BBC And ITV Trial Live Mobile TV
Continuous live television broadcast over mobile phones may be available far earlier than predicted. The BBC and ITV, in conjunction with other major broadcasters, have formed an unprecedented alliance to develop a mobile television service.
They will conduct a six-month trial, together with Samsung and LG mobile phones, to test the market. Earlier in the year, the Oxford Mobile TV trial proved consumers had a keen interest in the service (see UK Consumers Keen For Mobile TV).
Together will other partners, including Eurosport and Cartoon Network (owned by US giant Time Warner), they will make six channels available on handsets, which will broadcast live and continuously.
If the trial is a success, the package of services, which include BBC News 24 and one of ITV’s popular digital channels, is likely to be expanded. The trial means that mobile TV could be widely available sooner than previously thought (see Mobile TV To Be Big In Next Two Years).
Although experiments have already been undertaken to make programming available on mobiles, the new service will pave the way for live continuous television. The programmes will be broadcast over a spectrum currently used by digital radio, rather than a more powerful equivalent that will not be made available until the analogue television signal is switched off in 2012.
It is expected that the trial will be launched nationally later this year by a consortium that includes BT and radio companies Chrysalis and UBC Media. It will be offered to mobile phone companies whose customers will pay a monthly fee. NewsLine recently learnt that Vodaphone had reported an overwhelming take-up for their mobile TV service, Sky Mobile TV, launched last year with BSkyB (see TV To Go).
At a seminar in Westminster today, South Korea and the UK have together announced technology advances and trial plans for mobile data broadcasting over DAB (digital audio broadcasting).
Partners from both countries have joined forces to announce details of the trial that will show how two enhancements of the DAB platform can be used to broadcast television and other multimedia applications to mobile devices, using existing spectrum. The aim is for both countries to learn lessons from each other and to realise the potential of mobile TV in the UK.
The trial will demonstrate the multimedia capabilities of DAB including enhanced radio, mobile TV and other multimedia applications, and how these can co-exist with the already popular DAB audio radio services here in the UK.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com