AT&T’s purchase of Aloha Partners puts Verizon’s mobile TV launch squarely in its cross-hairs.

Verizon uses Qualcomm’s competitive MediaFlo technology, which already broadcasts shows like "60 Minutes" and "CSI: New York" in more than 32 markets.

Aloha’s HiWire unit has quietly acquired 700 mhz spectrum in 281 markets covering more than 196 million while attention has focused on two other players: Verizon and its V Cast Mobile TV service; and Modeo, which scrapped plans for its own digital TV service over the summer.

Aloha’s acquisition would allow AT&T to leapfrog directly from its relatively slow network to broadcast-quality TV on mobile handsets.

Like all new mobile technologies, mobile TV’s consumer uptake will be slow. Mobile TV requires a new chip to be implanted in handsets, essentially turning them into tiny TVs capable of showing near-broadcast quality programming.

So both Verizon and AT&T will need to both order new specially-designed handsets and sell consumers on mobile TV. They’ll also face the task of differentiating the services from existing "TV" on cellphones, which operate off of the mobile Internet.

MediaFlo and Aloha’s DVbH technology operate on broadcast TV’s so-called "one-to-many" principle: consumers receive one signal that scales to millions of people without a cost increase.

Existing mobile video is "one-to-one", meaning every customer gets their own customized video stream. That means millions of people using the carriers’ existing mobile video services might cost more than they earn for the operators — potentially even crashing their networks.

AT&T says it may still decide to use Aloha’s spectrum for voice or data services. But its hard to believe that a company that’s invested billions of dollars in terrestrial IPTV services won’t grab this tailor-made opportunity in mobile. 

See Also

• AT&T Buys Aloha Wireless Spectrum
• AT&T Ends Aloha’s DTV Plans
• Verizon Fall DTV Line-Up
• iHollywood Forum’s IPTV World conference

Posted under Uncategorized

CBS puts full shows into mobile on-demand distribution

Giving Web users access to full length TV shows was one thing, but when CBS plants complete episodes of David Letterman’s and Craig Ferguson’s late-night shows on Verizon VCast you know that programmers are just tossing things on the walls to see what sticks. I am still waiting for the first sample of this project to show up on my VCast deck, so I will reserve judgment. Apparently, CBS will parse the hour-long programs into segment chunks for handier viewing. This may not be a bad plan, per se, since it gives us access to specific guest interviews and Letterman’s Top Ten, I imagine. But the VCast deck is unresponsive and an eyesore to begin with (at least on the two LG test phones I was leant), so I am not looking forward to drilling for them everyday, let alone remembering they are there. The Silicon Alley Reporter blogger comments that CBS and Verizon shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for audiences.

I beg to differ. Long form programming actually does have a limited audience on mobile when served intelligently. Sprint Movies is a pay-per-view service that provider mSpot has told me is surprisingly popular. It divides a movie into scores of three-minute snippets. Fans of a flick can review a favorite scene or show it to someone else. For the CBS plan, one can imagine the water-cooler query “Did you catch Letterman last night?” turning into “Here, see what happened on Letterman, last night.” Granted, Verizon’s $15 monthly VCast premium is terribly overpriced and screams for the kind of ad subsidization that is helping Sprint move more video into free access. In fact, CBS mobile head Cyriac Roeding told me last week that Sprint is going to let ads run into its deck-based offerings via Rhythm NewMedia’s ad network.

 

Carriers and media keep talking about hybrid models of fee-based and free mobile content but I think it is all delusional or just designed to placate operator fears. The major brands are starting to invest heavily in mobile not because they feel they need to follow the user here but because they see a familiar model from the Web and the airwaves evolving. Advertising is the only thing that really promises the levels of revenue necessary to fund mobile video programming. Ad support guarantees wider distribution by lowering the barrier of entry. I and millions of other mobile users will be happy to get our Letterman Top Ten on our cell phones and watch an ad in order to do so? Pay for the privilege of seeing on a handset what we just saw for free last night? Not me.

See Also

• CBS Mobile

Posted under Michael's Blog

by Craig Stephen

As the race to establish a dominant mobile television standard hots up, in Asia it’s deployments rather than lobbying or operator trials increasingly setting the pace.  

This week a consortium was announced in Indonesia to build the first Digital Media Broadcast (DMB) network outside Japan and South Korea. Indonesian electronic retailer, PT Agis, Toshiba of Japan (who invented the standard) and mobile and IPTV systems integrator BNS of Hong Kong will team up to launch a satellite broadcast mobile TV service early next year.

Other details are still to emerge such as which mobile operators and content providers are onside. What’s interesting is an electronic retailer and distributor is in there and will operate the service.

Who controls the point of sale in the emerging mobile TV value-chain is a sensitive issue. Usually mobile and Pay TV operators will slog it out. A nationwide retailer should also help get devices quickly into the hands of consumers spread across  Indonesia’s 17,500 islands.

So far Korea and Japan have been doing the running on DMB. Most attention is focused on TU Media’s Satellite–DMB service in Korea, not so much because of its 1.3 million subscribers, but that they are paying US$12 a month to watch over an hour of content a day.

That’s a more impressive figure when you consider Koreans pay just $6 a month for cable TV.  They also have more than 60 devices to choose from, well ahead of Nokia and its DVB-H handsets.

But the one market that could really alter the balance in these emerging standards is of course China with its 500 million mobile users.

Next year is launch date for satellite mobile TV in time for the Beijing Olympics. With issues on standards, spectrum and business models still to be ironed out, few analysts or industry observers are willing to place bets on what will happen.

Yet EchoStar Satellite confidently predict its S-band satellite is ready to beam mobile video across China early next year. At this stage it seems some flavor of DMB technology will get the nod. 

According to Dave Shull, Asia Pacific MD of Echostar  the focus on standards is a bit of a red herring speaking at a recent CASBAA Conference. “Standards do not really matter as they are all more or less the same technically, the handset price matters much more than the technology.”

And of course if any market has the size and production capacity to lower the price of technology hardware, it is China.

Meanwhile Nokia’s DVB-H standard is also making a move as this week the European Commission said it will favor the standard and look at ways to mandate its use.

Everyone points out the EU used the same approach to successfully mandate GSM.  But surely the lessons from W-CDMA were less salutary?

I’d pay more attention to commercial service launches, especially in Asia, rather than dictates from EU Commissioners.   

See Also

• European Commission
• consortium

Posted under Michael's Blog