Большая техническая статья с большим набором фактов. Стоит внимательно просмотреть и местами прочитать.
Service providers worldwide are gearing up to offer mobile TV, but they face a plethora of technology choices that are ultimately going to be determined more by market forces and spectrum availability than by technological merit
Mobile TV services may still be in the early adopter phase, but service providers around the world are scrambling to map plans to capitalize on the latest developing revenue opportunity. At the vanguard of the mobile TV push is South Korea, where satellite DMB services - launched last May by SK Telecom-owned TU Media - have generated around half a million users watching about 60 minutes of programming a day, including a 74%-26% mix of video and audio programming, notes Vikrant Gandhi, an industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan. S-DMB is one of two competitive offerings in Korea, where regulators helped push deployment as a means of supporting local manufacturers. The S-DMB service costs about $13 a month and provides 14 channels of video, 22 audio channels and three data channels, according to information supplied by Samsung, which offers end-user devices to support the offering. Subscribers also must purchase a special phone or hand-held device. Models offered by SK Telecom retail for as much as $800. According to an estimate from the government's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), S-DMB should have about 630,000 users in 2006. However, that's well short of initial targets - TU Media had originally projected one million subscribers by the end of 2005. Meanwhile, S-DMB has begun to lose ground to a competitive offering based on terrestrial DMB (T-DMB) launched by another industry consortium including several telecom network operators in late 2005. Although this offering provides fewer channels (six video, 18 audio and one data channel, according to Samsung), it is offered at no charge to end-users and - more crucially, as it turned out - has support from free-to-air broadcasters that produce the country's most popular TV shows. Here, too, users must purchase a phone, which runs in the range of $600. But the steep price hasn't prevented users from purchasing devices to support the offering, which should have 1.45 million users in 2006, according to ETRI's estimate. The T-DMB offering, which operates in the 200-MHz spectrum range, is less costly to deliver than the satellite service, and the goal is to make it advertiser-supported. But as Gandhi notes, "Service providers are finding it difficult to sustain service and fear that it will be long before they turn profitable." As a result, he anticipates that the South Korean government may allow service providers to charge a small fee for the service. Mobile TV is also on trial in Europe, where industry consortiums of broadcasters, telecom network operators and others have been trialing both T-DMB and DVB-H, a rival standard favored heavily in the EU. According to data supplied by Nokia, average viewership in three key trials in the UK, Spain and France was about 20 minutes per day per participant. In each of these trials, the majority of participants said they were willing to pay in the range of 10 euros a month for the service. The US, meanwhile, seems to be leaning toward a wholesale approach to mobile TV. Qualcomm, Modeo (a unit of cellular tower operator Crown Castle) and Aloha Partners are each planning to deploy competitive networks throughout the US that will broadcast popular television programming to mobile phones, with cellular network operators acting as resellers of the service. The upshot is that as operators assess the various technology choices in deploying mobile TV and subsequent business models, one thing they're discovering is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution, and any choice is loaded with challenges.
Offloading TV Top of the list is the fact that the chief mobile TV technologies jockeying for mindshare - DMB, DVB-H, Japan's ISDB-T and MediaFLO - all require cellcos to deploy additional network infrastructure. The reason, of course, is that doing mobile TV on 3G puts a serious load on the network, says Sean Koh, regional technical manager for multimedia and messaging solutions at Siemens. "If you do streaming video over a 3G network, your cell shrinks," says Koh. "DVB-H lets you broadcast streaming video so it doesn't eat into your cellular bandwidth." David Glidden, director of television strategy and mobile television for mobile broadcast equipment manufacturer Harris Corp, offers this scenario: "If you were to assume that subscriber levels get to the range of 15% to 20%, and that they're watching 20 minutes a day, on average, it would be a rather significant increase in the loading on a unicast cellular network," he says. That said, broadcast-based mobile TV presents its own set of challenges, says Mike Katz, product marketing director of video products for NMS Communications. "If you go with a technology like DVB-H, you need new handsets, new spectrum, a new network, additional radio equipment, you have to have backhaul for the traffic, and you have to put all of the layering architecture in place, just before you can even think about offering a service," he says. That said, with dozens of trials of DVB-H and DMB underway around the worlds, there's some debate over just how concerned operators really are about infrastructure costs. "The much bigger question for them is what will it take to get a broadcast network up and running?" asks Nick Pilbeam, Asia-Pacific Networks and Enterprise MD for Motorola's Strategic Business division. "For example, you need as many channels as possible, because people won't just watch what you give them. So if that's the driver on the revenue side, then you need a technology that can support it."
Competing standards As for which technology has the strongest offer, that varies more by environment than actual technological merit. Even though DMB technology has the advantage of being proven in Korea - and has generated serious interest in China and a handful of European operators - it has stirred little interest in the US, perhaps because the satellite version is too expensive and the terrestrial version offers fewer channels than US consumers desire. Qualcomm is, of course, using its own MediaFLO technology, while both Modeo and Hiwire are going with DVB-H. DVB-H is also building traction in Asia Pacific via a regional initiative, the DVB-H Asia Pacific Alliance (DAPA), founded in June by The Bridge Networks, Indonesia's MECA, Malaysia's MiTV, Nokia and Intel, which aims to establish a DVB-H regional forum to support regulatory preparation for DVB-H adoption, as well as keep members briefed on technological updates and best practices. Indeed, DVB-H - ostensibly a mobile offshoot of the international DVB video standard - is expected to dominate in terms of subscriber numbers in the next five years, with 121 million users accounting for 57% of the global market, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. That could also give it the edge in terms of economies of scale, says Scott Ramke, Modeo's VP of marketing and business development. "At the end of the day, it's about embracing what looks to become a global open standard that will have the support of bellwether technology companies, which will drive scale," says Ramke. Qualcomm VP of engineering and market development Rob Chandhok claims MediaFLO will have a substantial edge over DVB-H because "a FLO tower can deliver twice the distance or two times the number of services." At the National Association of Broadcasters show earlier this year, Qualcomm demonstrated 16 channels of video using MediaFLO. MediaFLO has gained limited traction outside the US, though that could change if Qualcomm's technology edge proves to be as powerful as the company claims. Chandhok points to a recently announced trial in the UK as evidence of MediaFLO's international support.
Spectrum sweepstakes In any event, the fate of any given mobile TV technology is going to depend in no small part on spectrum availability. The US is something of a special case in that the government made appropriate spectrum available in the early part of this decade when the telecom industry was in a slump, allowing companies like Aloha and Crown Castle to obtain the spectrum at bargain rates and making the concept of a dedicated mobile broadcast network operator a uniquely American phenomenon. In other parts of the world, regulators have been happy to parcel out spectrum for trials. But in many cases those regulators have not yet determined how to allocate the appropriate spectrum on a long-term basis. In some cases, the more desirable 700-MHz spectrum is committed to analog television for quite some time. "One thing that helped in the US is the knowledge that analog broadcasting is going away in 2007," notes Glidden from Harris Corp. "Very few places in the world have hard dates anywhere near that. Some in Europe have it scheduled for 2012." In some countries, there is unused spectrum available around 200 MHz or 1500 MHz, which was traditionally earmarked for digital audio broadcasts. But whichever spectrum new-market entrants decide to use, it may command a higher price than what was seen in the US simply because the business plan for using that spectrum now appears so much more promising. As a result, in competitive markets outside the US, perhaps only the wealthiest companies - traditional telecom service providers or broadcasters - will be able to own and operate their own networks. As Glidden points out, "In some environments, broadcasters and mobile operators have common ownership," making them a natural choice for owning and operating mobile broadcast networks. As an alternative to acquiring new spectrum, some wireless network operators in Europe and parts of Asia have unused spectrum that they obtained as part of the 3G spectrum allocation process. Some equipment developers, including IPWireless, are betting that network operators will choose to deploy an emerging technology alternative that can use that existing infrastructure. "Most 3G operators own at least 5 MHz of TDD spectrum that they're not using," says Jon Hambidge, marketing VP for IPWireless. "If you look at this from the operators' point of view, how would you feel if after all that 3G spectrum you bought, the killer app for 3G requires you to buy new spectrum?" IPWireless expects to have equipment available in mid- to late-2007 to support the multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) standard that the 3GPP has defined for W-CDMA Release 6, which can use TDD spectrum and is well suited for operators that already have deployed 3G. The IPWireless offering, dubbed TDtv, can be deployed on a network operator's existing tower infrastructure, and purportedly deliver up to 50 channels per 5-MHz block of TDD spectrum (assuming 100 kbps per stream). The other benefit, Hambidge adds, is that it doesn't require users to buy all new handsets. "You don't want to have to force the subscriber to buy a new handset just for this service. With TDTv, you're looking at a $10 maximum upgrade in handset costs." Although MBMS has been defined, it's not expected to be finalized before the end of 2007, although vendors like IPWireless and Huawei Technologies are selling prestandard MBMS solutions. In May this year, Hong Kong's PCCW launched a mobile TV service using Huawei's cell media broadcast (CMB) technology, which is based on MBMS.
Fractured landscape With many technological choices facing operators, an inevitable question is: to what extent should cellcos be worried about interoperability? The prospect of a harmonized mobile TV standard - at least at the RAN layer - is decidedly slim, according to Toni Paila, broadcast chair for the Open Mobile Alliance. "There's not likely to be a harmonized RAN standard for mobile TV because of various regional issues like spectrum availability," Paila says. Consequently, the OMA is focusing more on developing standard specs at the service/application layer of mobile TV. "The usage case we see is to combine DVB-H and MBMS at the service layer so that consuming mobile TV services is transparent to both the user and the network." Paila says the three critical components to look at in developing an apps-layer standard are the program guide, content/service protection and content delivery. Smaller items to look at include specs for purchasing services, roaming, device management and interaction. Paila declined to give a timetable for the arrival of such a standard, as it's early days for mobile TV in general. In the meantime, the next few months are likely to see a flurry of activity as service providers weigh their options and place their bets on mobile TV. Whatever technology operators choose, advises Motorola's Pilbeam, they should tailor the network's design and capacity around how users consume mobile TV content. "Mobile TV was originally envisioned as a primarily outdoor service, but in fact trials suggest that people are more likely to use it indoors. Also, unlike traditional broadcasting, the antenna is moving much if not all of the time." Lara van Rooyen, marketing manager at Ericsson, agrees. "Only a small percentage of users will watch the usual broadcast channels - the rest are more likely to watch more specific, on-demand content that's driven more by menus than schedules. It's a whole new way of watching TV, and operators must plan their networks for that."
Some technical issues:
Mobile TV 30-second primer: unicast vs broadcast vs multicast
Unicast: point-to-point video streamed separately to every terminal in the cell requesting mobile TV. Whether video is delivered via the 3G data channel or the circuit-switched video call channel, unicast means each user eats up more bandwidth that can get eaten up quickly if too many viewers try to access the service at once - which also impacts access to other services on the same network.
Broadcast: point-to-multipoint video transmitted only once over the entire service area. Users view the same stream without requiring additional bandwidth per user. However, because mobile TV service requires a wide selection of channels that must be broadcast all at once, it requires a wide swath of bandwidth - one reason why broadcast-based technologies like DVB-H and DMB require separate spectrum. Broadcast is also one-way, which means interactivity must be done separately.
Multicast: similar to broadcast in terms of viewers sharing the same stream, but instead of sending the signals constantly over the entire coverage area, multicast delivers only to those parts of the network where users are tuning in, which makes for more efficient use of spectrum.
The lure of advertising
(c) Joan Engebretson
In addition to sorting out which technology or wholesaler to use to support their mobile broadcast television deployments, carriers and other stakeholders also will need to resolve how to pursue advertising opportunities and apportion any resulting revenue streams. "The real wild card is advertising," says Bob Shallow, director of multimedia experiences for Nokia. Shallow notes that most television programming in the US includes a local commercial every half-hour that is treated in different ways on different platforms. Cable television operators, for example, use it to sell interconnects, while DirecTV uses it to promote itself. "It's not clear how this will be handled in the mobile space," says Shallow. "It's safe to presume that terms will be negotiated between the broadcaster and the cellular operator about who controls what portion of the investment." Bryan McGuirk, president of the media solutions group at SES Americom, which is providing infrastructure to support Aloha Partners' Hiwire mobile television network, had a previous career in advertising and is particularly enthusiastic about the possibilities. He notes that most consumer package goods manufacturers today spend the majority of their advertising budgets on tailored localized advertising and promotions. "That's what we'll be able to tap into," he says. "The mobile device is perfect to make advertising relevant and timely. Advertisers will want to take advantage and even pay a premium for that." Because mobile broadcast television will be deployed over dual-mode mobile handsets, it will be relatively easy to add an interactive component, such as the ability to immediately contact an advertiser in response to a commercial. "The technology will enable advertisers to target a specific kind of advertising to a limited number of users in a way that a normal broadcast network wouldn't be able to do," notes David Glidden, director of television strategy and mobile television for Harris Corp.
Using what you got
(c) John C. Tanner
For operators pondering mobile TV, the options for deploying services are increasingly splitting into two camps - those that require all-new infrastructure and spectrum, and those that utilize existing 3G networks. Mobile TV technologies like DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO have been touted as more efficient ways to deliver mobile broadcast video because of the impact of high-quality video on 3G bandwidth capacity. However, with operators looking for less expensive options than building a new network for mobile TV, solutions are emerging that leverage existing network infrastructure. Ericsson, for example, offers a "Unicast" solution that allows 3G networks to run streaming video at data throughput rates of 100 kbps. Alcatel is proposing a hybrid satellite/terrestrial solution similar to S-DMB, except that it uses the S-band on existing satellites rather than requiring a new one to be launched. One of the more innovative solutions being touted by companies like NMS Communications is using the 3G-324M standard for circuit-switched video calls to deliver mobile TV. Hong Kong CSL, for example, is offering 25 channels of 64-kbps TV using a 3G-324M-based solution from NMS and Golden Dynamic. The advantage of using 3G-324M, says Mike Katz, product marketing director of video products for NMS, is that it uses existing capacity and - crucially - doesn't require a new handset. "Existing 3G handsets are already compatible with 3G-324M," he says. "Menus are created on the fly, so you don't need a new client on the handset, and you don't need a second antenna like you do with DVB-H." Just as crucial, he adds, is that 3G-324M supports interactivity, one of the key elements of any new TV service. "Interactivity allows you to build a viewing community around programs, to include allowing people to upload their own videos," says Katz. "We're already seeing that with YouTube, YouSeeIt, RocketBoom - that long tail of content where people upload their own videos and viewers vote on the ones they love or hate." However, such mobile TV solutions tend to be unicast, which is bandwidth-intensive and faces serious scalability issues in the future as subscriber bases grow, says Nick Green, proposition manager for mobile TV and broadcast at LogicaCMG. "That's damaging not only because it could deny mobile TV service to paying subscribers, but it also impacts other 3G services that may actually be higher-value services than mobile TV," he says. That's why the 3GPP is developing MBMS (multimedia broadcast multicast service), which will give W-CDMA networks armed with HSDPA the ability to run multicast video. Multicast is widely viewed as the most efficient way to run mobile TV in the long run, says Jon Hambidge, marketing VP for IPWireless, because it "allows users to share bandwidth - say, a 300 kbps video stream - so that not every user is stealing bandwidth from each other the way unicast does". Jeff Belk, senior VP of Qualcomm, agrees that the future of mobile TV belongs to multicast. "If you're in London, that Arsenal game is going to want to be watched by a lot of folks, so you'd better be multicasting that or it's an inefficient way of delivering it. However anyone does it, you still need to do it."
Рекламодатели США получили доступ к сотовым абонентам
Сотовые операторы США долго возражали против рассылки их абонентам рекламных сообщений, но теперь ситуация изменилась. Крупнейшие операторы предоставили рекламодателям прямой доступ к пользователям сотовой связи. Они надеются, что небольшие экраны мобильных телефонов вскоре станут таким же мощным инструментом маркетинга, как персональные компьютеры, подключенные к Интернету.
Сотовые компании Sprint Nextel и Verizon Wireless начали в тестовом режиме показывать абонентам рекламные баннеры в качестве дополнения к деловой и развлекательной информации, пересылаемой на их сотовые телефоны. Информированные источники сообщают, что в ближайшие недели Sprint намерена объявить о начале новой рекламной программы. В частности, прежде чем доставить абоненту запрошенную им информацию, компания собирается показывать ему 10-секундный рекламный видеоролик. Внедрить рекламу в своей сети готовится и Verizon Wireless. “Мы сейчас пробуем некоторые новые модели бизнеса”, — говорит представитель этой компании Джеффри Нелсон.
Тем временем интернет-компания Yahoo! заключила сделку с фирмой go2 Directory Systems, специализирующейся на продаже телефонных справочников и каталогов. По условиям сделки спонсируемые Yahoo! рекламные каталоги будут появляться в составе справочников, которые go2 Directory предлагает абонентам Verizon Wireless, Sprint и Cingular Wireless. Абонент, который ищет в справочнике адрес, скажем, местного ресторана или кинотеатра, будет получать ссылки на рекламодателей — клиентов Yahoo!.
Большинство сайтов, предназначенных для просмотра на мобильных устройствах, рекламу пока не размещают. Некоторые компании размещают ее на своих “беспроводных” сайтах, но абоненты, как правило, заходят с помощью мобильных устройств лишь на те сайты, которые подконтрольны их сотовым операторам. Поэтому планы сотовых компаний дополнить мобильный контент рекламой могут дать мощный толчок рекламному бизнесу в Интернете.
До сих пор операторы не шли на это, опасаясь отпугнуть клиентов, которые справедливо считают сотовый телефон частью своей личной жизни. Пока ни один крупный оператор не заявлял о намерении показывать рекламу на главной странице своего сайта или на экране звонящего абонента. Но доходность услуг передачи голоса снижается, и поступления от рекламы могли бы компенсировать снижение этих доходов. К продаже рекламы операторов подталкивают и поставщики беспроводного контента — в частности, деловых и спортивных новостей и развлекательных видеоклипов. Как правило, клиенты без энтузиазма относятся к идее получать такой контент за плату.
Реклама в беспроводных сетях интересна рекламодателям, поскольку позволяет обратиться к целевой аудитории более точно, чем, к примеру, при рекламе на ТВ или в печатных СМИ. Сотовые операторы располагают обширной информацией о своих клиентах, включая суммы счетов и местонахождение людей во время разговора по телефону. Определив, какие из “беспроводных” сайтов посещает клиент, оператор может целенаправленно выбирать рекламный материал в соответствии с предпочтениями владельца телефона. Возможно, многие абоненты согласились бы получать рекламу, если бы взамен оператор предоставлял им скидку. “Важно только, чтобы подобное вмешательство не вызывало раздражения у абонентов, — говорит вице-президент Sprint Пол Реддик. — Здесь требуется очень осторожный и взвешенный подход”.
County firm are well connected. UK's ROK Building To IPO
Wouldn’t it be great if you could use your mobile phone as a TV, a DVD and an iPod? What if you could watch your home TV on it abroad — and make free calls? What if you could watch a race and place your bet on your phone, simultaneously? What if you could use it as a portable translator, and a “phone a friend” fact-checker?
ROK, founded by chairman and CEO Jonathan Kendrick just three and a half years ago, is in the business of making bright ideas reality and the company has proved to be a powerhouse of innovation.
It is now set for a stock market flotation. Its success has seen the company valued at $250 million following the sale of a number of shares to accredited investors. A stock market listing is planned for early next year, on Nasdaq in New York, which Jonathan describes as “the Rolls-Royce market for technology companies”.
The starting point for every ROK innovation, Jonathan explained, is the question: “Wouldn’t it be great if … ?”
The bronze sculpture of a flying pig adorning the ROK House boardroom embodies the occasional response from outsiders in the early days.
But when Jonathan poses the question to the team at ROK’s “skunkworks”, they come up with answers.
Explore
Jonathan explained the company’s research and development team are also given scope to explore their own ideas: “From here we come up with the ideas, but we also have guys who have a free hand to go off and see what they can do.”
Marketing director Bruce Renny said: “What I like about ROK, and what I like about Jonathan, is the ‘can do’ and ‘can do now’ attitude.”
He added: “We answer to ourselves, we don’t answer to anyone else. We have the freedom to explore the ‘What if … ?’ We have within ROK a carefully recruited pool of geniuses. We give our R&D team a free rein.”
Patenting of ROK’s intellectual property is key, to assure what Jonathan calls “unassailable IP”.
But in this commercially sensitive “skunkworks”, where technicians are working on groundbreaking new technology, how is secrecy maintained?
Jonathan explained: “From receptionists to top management, all our staff are shareholders. Everybody in the company is our partner, not just an employee — that creates a great bond of loyalty.”
ROK currently has 135 full-time employees, plus an extensive team of consultants, experts and designers.
Bruce said the company’s reputation has grown rapidly: “We’re all over the Web — and the word ‘innovation’ is always in the same sentence as ROK — or ‘irrepressible’!
“Particularly in the past year we’ve seen independent producers come to us. A lot of people are coming to us — we rather like that. We do have a number of products that we’ve partnered which we’ll roll out in the next year or so.”
Jonathan, an entrepreneur who has been in the mobile phone industry for more than a decade, sold his previous company to BT Cellnet, retaining the name ROK.
Bruce joined ROK at the end of 2002, after 10 years with Virgin. He said: “We literally had a blank sheet of paper.”
Bruce explained: “Jonathan spotted that real value lies in technology, and that content on mobile phones was going to be a massive global industry. He founded ROK as a technological innovator to develop the technology to allow it to work on mobile phones. He’s created an organisation unique in the world.”
Challenge
ROK has rapidly made its mark by mounting a significant challenge to 3G operators, making mobile TV available on mass-market 2.5G phones.
In independent tests, published this month, ROK TV was rated second only to Vodafone for its performance, proving that you do not need a 3G phone to enjoy mobile TV. ROK TV technology is now being licensed to networks and carriers worldwide.
ROK already has a deal to supply the technology for China’s first live mobile TV service. The deal involves China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone company, with 350 million subscribers and four million new customers added every month.
And there’s much more from ROK. With ROK Black Box, Bruce explained: “ROK are the first to crack the technology behind convergence, whereby we have converged in the Black Box the TV with the mobile phone via the internet.”
The set-top box “place-shifts” your home TV to your mobile phone via the internet — known as mobile IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). So even if you are abroad, there is no need to miss your favourite programme. Also, you can make mobile calls for free over the internet — mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) — with no roaming charges. Bruce said: “We’ve all been stung by roaming charges, but this is going to change everything.”
Users just need to be within Bluetooth range of the internet, or in a WiFi zone. ROK Black Box will be available from High Street outlets from October.
ROK Star is another technological breakthrough by ROK. This provides live, simultaneous two-way streaming over GPRS and 3G. Applications for the technology are expected to include gaming, betting and voting. For example, you can watch racehorses circling the paddock, call up a screen overlay list of the runners, then press a button to place your bet.
This, Bruce explained, gives live interaction for the first time ever — with the star button on your mobile phone acting like the red button on your TV. With interactive TV shows expected to gather pace, he predicts we will soon see “made-for-mobile” programmes.
Jonathan said: “The technology is proven and we’re currently licensing it all around the world.”
ROK Media Store turns your mobile phone into an iPod. Songs are stored under compression on the mobile phone — and play back at the same quality as an iPOD.
As Bruce pointed out: “There are 50 million iPods in the world, but one billion mobile phone handsets are sold every year in the world.”
ROK Media Store launches in the USA this month, and in the UK in September.
Cool
Next month, ROK is launching two “very cool applications”, Bruce said. Text any question to ROK ANSA, and in 93 per cent of cases ROK’s database will give you the answer. If it can’t, the question is fired out to technicians in the US, the UK and Australia — the first to answer gets paid. ROK LOST (Language Over SMS Translation) is an instant mobile translation service incorporating 18 languages.
ROK Player, which turns your mobile phone into a DVD, is already up and running with 100 titles licensed to date, including Little Britain, Austin Powers and Sponge Bob. Just “plug and play” ROK Player memory cards into your mobile phone.
Jonathan said: “A smart mobile phone has more computing power than was in the Apollo 11. There are lots of things a mobile phone can do — and the consumer is now ready for it. One device does it all — that’s our mantra.
“Your mobile phone can be a DVD, a TV, even an iPod. We have no direct competitor: nobody else has done this as a whole. Mobile phone companies want a one-stop solution, and they can get it all from ROK in one go.”
Bruce added: “We set out to do the impossible — the flying pig if you like.
“Now we’re in Rio, Moscow, LA, Taiwan, Dubai, Karachi, China — and Albrighton. A lot of CEOs around the world now know where Shropshire is!”
Mobile handset maker BenQ is promoting itself with a mobile video series
This is another example of handset manufacturers using content to promote their products, although in BenQ's case the videos are almost like ads -- they involve a dog (Ben) running off with its master's (Mr. Q) mobile phone. The first episode of Dog & Bone will be preloaded on the BenQ-Siemens M81. BenQ has signed up Andreas Hafele to author and direct the first five episodes...Hafele won the Young Director Award 2006 at Cannes in June and was nominated for the 2004 MicroMovie Awards.
Mobile video service revenue set to skyrocket to $5.6 billion by 2009, says Infonetics Research
If mobile video providers are able to resolve a number of quality- and content-related issues -- and analyst firm Infonetics Research thinks they are -- revenue generated from mobile video services around the world is set to skyrocket from $46.2 million in 2005 to $5.6 billion in 2009, a staggering 11,997% jump in 5 years.
According to Infonetics' latest market outlook report, "Mobile Video Devices, Services, and Subscribers," mobile video is the wave of the future. But that wave won't crest until vendors and providers address a long list of difficult but surmountable challenges.
"The success of mobile video hinges on a number of factors, including the availability of handsets with reduced power consumption, value for the subscriber's money, ease of use, acceptable price points for multimedia handsets, and most importantly, the right selection of standard and unique channels, content, and services," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and IPTV at Infonetics.
"All of these challenges are within reason of being resolved quickly," Heynen continued. "Mobile video needs to replicate the home TV experience as much as possible, be it over broadcast (RF) or unicast (3G) mobile devices. The mobile video services available today leave a lot to be desired, but people are still subscribing because they're excited about the future of the technology. The convenience it provides outweighs its limitations."
Mobile operators are expanding the bandwidth of their existing 3G networks through HSDPA and MBMS, rolling out dedicated, RF-based broadcast networks, and deploying new mobile video service delivery platforms (SDPs), all steps that pave the way to offer the same content as we see on regular satellite, digital, or cable TV at home.
Infonetics' report indicates that sports will serve as a major content anchor for most mobile video service providers, as exclusive coverage will help drive advertising revenue, subscriber growth, and support for other prime time programming. In the US, Sprint/Nextel has a 5-year $600 million deal with the National Football League (NFL) to deliver highlights from the week's games and real-time updates of scores and player statistics. And in South Korea, Japan, and throughout Europe, mobile video operators who streamed and broadcast the 2006 World Cup games and highlights saw a huge spike in mobile video subscriptions. Infonetics says we can expect more of the same in the future.
Report Highlights
-- The number of worldwide mobile video subscribers will jump 8,006% between 2005 and 2009 -- Asia Pacific leads with roughly half of the world's mobile video subscribers and the largest portion of mobile video service revenue, every year from 2005 to 2009 -- The number of mobile video handsets sold worldwide is expected to grow from 28 million in 2005 to 336 million in 2009
The mobile Internet is growing, with over 34.6 million mobile users in June. That's according to the "U.S. Device Census Report for Q2 2006" from Telephia.
Of the 34.6 million mobile Web users, 6.5 million went to Yahoo Mail, a 3 percent reach of subscribers. The Weather Channel was accessed by 5.8 million (2.7 percent reach); ESPN received 5.3 million unique hits (2.5 percent reach); Google Search served 4.4 million unique visitors (2 percent reach); and MSN Hotmail got 3.4 million visitors (1.6 percent reach).
Other top sites serving the mobile audience include MapQuest with 3.1 million uniques and 1.4 percent reach; AOL Mail with 2.9 million uniques and 1.4 percent reach; CNN with 2.8 million uniques and 1.3 percent reach; Yahoo Weather with 2.7 million uniques and 1.3 percent reach; and Yahoo Search with 2.5 million uniques and 1.2 percent reach.
"Mobile Web usage has continued to grow over the past year, as Internet content providers continue to extend their reach into the mobile space," Bernard Brenner, director of mobile content at Telephia, said in a statement.
While several mobile Web browsers exist, Openwave is the dominant software for wireless users. It retains a 27 percent market share. Motorola's browser holds a 24 percent market share; Nokia offers a browser which maintains a 13 percent market share. Additional browsers grab up the remaining 34 percent of the handset market. The browsers include Access NetFront (9 percent); Teleca AU (6 percent); Sony Ericsson (5 percent); RIM (5 percent); Blazer (4 percent); Samsung (3 percent); Microsoft (3 percent); and Danger (2 percent).
Enhanced Internet browsing through xHTML-MP is enabled on 81 percent of handsets with browsers. The enhanced experience allows for an experience closer to a PC browsing experience.
"As xHTML-MP support becomes more widespread, mobile consumers will have greater access to richer presentation of content on their phones," said Brenner.
The 'mobile media company' successfully demonstrated HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) broadband network technology to industry insiders yesterday and confirmed it will upgrade its 3G network for subscribers in Greater London before 2007.
The ability to speed up and enrich content services with 'mobile broadband' will be a particular boon for a network that has led the market in areas such as music promo downloads and live concert streaming.
During the demo, 3 showed clips of the movie X-Men 3 encoded at 1Mbps, which would be impractical across a 3G network. The company expects HSDPA to make downloads five times quicker than 3G in the short term (3.6Mbps compared to 384Kbps). Eventually the technology could reach speeds of 14.4Mbps.
Although no new content services have been unveiled with mobile broadband in mind, 3 is clearly working on it. It has a track record of innovation, having been the first UK network to launch, for example, a user generated video clips service.
By LI YUAN and CASSELL BRYAN-LOW (c) Wall Street Journal August 16, 2006; Page B1
After years of hesitation, some of the largest wireless companies in the U.S. are starting to allow advertising on their cellphone networks, with the hope that these small screens eventually will rival the Internet as a powerful marketing venue.
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless have both been running trials of banner ads on their wireless information and entertainment services since earlier this year. Sprint is planning to make an announcement about its ads program in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with its plan. Sprint is also conducting trials of video ads, which appear for 10 seconds or so before the desired service appears.
A Samsung cellphone sold by Sprint-Nextel carries a Toyota banner ad.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, is also moving toward advertising on cellphone, according to people familiar with the matter. "We are testing out some different models," says Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman. "We're going to continue to assess them."
Meanwhile, Yahoo Inc. and go2 Directory Systems are set to announce today a deal that will put Yahoo-sponsored listings on the go2 Directory local-search Web site carried by Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. When consumers use go2 Directory to search for local restaurants or movie theaters, Yahoo-sponsored advertisers will show up in their result list.
Most wireless Internet sites don't include advertising. While some media companies have ads on their own wireless sites, most cellphone users limit their Web browsing to sites hosted by cellphone operators. An overwhelming majority of wireless Internet traffic goes to these operator-controlled sites. With operators now starting to include ads on their sites, the amount of wireless Internet advertising is expected to mushroom.
Until now, major carriers like Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel feared that ads might alienate customers who consider their cellphones personal items. No major carrier is talking about displaying ads on home pages or while customers are making calls.
Cellphone companies are eyeing ads as a way to combat declining revenue from voice calls, which have been getting cheaper to attract new customers. At the same time, carriers have come under pressure to introduce advertising from media companies that are investing heavily to bring sports, news, videos and other entertainment to wireless devices. Content providers are looking for a new revenue source partly because many have been disappointed with consumer response to efforts to sell such content for a fee.
Many marketers are intrigued by cellphone ads because they can target customers more precisely than ads on television, online or in print. Phone companies have a lot of their customers' personal information, from billing records, and locations where they are using their phones in real time. Carriers can potentially track which wireless Web sites a customer is browsing, for instance, and send them targeted ads while they're using the service.
It remains unclear whether consumers will tolerate ads, and some technical complications stand in the way of producing ads that work on a variety of tiny screens and networks. Advertisers and phone companies also have yet to figure out a formula for setting ad rates.
Sprint's first priority is to make sure that advertising doesn't produce negative reactions from customers, says Paul Reddick, the company's vice president of business development. It's a "very measured approach," he says. A Verizon Wireless spokesman says the company is "very protective" of its relationships with their customers.
A Toyota video ad is displayed on some cellphones.
Consumers may be more willing to accept advertising if they get information and entertainment on their cellphones for lower fees, or free. For example, Verizon Wireless charges $4.99 a month for its stock-price service while Sprint charges $2.99 monthly for a city-guide service. If these services have ads, carriers will likely lower prices or even offer them for free, like they are on the Internet, though both companies declined to comment on that prospect.
Some media companies already are doing just that. The Weather Channel recently dropped its monthly fee of between $2.99 and $4.99 for its hurricane tracking service because it is now including ads on its wireless Web site. In March, Reuters Group PLC waived the $4.99 monthly fee for its daily news-alert services. "This is the way for Reuters to grow a mobile audience in the next three to five years," says Stephen Smyth, vice president in charge of Reuters' mobile strategy.
Other content providers also feature ads on their wireless Web sites. For example, when phone users type usatoday.com on their cellphones, they are taken to the newspaper's wireless Web site with banner ads. But when they visit the Gannett Co. newspaper's Web site listed under the news section of Verizon Wireless's or Sprint's wireless portals, users won't see any ads.
This will likely change at Verizon Wireless and other major U.S. carriers, which will share ad revenue with content providers. They're being encouraged in part by the success of content providers in selling ads on their own sites. According to Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising company, its servers registered 100 million Web-page views in June on the wireless sites of its clients, including USA Today, up from 35 million last December.
The average price for a four- to eight-week-long banner ad campaign on a content provider's wireless Web site is now $75,000 to $150,000, up from $25,000 to $50,000 last year. About 3% to 5% of phone users click on banner ads on their screens -- higher than the 1% click rate of computer users, says Jeff Janer, chief operating officer of Third Screen Media.
Wireless advertising has already caught on in other parts of the world. D2 Communications, a mobile-marketing company partly owned by Japanese wireless company NTT DoCoMo Inc., has had banner ads on cellphones since 2000. D2 says that it runs 100 million to 500 million banners on cellphones a month, with 3% to 5% of viewers clicking on the ads. India's biggest cellphone operator, Bharti Airtel Ltd., has had Microsoft Corp., Canon Inc. and Ford Motor Co. as advertisers since 2005.
In Europe, both France Telecom SA's wireless unit Orange and 3 UK, a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., have started to accept advertising in recent months. Vodafone, the world's largest cellphone-service provider in terms of revenue, is trying different business models -- including offering free TV services to customers who agree to accept ads in addition to an ad-sponsored messaging service.
At 3 UK, which has been using mobile advertising and sponsorship for about a year, brands that have signed on include sportswear company Adidas AG, videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod players and iTunes music service, among others, says Mark Joseph, director of music and television at 3 UK. It also has been experimenting with sponsored movie listings, where a phone-directory company pays for an ad on the phone screen before the consumer can access the movie information.
"We absolutely believe this will be a significant revenue stream for us in the next five years," says Mr. Joseph, who declined to specify the percentage of the company's revenue that comes from advertising.
Poirot: digital spin-offs will use clips from TV adaptations featuring actors such as David Suchet
Agatha Christie's fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are set to go digital in a bid to bring the author's widely read crime stories to the internet generation.
Chorion, which owns the rights to the Christie library, has struck a global deal with Interactive Rights Management to exploit global internet and mobile rights for the author's novels, short stories and plays.
IRM was set up in 2004 by the three former Celador employees responsible for the global roll-out of the interactive version of hit TV quizshow Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
The company will be developing a range of puzzle and strategy games for internet and mobile phones.
Some of these digital spin-offs will use clips from TV drama adaptations of Christie's work featuring actors such as David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, ranging from 20 seconds to one minute.
Global mystery-based games are most popular in the US, where puzzle and downloadable PC games are extremely popular with women aged 35 to 45.
Internet games will target the 18- to 45-year-old market and mobile spin-offs will be aimed at the 16- to 35-year-old demographic.
From experience with previous rights deals, IRM will look to charge $19.99(£10.60) for a full mystery game, with the first hour free.
Jane Turner, the managing director of literary estates at Chorion, said the deal was about extending the Agatha Christie brand "to new audiences and new generations".
Agatha Christie's characters already have global brand awareness in print. With more than 2bn books sold in 41 languages, she is only beaten by the Bible and Shakespeare, according to Chorion.
"Agatha Christie's classic plots translate beautifully onto mobile and internet platforms," added Megan Goodwin-Patel, the director of business development at IRM.
"Increasingly, classic brands have to tap into the media that younger generations are embracing to broaden reach and make up for any traditional reader drop-off," Ms Goodwin-Patel said.
Ниже приводится статья из LOS ANGELES TIMES, снабженная комментариями, которые я счел уместным сделать.
No big demand for small screen
Before Kaitlyn Brown headed to church camp this summer, her mother outfitted the 13-year-old with a sleek new Sprint phone that boasts one of the newest features on the market: mobile television.
"Me and my mom thought it would be a cool thing," said the soon-to-be seventh-grader, who lives in Texas. But after watching a couple of jerky transmissions of comedy clips on the phone's display panel, Brown quickly became disenchanted.
"It kept stopping midstream and stuff," she said. "I didn't really like it, so I took it off. It was extra money, and I didn't think it was worth it."
She's not alone.
Entertainment purveyors may be scrambling to package their content into mobisodes (that's mobile episodes), video downloads and podcasts, but a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that teens and young adults — the generation most likely to be the early adopters of this new technology — have yet to fully embrace it.
About half of young adults and four in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods, the poll found.
Стало быть от 50 до 60% - таки интересуются возможностью смотреть видео и ТВ на своих мобильных устройствах.
While more than two out of five teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this kind of content online, only 14 percent of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17 percent said they would view programs on an iPod. Было бы интересно исследовать текущий спрос с точки разделения таких разных типов сервисов, как:
Трансляция обычного эфирного или кабельного ТВ на мобильные устройства, и
Вещание (или доступ к видео) специально предназначенное для мобильных устройств
Думаю, что обычное ТВ на мобильные устройства - действительно мало кому нужно!
The findings suggest that networks are rushing to package content for these new platforms before even tech-savvy young consumers are hankering for the "third screen" experience. They're filling a need that isn't yet there. Можеть быть вопрос в том - что и как "пакуют"?
The survey, which asked a wide range of questions about entertainment consumption, highlighted the pervasive influence of television, particularly on tween girls, a majority of whom reported that TV shows affected their dress, speech, music preferences or social activities. Тоже мне, великое открытие!
In addition, it found that a surprisingly high number of teenagers and young adults gleaned news from traditional media sources such as local television and network newscasts — for many through a sort of information osmosis as they absorbed news from programs their parents were watching. Ну и тоже ничего удивительного!
Perhaps most intriguing, however, was the indication of a widespread indifference toward small-screen viewing among teenagers and young adults. While many in the industry expect the demand for such content to rise dramatically in the coming years, the poll offered clues to a consumer reluctance that first must be overcome.
In follow-up interviews with those surveyed, many young people said they were intrigued by the notion of getting their entertainment on devices such as cellphones and iPods.
But two major obstacles have so far dampened their enthusiasm: the cost and the uneven quality of the experience.
Слишком много сильных выражений типа reluctance, dramatically и т.п. Все это нам тоже известно. Пока игрушки для мобил - класса игр для Sinclair'а 15-ти летней давности. Ну и что? Растет требовательность потребителей, растет уровень качества предложения (опережая, кстати, рост стоимости). Нормальный процесс.
"It just seems like a needless expense to me," said Mark Lopez, a 23-year-old political science major at Cal State Fullerton. "And I would think it would be grainy and not as clear of a picture. My choice would be to watch something first on TV, or TiVo it."
Steven Jagodzinski, a 21-year-old computer science student in Baltimore, is a fan of cartoons such as "South Park," which would seem a natural fit for mobile viewing. But he said the idea seemed "pointless."
"Why would I want to look at a video clip on my cellphone?" he said. "I'd rather make phone calls on it."
А какая у Стива мобила? Если старше чем годовалая, действительно, большому поклоннику мультфильмов смотреть их на ней не стоит. Пока ни слова не было сказано о том, что потребление видео через мобильные устройства кардинально отличается от потребления через другие устройства. Это в чистом виде casual потребление. Пока под эту модель контента очень мало. Будет адекватное предложение - будет и спрос. С новыми технологиями - только так. Пока человеку не предложить что-то попробовать, он и знать не будет что ему это надо. А раз попробовав, будет в очереди не газету читать, а видео смотреть. :-) Ведь базовую потребность - в развлечении, а еще шире - в структурировании, насыщении событиями своего времени, никто не отменял, она будет только расти.
Young people aren't alone in their slow embrace of the small screen. Recent studies by several independent research firms indicate that only about 1 percent to 3 percent of mobile phone subscribers currently watch videos on their phones.
Для только нарождающейся услуги (от роду ей год-два, мобильной связи как таковой - скоро четверть века) существующих технологий вещания и предлагаемого контента - и то неплохо.
But media executives are confident that the appetite will increase once the technology improves and the price for hand-held devices drops. They note that while young people may be reluctant to watch full-length feature films or even 22-minute television episodes on small screens, they may be more interested in viewing short clips, a kind of "snack TV."
That's why the major entertainment companies are developing a slew of original content.
Вот! С этим полностью согласен!
"The future of connecting with customers is going to be figuring out the ways to give them what they want, on the devices they want, when they want it," said George Kliavkoff, who last week was appointed NBC Universal's first chief digital officer.
Twelve- to 14-year-old girls showed the greatest eagerness about small-screen viewing, with 20 percent of those surveyed open to watching television shows on cellphones and nearly a quarter interested in checking out programs on iPods — if they had the latest model. Категорически верно! Девочки 12-16 лет - наши лучшие и главные потребители! И очень мало для них контента пока... :-)
"I think it's really cool and I would love to have it," said 14-year-old Katie Stears of Jamestown, Ky., who has pleaded with her parents for a video iPod. "You don't have to always be at home to watch TV."
Television clearly has a strong hold on teenagers, who spend a substantial amount of time glued to the screen. About two-thirds report that they watch two hours of television or more on an average weekday, with nearly a quarter watching for more than four hours.
Teen girls ages 12 to 14 appear to be the most affected by what they're seeing. Almost two-thirds reported that television has influenced their behavior in some way, whether it's how they talk, what they wear or what they buy. For many in that group, popular shows such as MTV's "The Hills" provide a universal lingo. Ага, что еще более важно, это - лучшая из сред для вирусного маркетинга!
Kids who aren't familiar with the lexicon of the shows are "not on top of the pyramid" at school, said Brittany Thornton, a 14-year-old in Screven, Ga.
So what would happen if she could no longer watch television?
Thornton sounded anguished just contemplating that prospect: "I would be devastated."
For their part, a large share of young adults appear to be turning to broadcast television for their news. According to the poll, 38 percent said they got their best information about current events from local newscasts and 19 percent said it came from broadcast network news.
Despite the widespread belief that a sizable number of young people get their news from satirical programs such as Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," just 3 percent of teenagers and 6 percent of young adults surveyed said that's how they found out about current events.
Anchorage resident Rhen David Belz, 18, said he tuned into the local news every night, right before he caught a rerun of "Seinfeld." "I would feel a little disconnected if I didn't," he said.
But Belz said that he thought he was "somewhat unusual."
"A lot of my friends don't follow the news at all," he said. "They have no idea what's going on, and they like it that way."
In interviews, more than half a dozen teens said they didn't actively seek out the newscasts — they're simply exposed to them because their parents or other relatives have the programs on at home. Still, even if they aren't actively engaged in watching the broadcasts, many seem to absorb the news. Еще большой вопрос - насколько интересен нынешний новостной контент для молодняка.
That's not to say that many teens are turning into news junkies.
"I think our generation thinks watching the news is dorky and not a lot of fun," said 14-year-old Casey Hankins of Lakewood, Colo., who said he only catches news programs every few weeks when he's visiting his grandfather, a regular viewer.
But Hankins admitted he probably would grow more interested as he got older.
"I think I'll want to know more stuff then," he said.
Общее резюме: для того, чтобы делать выводы из исследования надо: а) знать как оно проводилось б) видеть его в подлиннике, а не в пересказе. Статья опубликована в качестве базы для полемики. :-)
CanWest MediaWorks and Rogers Wireless have launched bbTV, a new media player for delivering TV content to BlackBerry users in Canada.
bbTV will offer Rogers Wireless customers access to near TV quality synchronized audio and video files of leading CanWest MediaWorks content, including breaking and daily news from Global News, Global National, Global Morning and the Financial Post.
In addition, bbTV will provide daily sports information and commentary from Rogers Sportsnet, Canada's number one regional sports service.
CanWest has partnered with Rogers Wireless to provide the bbTV media player free of charge to Rogers Wireless' BlackBerry customers through a new video rate plan for $5 per month.
"bbTV will provide BlackBerry consumers with daily clips of high quality on-demand video content they can take on the go and we're very excited to be the first-to-market in Canada with this technology," said Arturo Duran, President, Interactive and Business Integration, CanWest MediaWorks Inc. in a release. "bbTV gives us a new distribution platform for delivering our content and provides advertisers with a new advertising platform to reach niche audiences in a more targeted way."
CanWest will generate revenue through advertising sales - all content downloads on bbTV will begin and end with five second advertising promos. The response from the advertising community has been extremely positive with General Motors, Royal Bank of Canada, Tylenol and Labatt signing on as bbTV's first advertising partners.
"We're living in a mobile generation now, where consumers are using a variety of ways to stay connected and receive information on the go," said Hugh Dow, President of M2 Universal, media agency for GM, Royal Bank, Tylenol and Labatt. "We see bbTV as an important platform that our clients can incorporate into their marketing efforts and ensure they are reaching target markets as their needs evolve."
In Canada, bbTV will be marketed by both Rogers and CanWest MediaWorks. Rogers Wireless customers can now subscribe to the newly launched video plan and have bbTV wirelessly installed on their BlackBerry free of charge.
"As Canada's leading provider in data communications services, Rogers Wireless is always looking to help customers save time by bringing the latest innovation in mobile communications," said John Boynton, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless. "Instead of reading the news, our customers can now watch it unfold anywhere, at any time in a comprehensivetime saving format."
CanWest has licensed the new technology from Sona Mobile Holdings Corp, a leading provider of wireless software to the financial services, enterprise, entertainment and gaming markets. CanWest and Sonaannounced the first-ever MediaPlay er for BlackBerry at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando this past May.
"We are thrilled to offer the first-ever commercially available media player for BlackBerry. For the very first time, Canadian BlackBerry users can receive and play video on their BlackBerry devices," said Niall Carson, Sona Mobile's Vice President responsible for the MediaPlayer for BlackBerry. "We believe that this application will be very well-received in the marketplace and the BlackBerry community."
Viacom and Adobe Forge Alliance to Deliver Web and Mobile Content
Viacom to Leverage Adobe's Engagement Platform for Creating and Delivering Digital Experiences Online and On the Go
Viacom, Inc. and Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced a strategic alliance to develop and deliver Viacom's exclusive branded content using the Adobe® Engagement Platform. Through this agreement, Adobe will become Viacom's preferred technology provider for rich media authoring tools and interactive online video solutions, enabling Viacom to deliver content from its television, motion picture and digital properties to online and mobile audiences in compelling ways. The two companies will also work together in developing new media applications leveraging Viacom's exclusive content and using Adobe's next-generation developer tools and ubiquitous cross-platform client software.
The Adobe Engagement Platform is a versatile foundation for capturing and holding audiences' attention through more active and effective applications and media. Through the combined reach of the Adobe Reader® and Adobe Flash® Player clients, which are installed on more than 600 million connected PCs and devices worldwide, the Adobe Engagement Platform enables businesses to connect with customers, no matter which medium they choose.
"This partnership with Adobe is an important step towards ensuring that our company has the most robust and state of the art online and mobile video applications. We are very excited to be working so closely with Adobe, which is a real innovator with a great track record," said Tom Freston, president and CEO of Viacom.
Viacom will utilize Flash video as an interactive online video solution and provide Viacom-branded content to mobile phone handsets via FlashCast™ channels. Flash video delivers secure, high-quality seamless video experiences. FlashCast is a flexible client-server solution that effectively delivers rich, intuitive branded experiences on mobile devices. Using Adobe technology, Viacom will also develop entirely new applications leveraging content from Viacom properties including MTV, Comedy Central, Spike TV and Nickelodeon.
"Adobe and Viacom share a vision for how to bring Viacom's world-class programming and content to online and mobile audiences in innovative ways," said Bruce Chizen, CEO of Adobe. "This relationship and the Adobe Engagement Platform will accelerate Viacom's ability to create and deliver new kinds of digital entertainment across different mediums, regardless of which operating system, browser or device viewers are using. Our Engagement Platform is continuing to gain momentum as a powerful means of reaching and connecting with consumers on their terms, anytime, anyplace."
The companies did not disclose information regarding potential launch dates or financial arrangements.
About Viacom
Viacom is one of the leading global entertainment content companies, with prominent and respected brands in focused demographics. Offering programming and content for television, motion pictures and digital platforms, Viacom's world-class brands include MTV Networks (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, CMT: Country Music Television, Spike TV, TV Land, Logo and more than 120 networks around the world), BET Networks, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment, DreamWorks and Famous Music.
![[Samsung Phone Photo]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AG866_CELLAD_20060815205222.jpg)
![[Toyota Ad]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AG874_CELLAD_20060815205346.jpg)
