Mobile Television
Challenges of advanced service design
Johannes M. Bauer, Im Sook Ha, Dan Saugstrup
LA Global Mobility Roundtable
Marina del Rey, CA, June 1, 2007
Overview
Value net of mobile TV
Platforms and solutions
Factors shaping market evolution
DMB in South Korea
Lessons and outlook
Value net of mobile TV
 Value-chain of mobile voice services
 Few players (equipment manufacturers, network operators,
service providers)
 Standardization sufficient to coordinate
 Value-net of mobile TV services
 Larger number of players
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Mobile operators
Content providers
Service providers
Application providers
Broadcast companies
Network operators (mobile and broadcast)
Equipment manufactures
 Challenges of coordination and service integration
Platforms and solutions
Platform/Solution
Inband
Digital Video Broadcasting
Handheld (DVB-H)
Unicast, existing handsets usable,
opportunity costs of bandwidth
Multimedia Broadcast
Multicast Services (MBMS)
Multicast, existing handsets usable,
higher efficiency of bandwidth use
Either Sling Media
Terrestrial Digital Media
Broadcasting (T-DMB)
Outofband
Features
Satellite Digital Media
Broadcasting (S-DMB)
Media Forward Link Only
(MediaFLO)
User-driven and user-configured
solution, 2.5G, 3G, WiFi
Additional broadcast frequency
needed (T-DMB: 170-230 MHz, 470862 MHz, 1.452-1.492 GHz); new
handsets; investment in broadcast
infrastructure; increased coordination
needs between players
Status of deployment
Platform/Solution Deployment
DVB-H
Italy (3 Italia, TIM, Mediaset, Vodafone, all
2006), Finland (Digita/Nokia, 2006), U.S.
(Modeo, HiWire Mobile TV, planned for 2007),
Germany (planned for 2008), Spain, France
(planned)
MBMS
Not yet commercially deployed
Inband
Either Sling Media
Outofband
10 countries, including U.S., Canada, Brazil
T-BMB
South Korea (six providers, 2005, limited
coverage), Germany (Mobiles Fernsehen
Deutschland, 2006)
S-DMB
South Korea (TU Media, 2005)
MediaFLO
U.S. (Verizon, 2007)
Factors shaping market evolution
Technology
Policy
Spectral efficiency
Propagation
Bandwidth
Spectrum policy
Market design
Industrial policy
Mobile sector
Performance/
evolution
Economics
Cost/risk/profit
Supplier strategy
Demand
Sociocultural
framework
South Korean DMB infrastructure
The satellite ‘HanByul’
Gap filler
S-band
DMB
Broadcasting Station
S-DMB
T-DMB
VHF Ch7~Ch13 (174~216MHz)
Transmission tower
Technology issues of mobile TV
Frequency
Standardization
Equipment

S-DMB
T-DMB
Ku band (12-13GHz) , S-band (2.630-2.655)
- As power output is not limited by international
regulations, the S-band is well-suited for
broadcasting to small handset antennas
VHF band III , L-band (1-2GHz)
- Multiplexed T-DMB uses only 1.5-1.7 MHz making
it easier to accommodate than the 6-8MHz needed
by DVB-H
System E
- Uses CDM, similar to the CDMA technology
( Korea : competitive advantage)
System A (Eureka 147 standard)
-Backward compatible
-Allowing use of the DAB
(Stable and Mature technology)
Gap filler
- To cover areas not reached by the S-DMB or T-DMB signals, a gap filler system of repeaters is used.
When making technology adoption, policy makers considered business as well as technology
 Influencing criteria such as the cost effectiveness of the infrastructure, equipment, and standards
 Closely linked to and co-evolved with technology and firm strategies
Policy toward mobile TV (1)
 Licensing Policy

Korean Broadcasting Commission KBC adopted RFP (Request for Proposal) for provider
selection

For T-DMB in Korea, there are three T-DMB service providers (KBS, MBC, SBS) and three nonterrestrial service providers (CBS, YTN DMB, KMMB)

TU Media took a license as the first S-DMB service provider (in Dec. 2004)

Before licensing, TU Media had already invested substantial capital in launching a satellite ($97 million), the
installation of gap fillers ($230 million) and the establishment if a DMB broadcasting center($ 60million)

The circumstances of policy in which government should support to DMB service were created
 Korean DMB was developed by a leading mobile provider’s technology-push to market
rather than by market-pull
T-DMB
Date
S-DMB
Description
Date
Description
Jan 2005
Call for service provider application
Mar 2004
Launching of the satellite for S-DMB service
Feb 2005
End of application acceptance period
Nov 2004
Call service provider application
Mar 2005
Service provider selected
(6 providers)
Dec 2004
Service provider selected
(1 provider)
Dec 2005
Commercial service
May 2005
Commercial service
Source : MIC
Policy toward mobile TV (2)
 Retransmission of terrestrial TV programs via S-DMB
 S-DMB provider has insisted on retransmission (consumer needs, fair competition
with T-DMB, …)
 KBC left the issue to contractual agreements between providers
 Terrestrial TV broadcasters have not signed retransmission contracts
 Pay service to T-DMB
 At least initially, advertising revenues would be too fragile and volatile to cover the
costs of gap fillers and other start-up expenses
 Users wanted to maintain T-DMB as a free service, also VHF channels are regarded
as a public asset
 Up until now, KBC has had difficulties in finding solutions to the T-DMB cost problem
The profit structure of the industry could be changed according to
how policies for competition are designed
Business aspects of mobile TV
 Business issues
Business aspects
Supply
Demand
(Consumer
perspective)
Cost
structure
S-DMB
T-DMB
$500-800 million
$ 50-80 million
As T-DMB will mainly have to invest in a gap filler infrastructure, its costs are lower
Rate
$13/month
Free
Channels
A higher number of channels
A lower number of channels
Coverage
Nationwide
Regional coverage
 Nationwide ( 08, 2007)
Technology development
Public Policy regime
 Competition in business environment will change due to future technology development and
public policy regime
 T-DMB: pricing policy (Free rate  Monthly flat fee, per channel fees, or charges for specific contents)
 S-DMB: Public policy (Contents  Allowing retransmission of terrestrial TV programs)
The Korean experience
 In addition to high initial cost, market demand has fallen short of
expectations
 At the end of 2006, S-DMB reached an estimated one million subscribers. But due to initial
investment cost and high fixed cost still loss-making
 Below 50% of short-term break-even goals of 2.2 million subscribers
 Optimistic predictions
 6.6 million S-DMB subscribers by 2010 (TU Media)
 10 million T-DMB subscribers by 2010 (ETRI)
 However, there are many issues awaiting solution

Policy issues and conflicts waiting to be addressed by government
 Pay service for T-DMB
 Retransmission for S-DMB
 These issues will be repeated when Korea introduces other convergence services, already
visible in IPTV and Wibro
 Solutions to these issues could lead to major changes to DMB business environment in the
future
Lessons and outlook
 Important technical and economic differences
between platforms/solutions
 Factors shaping market evolution
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Frequency allocations (in-band, out-of-band)
Eligibility for a mobile TV license
Rules governing competition among providers
Revenue model (pay, ad-financed, hybrids)
Ability of providers to bundle with other services
Competition by substitute services (e.g. vodcasting)
 Policy and market rules should eliminate
bottlenecks and facilitate experimentation