and a pioneer in the Mobile Messaging and Mobile Entertainment arenas. With one of the largest portfolios of best in class content, Mobile Streams can deliver licensed carrier grade solutions globally and also sell direct to consumers.
With its Premium Brands of Ringtones.com, Mobilebackgrounds.com, Mobilegaming.com, Mobileadults.com, the Mobile Streams in-house content team leads in the creation, design and licensing of premium content such as polyphonic ringtones, animated and static backgrounds, MMS Content and Java Games.

ROK Enters U.S. Market; Launches Mobile TV Service

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/
ROK Entertainment Group has launched the popular ROK TV streaming mobile TV service in the United States. Users can now go to www.roktv.com and subscribe to thirteen channels of content for only $0.99 per channel. ROK has licensed content from well over 50 content providers, enough for dozens of channels, which will be going live throughout the coming weeks.

However, this is not just another re-hash of the typical mobile video channel offerings. ROK bills its service as one that focuses on niche, independent, alternative, urban, and international content such as TV Reggaeton, OutThere TV, and Noche De Salsa. This is largely due to ROK's UK experience that has shown mobile TV to be a '3x5 proposition' where consumers' usage tends to take on a 'three minutes at a time, five times a day' pattern and where these types of channels are proving as popular as major brand names. As such, ROK TV's programming line-up is being designed to be the latest, coolest, content available.

"We see large demographic and affinity segments of active mobile media consumers that are being underserved by the content offerings of existing mobile video services," says Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman of ROK who continues, "But we're not turning away from major entertainment, news or sports programming, in fact we fully intend to showcase the power of major media brands and sponsors in a variety of unique ways as the service grows." ROK TV currently includes a range of live news, sports, music, cartoons and entertainment channels in its UK lineup.

ROK TV, which runs over 2.5G and 3G networks, has been live in the UK since late last year. It was recently reviewed in a report by Strategy Analytics and, by a vote of users, came in #2 out of four services. Even though ROK TV was running over 2.5G it beat out 3G services -- Hutchison's '3' and Orange -- both run by US-based MobiTV.

To get ROK TV, users go to www.roktv.com, register and download the software to their Smartphone, Windows Mobile or Java device. Then with a few clicks build their own custom package of channels. "It's a simple process now, but getting even easier in the next few weeks," says Kendrick. "And to help motivate people through the process, we've got an incentive for them."

That incentive is one month of free ROK TV for all new subscribers.

In addition to basic streaming channels, ROK TV will soon be adding On-Demand and Premium programming. "We're going to keep adding features and functionality to the service, including those never available in the U.S.," says Bruce Renny, Head of Global Marketing for ROK.

One of those features is ROK STAR, which lets the viewer interact with Mobile TV without ever leaving the viewing experience. "Basically, a viewer can be watching a game show or shopping channel, press the 'star' key, and a transparent overlay rolls over the screen which lets the user interact with the program. This could be anything from voting, to messaging, to purchasing a product or ring tone, without having to stop watching the program. It is essentially the complete ITV experience on your mobile phone."

ROK Entertainment Group recently set up offices in Beverly Hills, CA and plans to launch a number of innovative mobile products and services. "We're looking forward to working with many partners in the U.S., including MNO's, hardware manufacturers, and content providers," said Renny.

About ROK:

ROK Entertainment Group was founded in 2003 with a mandate to create the technology required to stream video content to mass-market 2.5G mobile phones over GPRS, 3G and EDGE.

ROK TV technology is patent-pending.

ROK employs 130 staff worldwide with offices in the UK, Los Angeles and Beijing.

ROK has, to date, licensed its innovative mobile TV technologies to 8 mobile networks worldwide with more deals in-process.

Sprint phones to offer baseball games audio

NEW YORK - Baseball fans will soon be able to use their cell phones to take them out to the ballgame. Sprint reached an agreement with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the sport's Internet wing, to make audio of radio broadcasts available to its subscribers' mobile phones for $5.99 a month.

Under the deal, announced Wednesday, the local flagship station broadcasts will be available for all 30 teams for each game. The service will likely launch in mid-August, Sprint spokesman Dave Mellin said Tuesday.

"Baseball is a game that's a daily game, and your phone is always with you," said Bob Bowman, president of MLBAM. "The thought was, let's give them baseball 24 hours a day. Live baseball is really important to fans. Rather than try to get an update, tune into the Brewers game or tune into the Red Sox game. They want to listen to the third inning. They want to listen to the seventh inning."

While Mellin said Sprint had 45 million subscribers, the technology will be available only to those with Sprint PCS Vision and Power VisionSM phones. He did not have a figure on how many Sprint subscribers had handsets capable of receiving the baseball audio service.

"This is this generation's version of the transistor radio," Mellin said.

Bowman and Mellin said the deal was not exclusive, meaning MLBAM had the right to strike similar agreements with Sprint's competitors.

Sprint has a deal to offer audio and video highlights of NFL games, but not live broadcasts, and also allows fans at NASCAR races to choose camera angles and listen to in-car audio.

(c) Yahoo News

Mobile Streams Buys LA-Based Urban Mobile Music Firm Nickels Group

UK-based mobile content firm Mobile Streams (publicly traded on AIM on London) has made more forays into U.S., with acquisition of of the Nickels Group, the LA-based mobile production company. The Nickels Group specializes in the licensing and distribution of urban music. The deal will "significantly strengthen Mobile Streams' content generation and distribution business as well as providing a strategic foothold on the West coast of America".
The two companies were already working together on some projects, including Reggaeton Nation, The Hyphy Movement, and the new offering from Nexxt Mobile and Paul Wall's G.R.I.T. Boys, the mobile reality series.
Founders Jonas Hudson and Daryl Young will join Mobile Streams as senior VPs.

Более ранние заметки о Mobile Streams:

Mobile Streams, an international mobile media and music company, has reached an agreement to acquire the mobile entertainment group Mobilemode Ltd. It’s a part cash and part stock deal. The maximum total consideration of the deal is €8 million, with €1 million going in upfront payment.
This will mark Mobile Streams’ entry into the Asia Pacific market in a big way, since Mobilemode, founded in 1999, delivers mobile entertainment content and services to mobile phone operators and portals mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.


20/04/2006
Mobile Streams Acquires Cyoshi Mobile to Expand European Mobile Video Content and Distribution

Mobile Streams Plc, the mobile media specialist, announces the acquisition of Cyoshi Mobile GmbH (“Cyoshi”) for a total consideration of €3m to be paid €2m in cash and €1m in Mobile Streams shares. Based in Germany, Cyoshi is a leading independent producer and distributor of mobile media - especially video content - across Europe. The acquisition will strengthen Mobile Streams’ footprint across mainland Europe and provide them with direct access to exclusive mobile content.

Cyoshi Mobile, which was formed as a subsidiary of the television and film production company Cyoshi Crucial GmbH, develops, licenses, produces, aggregates and distributes branded content and applications for wireless devices and is a leader in the field of made-for-mobile content production. The company offers premium content and solutions that specifically address the requirements of the emerging mobile video and mobile TV market.

Cyoshi has pioneered the introduction of short-form animated cartoon content that has proven to be highly popular on mobile phones, and successfully took the cult internet series “Happy Tree Friends” onto mobile. Its portfolio of exclusive content includes other cartoon shows such as “Suicidal Squirrels” and “Joe Cartoon”.

Furthermore, Cyoshi Mobile has exclusive rights for mainland European distribution of the Australia based mobile community FunkySexyCool (“FSC”). Labelled “the largest party on your mobile”, FSC is a unique viral community concept which combines elements such as live chat, messaging, photo and video profiles with a unique voting system. Cyoshi Mobile also has licensed rights to the Holy Bible scriptures for mobile content in 22 languages. The application allows mobile phone users the choice between linear reading and targeted sections from both the Old and the New Testament.

Cyoshi Mobile has a strong distribution network throughout Europe, including existing direct relationships with Vodafone, T-Mobile, Hutchison 3G, and numerous other operators to supply content throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

This acquisition reaffirms Mobile Streams’ stated goals during its recent listing in London to enhance its portfolio of exclusive content and develop its international presence in selected markets.

The three founding members of Cyoshi Mobile GmbH – Christoph Reisner, Arnd Aschentrup and Steffen Heisterberg – will continue to run the business within Mobile Streams. Christoph will become EVP Mobile Streams Europe, whilst Arnd and Steffen will remain in senior roles responsible for finance and content. Cyoshi Mobile will be renamed Mobile Streams Europe and will be responsible for all Mobile Streams’ business in mainland Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Cyoshi will immediately commence powering their business using Mobile Streams’ Vuesia platform.

Simon Buckingham, Mobile Streams CEO said: “This complementary acquisition accelerates our strategy in several important ways - it extends our operator distribution footprint from the UK across both continental and Eastern Europe while also accelerating our content strategy by adding compelling licensed content.”

Buckingham added, “Cyoshi’s content and TV production background will also strengthen Mobile Streams’ leadership in the fast growing mobile video sector of the mobile media market. Most importantly, the Cyoshi employees share our excitement for the sector and I look forward to working with them all as we grow our businesses together.”

Christoph Reisner, Cyoshi, said: “We are delighted to join Mobile Streams’ fast-growing portfolio and to have found like-minded entrepreneurs in the wireless industry. We look forward to creating more lively content to entertain mobile users throughout Europe.”


Mobile Streams seeks Aim listing

Published: January 9 2006 22:42

Mobile Streams, which provides entertainment content for mobile phones, is planning an Aim listing by the end of March after John Malone’s Liberty Media took a 22 per cent stake on Monday.

Liberty’s investment, worth more than £5m, implies a valuation of about £27m for the seven-year-old company. Mobile Streams said it intended to raise about £6m through a placing by Bridgewell Securities, the vast majority of which will be new shares as its current investors are likely to sell only small stakes.

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As part of the alliance with Liberty, a US-based cable and media investment group, Mobile Streams will also take over the management of ConnectID, a subsidiary of Liberty’s wireless technology division, True Position. The business specialises in using the ability to pinpoint the location of a cellphone to allow parents to track their children or to offer “location aware content” such as directions or advice about local services.

Mobile Streams, which works with media content owners and mobile network operators, would invest the funds raised by the placing in developing more of its own content, said Roger Parry, who became its chairman last year.

The group, which makes more than 40 per cent of its revenues from outside the UK, is hoping to use the Liberty alliance to expand more rapidly in the US market.

Industry analysts have estimated that mobile entertainment may be worth $31.7bn (£17.9bn) by 2009 as more third generation handsets come on to the market.

There is still considerable debate, however, over who exactly will make the most money from such services – the content owners, mobile operators or the middlemen.

(c) FT

Rapper's ring bling

Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, sold a record 3 million ringtones from a song by rapper Chamillionaire, illustrating the growing importance of mobile-phone downloads to U.S. music companies. The sales, at about $2.50 a pop, imply revenue of as much as $7.5 million for the track, "Ridin.' ""This shows how fast the market is exploding," Rio Caraeff, general manager of Universal Music Mobile U.S., said. "We had several weeks where it sold over 200,000 units per week in the U.S. It's astonishing."

Chamillionaire has also sold 30,000 mobile video downloads of Ridin’ — 5,808 in one day — in the UK alone and the debut single is not even out yet!

(c) Charlotte Observer

Bravo Launches It Mobile Service; On Amp'd First

Bravo announces plans to launch "Bravo to Go", a service for mobile users featuring content from several of the network's hit series. The service launches on Wednesday, August 9 on Amp'd Mobile, the pioneer of fully integrated mobile entertainment. This marks the first ever NBCU mobile TV deal for an entertainment cable network.

Участники сделки: Bravo - кабельная телесеть, Apm'd - MVNO, ориентированный прежде всего на 3G-услуги.

The announcement was made today (09/08/2006) by Lauren Zalaznick, President, Bravo.

"Our audience has an investment in our shows, they are big consumers of media and extremely tech savvy," said Zalaznick. "'Bravo to Go' is the next step in expanding our outreach -- going beyond television, online, broadband, SMS text messaging and even Bravo's multiple WAP sites -- to further connect our viewers to their favorite Bravo shows."

Salil Dalvi, VP Digital Media, Wireless, NBCU said, "Bravo is playing a lead role in bringing NBCU's signature brands to mobile consumers. Whether it is a video, mobile web or ring tones, Bravo helps its audience stay connected to its breakthrough programming."

Amp'd mobile users can access "Bravo to Go" on their phones in the Entertainment section under "On Demand TV Clips." Content will be refreshed weekly and will consist of 1-3 minute clips from the network's most popular and critically-acclaimed shows, including:

"Project Runway" - Weekly episodic summaries of the Emmy-nominated hit series

"Queer Eye" - The Fab Five's Hip Tips from the Emmy-winning series

Everyone's favorite D-Lister Kathy Griffin - Excerpts from the Emmy-nominated series "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List" and her specials "Strong Black Woman" and "My Name is Not Nicole Kidman"

"Inside the Actors Studio" - Highlights from the 12-time-Emmy-nominated series featuring James Lipton's incisive interviews with Hollywood's most intriguing personalities, including Dave Chapelle, Hugh Laurie, Dustin Hoffman, and more.

Published: www.nbcumv.com

Alltel to offer podcasts on cellphones

Alltel Corp. the No. 5 U.S. cellphone provider, said on Tuesday it will provide a service to download audio clips from the Internet to cellphones in a bid to expand its business beyond voice services.

Like its bigger rivals, Alltel plans to boost revenue with new services as phone call prices decline. Alltel, the leading U.S. rural wireless provider, said it will charge $3.99 a month to let subscribers download or stream Web-based clips, also known as podcasts, to their cellphones.

Privately held Melodeo of Seattle is providing Alltel with the technology to offer the clips, which could include everything from sports, entertainment or news clips from media companies to clips from independent podcast creators.

The popularity of portable digital music players such Apple Computer Inc.'s (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) iPod helped spur the creation of podcasts by media companies and individuals. These clips are often free on the Internet, but Melodeo hopes users will pay for the convenience of having the clips on their cellphones.

Listening to podcasts via desktop computers or iPods has become popular, particularly among young people, but it is not clear how quickly the trend will spread to cellphones, according to Jupiter Research analyst Julie Ask.

"There's no doubt that there's interest in podcasts," she said. "The only open question is to what extent I'm going to do this on the fly or plan and take it with me."

About 20 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds have listened to or downloaded a podcast, according to Ask.

(c) Reuters NEW YORK

Sprint Bets on WiMax

Sprint Nextel, whose Q2 earnings were not pretty, is expected to put its weight behind deploying long-range high-speed internet technology WiMax, reports WSJ. he move would mark a significant win for backers of the new technology, such as Intel and Motorola, while it would be a setback for Qualcomm, which is behind a rival technology.

Analysts say building a nationwide WiMax network could cost Sprint between $1 billion and $4 billion, a hefty sum for a company that is already struggling to meet Wall Street's expectations.
The company said in the past that such a network would be designed to accommodate heavy data-usage activities like video streaming on cellphones and laptops without clogging up the phone networks. The company wants to tap into an entirely new market by eventually connecting consumer electronics devices such as videocameras and MP3 players to the Internet for the first time, the story said.
The situation is not all bad for Qualcomm, however. Sprint and other cellular operators will continue to use its EVDO wireless broadband technology even if they roll out WiMax alongside it, analysts say.

MTV Networks приобретает за $200 миллионов Atom Entertainment

10.08.2006 11:19:02
Источник: Пресс-служба MTV Россия

Руководство MTV Networks объявило о приобретении за $200 миллионов компании Atom Entertainment, владеющей 4 крупнейшими онлайн-брэндами, специализирующимися на игровом и видео контенте. Покупка Atom Entertainment – новый шаг в реализации стратегии превращения MTV Networks «во вселенную музыки, игр, развлечений, новостей, интерактивных технологий и контента».

Atom Entertainment является пионером в области онлайн-развлечений. Входящие в состав Atom порталы Shockwave.com и AddictingGames.com – ведущие марки на рынке casual games (почти 1.5 миллиона бесплатных и доступных для скачивания игр), AtomFilms.com и AddictingClips.com – популярнейшие хранилища онлайн-«приколов», анимации и видеофайлов, созданных самими пользователями интернета.

Покупке Atom Entertainment предшествовали несколько других крупных приобретений, совершенных в последнее время MTV Networks – XFIRE, Y2M, GameTrailers.com, IFILM и Neopets. «Эта покупка – очередной шаг в реализации нашей глобальной «цифровой» стратегии», - говорит управляющий Viacom Том Фрестон.

Shockwave.com и AddictingGames.com пополнили портфолио брэндов MTVN, существующих на рынке casual games (ранее в составе MTVN были только Nick.com и Neopets) и вывели в безусловные лидеры этого рынка. Теперь «под шапкой» MTV в интернете будут играть свыше 400 миллионов человек.
Окончательно сделка будет оформлена в третьем квартале 2006 года.

Справка:

Подразделение Viacom, один из мировых лидеров в области создания и оформления контента для всех существующих медиа-платформ. MTV Networks – это свыше 120 телеканалов по всему миру. Владеет и управляет такими телевизионными брэндами, как MTV: Music Television, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, TV Land, Spike TV, CMT, Noggin, VH1 Classic, Logo, MTVN International и 13 цифровыми каналами.

MTV Россия - группа компаний, в состав которой входят телеканалы MTV Россия и VH1 Россия, а также звукозаписывающая и торговая компания «Музыка XXI Век». Официальный партнер MTV Networks International. Руководитель – Леонид Юргелас.

France Moves Forward in Mobile TV Legislation

France's Bouygues Telecom says that it welcomes the move by the French Council of Ministers to approve the draft bill on the modernisation of audiovisual broadcasting and the television of tomorrow. This text is a necessary first step toward the emergence of mobile television in France.

Bouygues Telecom would like to reiterate that all of the French industrial players gathered within the Mobile TV Forum - which brings together television channels, mobile phone operators, handset manufacturers and stakeholders - have reached a consensus on the development of mobile television.

Several countries have already launched new mobile television services, including Japan, South Korea, South Africa and Italy. Most of the big European countries plan to launch commercial services in 2006 and 2007. Italy took advantage of the World Cup Football Games to launch Mobile TV via DVB-H in May 2006, becoming the first European country to offer this new service.

The commercial success of these services reflects the keen interest in personal, mobile television, which is confirmed by recent trials conducted in France. France has always been a pioneer in the audiovisual world and should not be left behind. Bouygues Telecom would thus like to see France set out on a similar path as soon as possible. For Nonce Paolini, Chief Operating Officer of Bouygues Telecom, "France simply has to launch mobile television in time for the Rugby World Cup games, to be hosted by our nation on 7 September 2007. This would create an excellent opportunity to move out of the stone age of costly, elitist mobile television services and into the golden age of personal mobile broadcast television affordable for all".

(c) cellular-news.com

ITV, Hutchison's 3 Will Offer ITV1 Live to Cellular Customers

ITV Plc, Britain's largest commercial television broadcaster, will offer its flagship channel live to customers of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s U.K. mobile-phone unit 3.

The agreement means 3.5 million 3 subscribers will be able to watch ITV1, and the participation channel ITV Play, on their cellular phones starting this autumn, ITV and 3 said in an e- mailed statement. ITV has granted 3 an exclusive 3G mobile license for six months, the statement said.

The move offers viewers of London-based ITV more choice at a time when ratings at its flagship station have been hurt by an increase in channels available on cable, satellite and a subscription-free digital television service called Freeview.

For 3, which already makes TV content available on cellular phones and also streams live TV, the arrangement is a ``natural next step'' as the group seeks to meet all its customers' communication and entertainment needs on the move, 3 Chief Executive Officer Bob Fuller said in the statement.

The arrangement follows the introduction of ITV's first mobile portal last September. The broadcaster has partnered with 3, France Telecom SA's Orange phone unit and Telefonica SA's O2 to let subscribers access ITV content, the statement said.

``We are delighted that we are teaming up with 3 to be the first terrestrial broadcaster in the U.K. to launch this kind of service,'' ITV CEO Charles Allen said in the statement. ``This is a bold new service from ITV and 3 which makes the ambition of fully streamed mobile TV a reality.'

Hutchison Whampoa, the world's biggest container-terminal operator, is controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

(c) Bloomberg

US and Japan to Lead Mobile TV Market, Contributing to Worldwide Revenues of $11.7bn by 2011

A new report from analyst firm Juniper Research predicts that Broadcast Mobile TV will reach revenues of $11.7bn worldwide by 2011. Japan is predicted to lead the market with revenues reaching $2.9bn and the US will follow closely at $1.8bn. The UK is also predicted to be a key market at $989m.

Although Japan is initially offering a free service on its ISDB-T ‘One Seg’ network, Juniper Research predicts that it will start charging for the service in 2008. Japan, US and UK markets are prime breeding grounds for mobile television viewing mainly because of the large appetite for TV viewing.

Although South Korea has had a head start in broadcast Mobile TV with its DMB efforts, Japan and the US will overtake it in terms of the number of subscribers, purely based on the larger mobile subscriber base. Of the overall broadcast Mobile TV subscriber market Japan, US and South Korea will make up 39%, with the other major markets being Germany, Italy, UK, India and China, making up 36% by 2011. Juniper Research has short listed 26 key countries/regions around the world for broadcast Mobile TV services.

Aditya Kaul, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research and report author stated that, “2006 has been an interesting year for Mobile TV with a large number of announcements concerning broadcast Mobile TV trials and rollouts, many of them timed with the World Cup in mind. The key highlights have been an increased uptake in streamed Mobile TV services and surprising results from broadcast Mobile TV trials, showing a dramatic increase in the average time spent by the consumer on watching Mobile TV”

However, there is still some skepticism in the degree of success for broadcast Mobile TV. “Broadcast Mobile TV is definitely a step in the right direction but its success will depend on many factors such as the type of content, content rights, security, spectrum availability, business models, regulation and quality of indoor coverage”, Aditya adds.

BBC, Vodafone Sign Mobile Video Clips Deal

Mobile users across Australasia will be able to download clips from popular BBC titles 'The Office', 'Little Britain' and 'Doctor Who', amongst others, after the conclusion of a deal between BBC Worldwide and Vodafone in both New Zealand and Australia.

The deal reportedly marks the first time this content has been licensed for mobile download outside the UK, and the first time any BBC content has been made available to mobile users in New Zealand.

The deal incorporates more than 250 clips, between 30 seconds and three minutes in length each. Users of 2G phones will be able to purchase all ringtones and stills, and clips of up to two minutes in length.

(c) WirelessInsightAsia.com

Poker Comes to VCAST from Verizon Wireless

Beginning today (Aug 03, 2006) video content from the 2006 World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold'em World Championship will appear exclusively on VCAST from Verizon Wireless.

Two World Series of Poker videos are being broadcast daily starting today on VCAST in the Sports channel. The video will include action from the World Series of Poker tournament floor, interviews with top poker professionals and updates on current leaders. Content is provided courtesy of AOL and Card Player magazine and published by Glu Mobile through its multi-year, worldwide alliance with Harrah's.

At the conclusion of the World Championship final table, which begins on August 10, a package of video highlights will be featured on the VCAST Sports channel. In addition to VCAST, daily video updates from the World Series of Poker will appear on AOL, www.worldseriesofpoker.com and www.cardplayer.com . The final table of the Main Event will also be broadcast on live pay-per-view on ESPN for the first time in history.

The World Series of Poker video on VCAST is the latest addition to the mobile content developed and published by Glu. World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em, World Series of Poker Player Advisor, as well as wallpapers based on the brand will be available beginning in mid-August.

Virgin's First Mobile TV Handset Sighted

"The first handset in the UK to support mobile broadcast TV has appeared in a Carphone Warehouse brochure, which quotes a September release date." The release date wasn't confirmed by Virgin (which is the telco putting out the phone), which said the release date was still changing and it could be "a little later on".

The catalogue has Virgin Mobile's Lobster 700 TV device — designed by HTC and running on Windows Mobile 5.0 — listed in the "coming soon" section.


The device will be the first in the UK to provide broadcast television to mobiles through the DAB-IP (Digital Audio Broadcasting — Internet Protocol) standard, which is a new extension of the popular digital radio platform DAB.

A rival standard, called DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting — Handheld) will theoretically provide a greater range of channels, but has been held up because the spectrum it needs isn't available in the UK.

Both standards promise a better user experience than previous efforts at TV handsets, which have been based on bandwidth-hungry 3G technology and have generally been limited to short clips.

New Mobile TV Flavor: TDtv

Еще одна январская "новость" на технологическую тему

The mobile TV technology, dubbed TDtv, utilizes UMTS TD-CDMA technology -- and cellular channels -- in the recently defined 3GPP Release 6 Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard (MBMS). By the end of 2007, IPWireless claims, the cost of adding TDtv to a handset will be around $10.

It joins other cellular and broadcast technologies such as DVB-H (at 1.7 GHz), MediaFLO (at 700 MHz) and DMB (at 2.3 GHz). MediaFLO and DVB-H are really mini television stations. Instead of trying to stuff video onto a duplex cellular channel like Verizon's VCast, MobiTV and GoTV, these mobile video services use standalone wireless networks. TDtv would use cellular frequencies. The difference is that it could multicast the same signal to hundreds or thousands of subscribers, using the spectrum more efficiently.


Being part of the 3GPP family of standards also means that TDtv has far better integration with WCDMA systems than Mobile TV technologies that require a dedicated frequency. By utilizing the Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BMSC) as defined in the 3GPP standard, the two networks can work in unison to deliver services to subscribers.

IPWireless, which has been using simplex cellular channels to deliver mobile data, is targeting mobile operators already offering W-CDMA based 3G networks. It says TDtv offers advantages over the competing mobile TV solutions since providers can use their existing spectrum and infrastructure.

EE Times says several European and Asian operators have already committed to pilot TDtv based networks operating at 1900MHz or 2100MHz in the first half of 2006, as has Sprint Nextel, which is already trialing IPWireless’ TD-CDMA technology based broadband access equipment.

TDtv enables the delivery of up to 50 channels of TV for standard screen size phones, or 15 higher quality QVGA channels via existing 5Mz of unpaired 3G spectrum available across Europe and Asia. In Japan, IPMobile plans to trial the technology for their services in their recently awarded 2010MHz spectrum. The mobile TV solution will also be made available to operators in the other frequency bands that IPWireless supports globally, including the 2.5GHz band.

The IPWireless architecture is designed to integrate seamlessly with WCDMA on both the network and device side. At the cell site, the very low cost TDtv base stations can easily be co-sited on existing WCDMA sites without additional regulatory issues.

When this new standard may actually show up in chips and services remains to be seen. 3GPP Release 6 includes numerous new features, among them being High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), the second phase of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), inter-working with Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), and Enablers for Push to talk (PoC).

Relying on W-CDMA infrastructure may be TDtv's weakness as well as its strength. Any HSUPA upgrade will take years, perhaps 2009 or later. By that time competitors like MediaFLO and DVB-H will be well established. In the United States, only Cingular currently uses W-CDMA. MediaFLO and DVB-H could potentially have a larger market since both W-CDMA and EV-DO carriers can integrate that technology into their phones. Laptops and PDAs could also be used to receive mobile televison via standalone networks like MediaFLO. Cellular service is not required with TDtv's competitors who are rolling out this year.

Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless announced that Qualcomm and its subsidiary MediaFLO USA, are working with Verizon Wireless to bring its customers real-time mobile video over the MediaFLO multicasting network in the United States.

Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless expect to launch mobile TV services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the markets already covered by Verizons' EV-DO-based broadband network. Verizon Wireless will be the first U.S. wireless service provider to offer MediaFLO when the network is commercially available in 2006.

Competitor Modeo, the DVB-H mobile television technology being developed by Crown Castle Mobile Media, announced that it will begin rolling out DVB-H services in the top 30 markets across the USA this year.

By 2007 Crown Castle said it will offer the service to 30 U.S. markets covering about half the population. It will feature about 10 video channels and at least 24 audio channels that can be received by cellphones, PDAs and other portable devices. The DVB-H enabled Nokia N92 has DVB-H built in. Nokia likes mobile television delivered OTA via the DVB-H standard.

Who's Online

Немного старая, от начала января 2006 года, новость:

Modeo, the mobile television technology being developed by Crown Castle Mobile Media, announced 04/01/2006 that it will begin rolling out DVB-H services in the top 30 markets across the USA this year.

By 2007 Crown Castle said it will offer the service to 30 U.S. markets covering about half the population. It will feature about 10 video channels and at least 24 audio channels that can be received by cellphones, PDAs and other portable devices. Combined video and audio subscriptions are expected to cost about $15 to $20 a month while separate audio subscriptions would cost $7 to $9, said Modeo treasurer Jay Brown. Modeo has not yet signed programming deals or named cellphone provider partners.

Modeo's package of live video and audio channels is expected to be the world's first mobile broadcast network to support podcasting. Video services are designed to be broadcast in digital TV quality at QVGA resolution at up to 30 frames per second, significantly exceeding the quality offered by first generation mobile video products that used cellular channels.

Modeo plans a nationwide network of what are essentially mini television stations at 1.7 GHz using the DVB-H standard. Speculation is that Cingular and T-Mobile may use it with DVB-H phones like the Nokia's N-92 (specs).

TI showed off its new Hollywood mobile broadcast chips at CES this week (although no devices were yet available using it). Texas Instruments says it's the first in the industry to integrate the mobile TV tuner and demodulator into one piece of silicon using standard 90 nanometer digital process.

The first two products in the Hollywood mobile DTV family are:


* DTV1000 o DVB-H (digital video broadcast - handheld) which is being deployed world-wide including Europe, the U.S. and parts of Asia o Operates at 470-750 MHz (UHF) and 1.670-1.675 GHz (L-band) frequency ranges

* DTV1001 o ISDB-T (integrated services digital broadcast - terrestrial) one-segment which is being deployed in Japan o Operates at 470-770 MHz frequency range


Primary standard support includes DVB-H which is being deployed world-wide including Europe, the U.S. and parts of Asia, and ISDB-T which is being deployed in Japan. DVB-H and ISDB-T use OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) technology which provides good spectral efficiency and immunity to multi-path to offer improved mobile TV performance.

Competitor Qualcomm Media FLO technology is said to support up to 20 streaming channels of high-quality video at up to 30 frames per second, 10 stereo audio channels, and up to 800 minutes of stored Clipcast content per day. Qualcomm said the average channel-switching time is 1.5 seconds without buffering or progress bars.

Qualcomm and Samsung demoed MediaFLO for cell phones and LG Electronics demoed MediaFLO at CES .

Verizon has committed to MediaFLO. Qualcomm expects to begin commercial operation of the MediaFLO System in the fourth quarter of 2006. The MediaFLO Media Distribution System, will deliver multimedia content to mobile devices in the 700 MHz spectrum for which QUALCOMM holds licenses with a nationwide footprint.

Meanwhile, MobiTV today announced the official launch and immediate availability of WiFi enabled MobiTV Service for the $300 Palm T|X handheld. The MobiTV WiFi version is similar to the MobiTV offering for Palm Treo 650 smartphones featuring a simple, TV-like interface that includes a graphical channel guide and support for channel navigation and volume control using the familiar 5-way native Palm navigation and touch screen capabilities. More than a dozen streaming video channels are available.

ABI Research projects that 250 million people worldwide will be watching movies, TV shows and "podcasts" on wireless portable devices like cellular phones and handheld organizers by 2010.

FireAnt is focused on video blogging. The "aggregator," can locate content and play it no matter what video format it's been uploaded in, including Quicktime, Window Media, or Flash. Digital cameras like the Pentax Optio S6 ($300) and A10 ($350) ability to record video and encode in DivX format.

SoftBank to test Qualcomm’s MediaFlo technology

TOKYO—Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank announced it will study the feasibility of using Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFlo technology to offer mobile TV services. Qualcomm said SoftBank joins a growing list of carriers looking into its MediaFlo offering, a list that includes KDDI Corp. in Japan, BSkyB in the United Kingdom and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the United States. Verizon Wireless has already announced its intent to offer MediaFlo services to its subscribers at an unannounced future date.

SoftBank said it established a new company called Mobile Media Planning Corp. to conduct a “technical study” of MediaFlo technology and plan a potential new service using MediaFlo.
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Qualcomm’s MediaFlo is one of a number of mobile TV technologies popping up across the globe. Other technologies include DVB-H, DMB and ISDB-T.

SoftBank purchased Vodafone Group plc’s Japanese operations earlier this year for $15.4 billion.

By Mike Dano
(c) RCRNews.com

BBC local TV available on mobiles

The BBC's Local TV project in the West Midlands is now easier to watch with a new service on mobile phones.

It means viewers can watch news programmes anywhere on 3G mobile phones that are in a service area.

The Local TV service, which is also available on digital satellite or online, broadcasts 10-minute sections for six West Midlands areas each hour.

The pilot service provides aims to more local stories in addition to the regional BBC Midlands Today programme.

Nine-month pilot

Chas Watkin, editor of Local TV project, said: "Because technology is moving so quickly now there are so many ways to watch TV while you're on the move. We know people want to catch up with the latest news information wherever they are - on the train, on the beach or in a bar. "If people want to get the local news this is the way to get it relatively cheaply."

The nine-month Local TV project runs until the end of August, and is expected to be relaunched next year. To get the mobile service, text LOCALTV to 81010 and users will be texted back with a link to the site.

(c) BBC News