It’s hard to keep up with today’s
cell-phone functionality, with voice
calls, text messaging, e-mail, Web
surfing, GPS navigation, cameras,
FM radios, and MP3 music. Now
television has jumped headlong into
the mix. A few carriers already offer
TV programming over their networks,
and new broadcast services have come online.
Expect an even bigger push for mobile TV later
this year and next year.
BIG CONTENT, LITTLE SCREENS
Nearly everyone watches their favorite
programs and movies on a typical television
screen, regardless of size or format. And broadband
has more and more consumers checking
out video on their computer monitors. So how
can cell phones and their 1- and 2-in. screens
hope to compete? Can you even read a movie’s
credits on a handset? Probably not.
Even so, the viewing experience isn’t impossible.
The screen’s tilt may present some problems,
but new mobile TV content should be
able to work around it. There’s also increasing
demand for larger cell-phone screens. Look no
further than the Apple iPhone, which is already
establishing a trend with its 3.5-in. screen.
Do we need mobile TV? Did we ask for it?
No and no. So why are we getting it? Because
we can. More importantly, though, because it’s
a new revenue source for carriers—and a new
advertising outlet for sponsors. It won’t be for
everyone, but many consumers will clamor for
this “latest and greatest” technology.
It’s anybody’s guess on how many future cell
phones will carry this capability. Most research
firms see it as a very successful new handset
venture, despite the lower-quality TV viewability.
HARDWARE/SOFTWARE ENABLERS
The technology and new broadband spectrum
are driving mobile TV. Some mobile TV is
available through the cell-phone networks, but
it requires lots of high-speed data capability in
the handset—a capability that’s already there.
But if network mobile TV gets popular, the
carriers will quickly run out of bandwidth and
backhaul capacity. Potentially, this could hurt
their ability to handle other broadband services
like texting and e-mail, not to mention restricting
expansion of their voice service. YouTube
and Facebook already are taking their toll on
cellular networks.
Thus, the move to broadcast mobile TV. A
new network of broadcast stations in major
markets will mainly supply cell-phone TV. These
stations will send multiple channels of video to
a separate receiver chip in the cell phone. With
this setup, mobile TV can turn into a very successful
reality. In fact, it’s already happening
with services from both AT&T, called Mobile
TV, and Verizon, known as V Cast.
So while the physical implementation problem
has been solved, the greatest factor in
its success will be content. Some existing TV
shows, movies, and videos can be repurposed
for mobile TV, but a whole new content industry
is emerging. The goal is to create content
especially for the small screen (see “Expected
Mobile TV Content,” below).
Music videos should do well in mobile TV.
But TV shows like sitcoms are too long, and
movies even more so—a single film could
spell the early death of a handset’s battery.
Currently, the largest and most lucrative
Internet video market is adult content. While
such content for cell phones would be similarly
successful, it’s doubtful the carriers would
allow it. Besides, phones with Internet access
could get that content anyway.
Video on demand (VOD) will be very desirable.
So will podcasts, which could be used to
provide educational content. Cell phones with
mobile TV probably will have a flash-memory
slot for pre-loaded content as well. Games may
use video, but they won’t play a role in the
mobile TV market.
So once you have your mobile TV, where and
when will you watch it (see “Top 10 Places To
Watch Cell-Phone TV,” p. 68)? Most of our viewing
will likely take place when we’re in waiting
mode, say at the train station or in the doctor’s
lobby. But its convenience may tempt us to
watch TV when we can least afford the distraction.
How many people have you seen sending
text messages while they drive? And mobile TV
at work could hurt productivity more than the
Internet and e-mail combined.
MOBILE TV TECHNOLOGY
Like any new wireless service, mobile TV is moving ahead quickly
because of the currently available hardware and software, and
multiple standards already exist. All of the standards use a coded
orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with quadrature
phase-shift keying (QPSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation
(QAM) as the basic modulation choices.
There doesn’t seem to be any method more spectrally efficient,
especially with the robustness in a multipath environment with moving
receivers. Also, all of the standards use the same video-compression
method that provides a streaming data rate in the 256- to
300-kbit/s range.
The most common screen size, QVGA, has a basic pixel resolution
of 320 by 240. Other sizes and formats are possible, but
this is a good fit for screens in the 2- to 4-in. range with video
rates of 256 to 300 kbits/s and a screen refresh rate of 15 or 30
frames/s. Other video formats supported include CIF (common intermediate
format) with a 352- by 288-pixel count and a quarter-size
version (QCIF) with a 176- by 144-pixel resolution.
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