Mobile TV: An Assessment of EU Politics

Transcription

1 Mobile TV: An Assessment of EU Politics Reza Tadayoni, Anders Henten, Iwona Windekilde center for Communication, Media and Information technologies (CMI) Copenhagen Institute of Technology Aalborg University, Denmark EuroCPR March 2009 Seville, Spain

2 The research project The study is done as a part of the CAMMP (Converged Advanced Mobile Media Platform), Which is a high profiled Danish research project in the area of mobile media. The consortium of CAMMP: Aalborg University, Technical University of Denmark, Nokia, Motorola, DR, BSD, Wirtek and Unwire, The project duration is 4 years Project web site:

3 Overview Background Research question Methodology Policy and regulatory parameters Technology solution Business model and market Conclusion

4 Background DVB-H was chosen as the preferred European standard and in March 2008 DVB-H was added to the (very limited) List of standards and/or specifications for electronic communications networks, services and associated facilities and services

5 Research question The objective of the paper: Discuss EU policies in the area of mobile TV What were the arguments for choosing a specific European standard? Was it right to choose DVB-H standard? What are the deployed organisation models?

6 Methodology We study the issue by analysing: The Policy/regulatory setting, The Technology solutions Business model and market development The data for the analysis is based on: Directives and communications from EC Technology oriented literature Country cases

7 Background for EU initiatives Mobile TV is a prime example of digital convergence Mobile TV is more than TV and enables new services and applications Europe risks losing its competitive edge in mobile services Danger for market fragmentation in Europe

8 Regulatory challenges The answer of the EC has been First to ask the industry to opt for DVB-H by itself: Establishment of European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC) in And as this failed: Select DVB-H as the preferred European standard and to promote creation of a single European mobile TV market Challenges from a regulatory point of view: Spectrum General framework, Authorisation mechanisms, Award procedures and some specific issues

9 Spectrum Allocation of the released spectrum after analogue shut down digital dividend Harmonization of spectrum for Mobile TV at EU level Establishment of a common spectrum plan at the EU level by clustering different types of usage: Unidirectional high power networks mainly for fixed broadcasting services; Unidirectional medium to low power networks, for instance mobile TV; Bi-directional low power networks primarily for fixed and mobile broadband

10 MUX1 MUX8

11 Regulatory best practices Overview of a recent communication on best practices for deployment of DVB-H: General framework: Creation of greater clarity, transparency, efficiency and timeliness of procedures Authorisation regimes: Important to clearly define the relationship between e-communications, spectrum and content aspects, Award procedures: clarity and transparency and collaborative approaches between the players Some specific aspects: No must-carry, network infrastructure sharing, interoperability and EU-wide roaming

12 3 Main regulatory models The Communication from EC identifies three main regulatory models : The extension of existing rules for DTT - Italy and the UK. plain wholesale model In, e.g., Finland and focuses on the wholesale platform operator. integrated approach, where all the players in the value network have to find an agreement before the authorisation is granted - In Austria and is the model recommended by the Commission

13 Technology solutions Mobile 3G and beyond Mobile WiMAX Content Service Mobile broadcast Mobile Terminal The Internet Content holder/ provider Service provider Network provider End user as consumer and provider

14 Internet (best effort) WiFi (Wireless IPTV) Mobile Internet Podcast Mobile networks (In band) 3G and 3.5 G. And LTE - Managed service - Mainly Unicast and in the future Multicast (MMBS), Mobile WiMAX The same as mobile networks Mobile broadcast platforms Trends and Outlook Mobil TV technologies and platforms DVB-T, DVB-H, DVB-SH, DAB/T-DMB, S-DMB, MediaFLO, ATSC-MH, ISDB-T, and CMMB.

15 Trends and Outlook Mobil TV technologies and platforms DVB-T The standard for digital terrestrial TV in EU Competing platform with other multi service platforms like satellite &Cable Mobility is possible, however there are problems with reception and power when it comes to handheld terminals Is only a TV on Mobile platform DVB-H Based on DVB-T More efficient than DVB-T to handle the challenges of mobile environment like multipath and Doppler effect, etc. More efficient power consumption Is more than TV on mobile - Based on IP Datacast, hence the IP protocol stack can be used - Much more possibilities for interactivity, personalisation and context awareness using Electronic Service Guide (ESG)

16 Podcast Scenario: Podcast in combination with a mobile broadcast platform During night time the receiver could e.g. be put in a docking station where it would receive power and data. Reception of 10 Mbps during 8 h requires 36 GByte. A night filling of data would then e.g. enable a choice of 320 h of video at 250 kbps, with full virtual video-on-demand functionality. During day time the receiver could update the cache with user-selected content/programmes. Virtual coverage and Local Interactivity

17 DVB-H pilot - simple setup EPG Data stream EPG to ESG Converter ESG server (home made) - OMA-BCAST TV and radio feed Video content Transcoder - VLC (customised) Streaming server - Darwin Streaming Server DVB-H IPE -Time slicing - MPE FEC - QoS DVB-H Modulator - 8K - QPSK - GI ¼ - Ch38 (500W erp) Control DVB-H Services DVB-H Terminals Mobile Network

18 DVB SH

19 Business model- Challenges Main market actors: Content providers Service providers Mobile broadcast platform operator Mobile operator Challenge to market development: Cooperation in the value network In particular between mobile operators and broadcast platform operators Consumers willingness to pay Lack of new services Regulatory barriers

20 Business model- Organizational issues Italy: The extension of existing rules for DTT:: Closed model: Mobile operator 3 acquired Canal 7 Open model: RTI (mediaset Group) acquired Europa TV Finland: plain wholesale model Digita operates the platform (since 2006) Only FTA Lack of incentive at content side No measures for diffusion of terminals The model will work when there is demand pull

21 Business model- Organizational issues Austria: integrated approach : Media Broadcast got license in Feb 2008 Media Broadcast Established cooperation with mobile operators Four Mobile operators are active in the field: 3 and one (now Orange), A1 and Red Bull (MVNO) Differentiation in price, subsidies to handsets etc. Germany: Not a success. Mobile 3.0 returned its license in October 2008 Failed in establishing cooperation between the broadcast platform and Mobile operators

22 Source: Rethink Wireless, 2009 Market data and funding models Country Standard Subscribers Funding model Service providers Austria DVB-H 90,000 users (a) FTA MEDIA BROADCAST Pay service 3 (H3G), (formerly One), A1, Red Bull Mobile (b) Italy DVB-H 850,000 users FTA 3 Italia Pay service 3 Italia, Vodafone, TIM (c) Finland DVB-H <10,000 users FTA Digita Japan ISDB-T 1seg 40 mill. handset FTA DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank (d) Korea T-DMB 15.4 mill. users FTA 6 broadcasters: KBS, MBC, SBS, YTN DMB, U1 Media, KMMB S-DMB 1.85 mill. users Pay service TU Media Corp (e) USA FLO 100,000 users Pay service AT&T, Verizon Wireless

23 Usage Use context: Italy: 60% outdoor Austria: 50% Indoor Korea: 18% in own cars Japan: 40% at home in rooms with no TV Average use: Korea and Italy: 64 min per day Austria: 30 min per day USA (FLO): 20 min per day Willingness to Pay: There are some subscriptions regimes In the initial phase FTA has been the dominating regime

24 In favour of the EU: Conclusions Good technical reasons for mobile broadcast platform DVB-H is a natural extension of choosing DVB in general for digital broadcast in Europe. The European market is indeed more fragmented than, for instance, the US or Japanese markets, and common decisions are necessary if a single market is to develop in this field. Such a single market has different advantages in terms of crossborder services for users but just as importantly in terms of delivering an industry policy support for the mobile manufacturing and service industry in Europe in the global environment.

25 Against EU policy: Conclusions The danger of politically supporting a standard, which runs the risk of being technologically or otherwise obsolete or bypassed. The fact that mobile TV, as at yet, has not turned out to be a market success. Our conclusion is that using DVB-H was not a failing strategy, but it is important to be open in relation to the technological development. In particular it is important to consider DVB-SH and next generation DVB-H (which is a hybrid terrestrial and satellite DVB-H combined with virtual TV services placed on the terminal).

26 Some final observations Technology push rather than demand pull The media has not found its own language and current provisions are traditional TV on mobile Different use behaviour than expected Preconditions for future success: o Clear regulatory framework o New services, including interactivity and personalisation o Cooperation between broadcast platform and mobile operators o Availability and diffusion of terminals o Understanding the use context.

27 Questions / Comments?