3rd Space Delivers Ad-funded Video for Reliance

Indian telco Reliance Communications has announced a partnership with UK mobile marketing firm, 3rd Space Services, to launch ad-funded videos on its Reliance Mobile platform. Under the tersm of the agreement, 3rd Space will supply mobile video content to Reliance Communications. It will also offer premium content such as ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’, Bollywood songs and films, and sports content. The service will be available on every data-enabled handset within the Reliance network. Customers will have access to the content in exchange for watching an ad embedded within the video.
“Our tie-up with 3rd Space will be mutually beneficial,” says Krishna Durbha, Head of Value Added Services at Reliance Communications. “It will not only increase the viewership, but also the revenue for both companies. Besides, the application offers outstanding video quality hitherto not experienced by mobile users, and will be accessible on every handset in our ecosystem. Our initiative will act as a launch pad for ad-funded videos in India, with more exciting things to follow.”

Saffron Handed PlayNow Clips Task

Sony Ericsson has chosen Saffron Digital to provide the technology behind its new venture, PlayNow Clips.
PlayNow Clips is a short-form mobile video service, which brings together videos for music, film and TV into a single mobile site, which users can access easily from their Sony Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Content is coordinated from sister companies Sony Pictures and Sony Music to include premium made-for-mobile minisodes and content, as well as film previews, new releases, music videos and TV clips.
Saffron Digital is responsible for creating the site, video encoding and delivery, as well as the management of back office procedures. Saffron’s proprietary download platform provides optimised video to ensure a fast, high-quality service on the handset.
“Saffron Digital’s advanced technology is ideally suited for processing a wide variety of multimedia assets – as the site demands,”
Saffron Digital delivers mobile services to consumers on behalf of a wide range of clients, including 20th Century Fox, Disney, IPC Media, Motorola, O2, Orange, The Sun and Vodafone.

Envivio Unveils iPhone TV Solution

Envivio has taken the wrapsoff iLiveTV, which it describes as “the complete mobile video encoding and distribution solution for evaluating, developing and deploying live and on demand TV video services for the iPhone”. Taking advantage of the new iPhone OS 3.0 mobile video format announced by Apple at its Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, iLiveTV delivers everything mobile operators and content owners need to deliver TV to iPhone users. The solution includes the Envivio 4Caster C4 video encoding platform, content delivery server software, and a web-based ‘Cover Flow’ iPhone navigation portal, as well as integration and support from a team of Mobile TV deployment experts.
iLiveTV enables operators to offer iPhone users multiple channels of live broadcast TV over 3G and Wi-Fi networks with home theater quality and premium features such as Catch-up TV, Video on Demand and a client channel guide. iLiveTV supports all of the advanced capabilities of the new mobile video format in Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 to dynamically adapt to available bandwidth, optimize full screen video playback and increase battery life.
iLiveTV is optimized for the native iPhone 3.0 video player and requires no additional software be installed on the end user’s iPhone. A rich, customizable web interface featuring Cover Flow navigation offers users a smooth channel zapping experience.
Video encoding is powered by the Envivio 4Caster C4 used around the world to provide service to millions of IPTV, Internet TV and Mobile TV subscribers. The 4Caster C4 is a fully upgradeable system that, says Envivio, can support almost any network and any client device.
The system ingests analogue or digital sources and simultaneously encodes and protects the content for delivery at multiple bitrates, using Envivio H.264 Extreme Compression mobile video codec. This multi-profile encoding ensures consistent, automatic and seamless delivery of the best picture quality by adapting automatically to fluctuations in network bandwidth. iLiveTV also includes all the necessary software components to deliver protected video from a standard web server.
“iLiveTV is the complete solution for mobile operators and content owners ready to take advantage of the opportunity created by Apple’s new game-changing video format for the iPhone,” says Envivio CEO, Julien Signès. “The iPhone is redefining mobile entertainment. Combining the new iPhone OS 3.0 with Envivio leading technology and products provides the end user with an unmatched online mobile video service experience.”
iLiveTV is available immediately. You can sign up for a demonstration of the solution here.  

ROK Launches 2.5G Streaming TV Service in India

ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile technologies, applications and services company, has announced the launch of TINY TV across India, in conjunction with Indian mobile operator, BSNL. TINY TV is the first nationwide, subscription-based, mobile TV service in India to be streamed over mass-market 2.5G GPRS. BSNL has a customer base of more than 90 million people across its mobile, fixed-line and Internet service companies, including 54.2 million GSM, and 4.6 million CDMA subscribers.
Offering a range of live and on-demand Mobile TV channels, including local and international news, sports, music and movie channels, TINY TV is priced at Rs 150.00 (approximately £1.70) per month, payable via reverse-bill SMS.
Specifically, TINY TV channels include  News 24 (Hindi news), E-24 (Bollywood entertainment), ROK Bollywood (celebrity news), Geet (Hindi songs), Green (evergreen Bollywood music), Red (Bollywood music), Gyan (devotional), regional channels of Gujarati - Marathi for West India, Bengali for the East Zone, Tiny Sports TV, Tiny Comedy, Mobifun and a Movie Channel, offering a regularly-updated list of full length movies that users can pause, fast forward and rewind.

Spb Launches Sub-free Symbian TV Solution

Spb Software has announced the release of Spb TV for Symbian S60 phones. Spb TV is a subscription-free mobile IPTV viewer, designed for tuning in to publicly-available digital TV channels from all over the world. Spb TV features exclusive and patent-pending usability innovations, and gives the mobile subscribers easy access to over 100 international TV channels, directly from their phones. The company says that Spb TV gives viewers an unprecedented degree of control over the entire live Mobile TV experience, with onscreen controls for volume and brightness, a TV guide, picture-in-picture previews for all offered channels, quick channels switching, and more.
Spb TV is optimized for fast, new-generation mobile networks and requires 3G, WiMax, or a wi-fi data connection. The majority of TV channels offered were suggested by users of Spb TV for Windows phones. You can propose new channels to be added to the Spb TV catalogue here.
Spb TV 1.0 is available for Smartphones running S60 3d edition FP1 (Symbian 9.1) or higher, as well as Windows phones running Windows Mobile 5 and later Professional and Standard editions.  qVGA, VGA, Square QVGA, and WVGA screen resolutions are supported. The solution comes in full and freeware versions, with the freeware version limited in features and the number of channels available. The full version costs $14.95 and can be downloaded here.

Broadcast Body Urges Action on Mobile Content

The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) is urging broadcasters to abandon a “wait and see” approach to delivering content on mobile, and instead, to act now.
The AIB’s latest market intelligence briefing draws parallels with the situation faced in the late 1990s, when media companies had to decide whether to move on to the web, unsure of what that meant for them either in terms of investment, or whether the public would use the Internet in large numbers. The AIB says it sees similar hesitation and resistance within some media companies towards mobile today, despite the fact that there are now probably double the number of mobile phones in use than there are PCs.
The AIB is working on a number of projects to make sure its broadcaster members can harness the power of the mobile in an innovative way. In 2008, AIB linked up with Nokia to get AIB-member content onto its Internet Radio and Video Center platforms. The AIB is also working with a Mobile TV start-up to enable AIB members to place their news, current affairs, science, technology and lifestyle programming onto mobile handsets in Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, South Korea and other countries.
The AIB says its work in mobile will continue to expand throughout 2009, but adds that traditional delivery methods remain relevant for broadcasters choosing the most effective platforms to reach audiences in specific markets.  For example, the latest AIB market intelligence briefing also includes an update on pay-TV developments in the South African market.

Media Excel Announces iPhone Support

Media Excel, which provides transcoding solutions for Mobile TV, Web TV & IPTV, has announced iPhone live streaming support for its award-winning HERA 4000 encoder/transcoder product line. The announcement follows a round of successful trials with select mobile operators around the world and, the company says, enables seamless, high quality live video delivery to the iPhone via a streaming server (RTSP) or through a web server (HTTP).
HERA 4000 uses Media Excel’s hardware transcoding solution,n running on digital media processors based on DaVinci technology from Texas Instruments, to deliver high quality transcoding services to consumer devices. HERA 4000 appliances are field-upgradeable, and the new feature is available as a free upgrade to existing Hera 4000 customers. 
“iPhone enables an exciting set of features for live video delivery, and HERA 4000 allows operators and content aggregators alike to take full advantage of those immediately”, says Media Excel Product Manager, Nikos Kyriopoulos. “HERA 4000 is the first solution to intrinsically support iPhone’s streaming protocol, including segmentation, encryption and network rate adaptation."

WIT Unveils Live TV App for the iPhone

WIT Software has unveiled its ‘Live TV’ application for the iPhone, enabling Vodafone Portugal iPhone 3G users to watch live TV. According to WIT, this is one of the first live TV applications for the iPhone to be launched commercially in a mobile operator. It was developed by WIT, in close cooperation with Vodafone Portugal.
What makes the application unique, according to WIT Software CEO Luis Silva is: “The use of mobile standards, commonly used by mobile operators, and the ability to use 3G. With this application, mobile operators do not have to change anything on their network and subscribers can use the service anywhere in the country, as long as they have 3G coverage”.
The application is available for free on the Portuguese AppStore as “Vodafone Mobile TV’ and can be used by any Vodafone Portugal customer. The application is also  available for licensing for other mobile operators willing to extend its Mobile TV offering to iPhone 3G subscribers. Among other features, it supports fast channel switching, enabling the user to ‘zap’ TV channels as they do at home..
WIT has developed a competence centre for iPhone Application Development. Live TV is its third application certified by Apple recently. The iPhone MMS Client and ‘Mobile ATM’ application are also available on the AppStore, also for Vodafone Portugal iPhone 3G customers.

DVO Improves User Experience, says Dilithium

Dilithium, which specialises in multimedia delivery over mobile and broadband networks, says that its Dilithium Video Optimizer (DVO) solution enables content providers and service providers to reduce the bandwidth necessary to deliver video to 2.5 and 3G-enabled devices by up to 50% without reducing video quality. By deploying the DVO, says Dilithium, service providers can immediately provide a significantly better user experience, as content can be displayed faster, with less buffering on devices, and without degradation of video quality.
The DVO allows service providers to accommodate increasing delivery of high-quality live mobile video over already heavily-trafficked networks without making significant capital expenditures. As the network load increases, the DVO enables dynamic video traffic shaping at the video layer. Dilithium says its technology enables providers to accommodate more users, without reducing video quality or making major forklift upgrades.
By utilizing patented on-the-fly transcoding and transrating capabilities, the DVO quickly adjusts to handset capabilities, without the need for any special streaming client on the handset. This enables service providers to deliver video content for live and video-on-demand (VoD) delivery to the widest range of devices, including PCs, set-top boxes, and virtually all 2.5 and 3G video-enabled Smartphones. The adaptation process also allows it to work transparently with native browsers or streaming players on all devices.
“The exploding demand to view video anywhere, anytime on today's networks creates an overwhelming burden on bandwidth consumption for service providers,” says Dilithium CEO, Paul Zuber. “Providers want to offer their customers the latest live video applications, but they cannot invest hundreds of millions of dollars in network upgrades to meet this explosive demand. We are proud to offer service providers an elegant and cost-effective solution that provides a superior video experience to their Smartphone users.”

Stickam Live on Java Phones

Stickam Mobile, which specialises in live streaming video, and boasts the largest live community on the Internet, has announced that it is now available for any Java-enabled phone, including the T-Mobile G1 Android phones.
Stickam.com members can broadcast live on-the-go with Stickam Mobile, and also view live streams of their Stickam.com friends and Stickam.com's featured broadcasters. Stickam Mobile enables users to use their mobiles to stream everyday activities, such as a child's little league game, or to implement the audio-only feature to enjoy a favourite stream on the commute to and from work. With Stickam Mobile, users can now utilize all of the features of Stickam.com, such as viewing and responding to messages during a stream, from the palm of their hand.
?We recognize the transition of live streaming to the mobile space and are excited to offer our millions of users the ability to view and broadcast with Stickam Mobile,? says Stickam.com CEO, Steven Fruchter. ?With the viewing feature, Stickam Mobile is the only live streaming provider that allows users to view and stream via the web and cell phone. We are excited to be at the forefront of innovation with Stickam Mobile allowing for live video streaming across all mobile carriers and platforms."
Stickam Mobile viewing is available immediately on more than 100 of the most popular Java-enabled devices, including Blackberrys, and models from LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson.
Stickam Mobile broadcasting is also compatible with the Nokia N95, N80 and S60 series phones. You can download Stickam Mobile, here.

Red Herring Award for Rubberduck

Mobile TV provider Rubberduck Media Lab has picked up a Red Herring 100 Europe award, given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA region each year.
Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.
Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development. “We've spent five years to make (sic) Mobile TV services more helpful and easier to use,” says Rubberduck CEO, Ola Svartberg. “It's wonderful to have these efforts recognized by the respected Red Herring magazine…This inspires us to continue our efforts to provide an easy and cost effective way for broadcasters, media owners and mobile network operators to produce and distribute TV and video on mobile phones.”

Envivio Launches Elite Compression

Envivio, which provides video compression solutions has launched Elite Compression, which it describes as a powerful enhancement for its award-winning 4Caster C4 and M2 Mobile TV encoders. The compression tier is tuned to optimize the media playback experience on today's most popular mobile devices, and will be available to participants in Envivio’s Mobile Streaming trade up program, which offers discounts up to 35% to operators who replace their existing software encoders with the Envivio 4Caster C4 before 31 May, 2009.
According to Envivio, Elite Compression bridges the performance gap that currently exists in the mobile streaming market by targeting the many mass market mobile devices which use their central processor to decode media content. While H.263 and MPEG-4 Simple Profile compression are well matched to the capabilities of older or entry level mobile devices, Envivio says, they underutilize the performance of modern mid-range handsets using processors such as the ARM11. This prevents subscribers from enjoying the full media playback capability of their new devices. Conversely the more complex H.264 Baseline Profile is suitable only for premium handsets with dedicated video decoding hardware, as it overloads even the newest mid-range devices resulting in low frame rate video and an unacceptable user experience.
Envivio says that Elite Compression fills the void between these extremes by enabling mainstream mid-range devices, which comprise the majority of handsets in use, to deliver their optimum video and audio playback experience. Elite Compression is based on the H.264 standard, making it compatible with the standard media players provided by companies such as PV, NXP and RealNetworks that are already installed on millions of handsets.
The addition of Elite Compression takes place entirely at the headend, making it easy for operators to deploy. It does not require special handset players or any handset upgrades to enhance the performance on today’s most popular and widely used phones. The net result, says Envivio, is an instant improvement in the quality of experience for an operator’s existing subscriber base.
“Our close collaboration with the world’s leading mobile network operators and handset vendors put us in a unique position to understand the challenges facing operators,” says Envivio Vice President of Product Marketing, Boris Felts. “The result is a new compression tier that delivers enhanced quality of experience for the majority of the world’s mobile streaming users. It directly addresses the primary factor that attracts and retains subscribers, and does not rely on a proprietary solution that requires millions of handsets to be updated and which locks operators to a single supplier.”
Envivio’s compression architecture will allow operators currently using the 4Caster C4 and M2 encoders to add the new Elite Compression capability simply by upgrading their software code. New software code can be uploaded to C4 and M2 encoders individually using the built-in web server management interface or in groups using Envivio’s 4Manager NMS. Elite Compression will be available on the next software releases of the 4Caster C4 and M2 encoders.

Go211 Goes Mobile with Azuki

Azuki Systems has been selected to provide a mobile service by GO211.com, which provides  online video and community for action sports fans and competitors. Azuki will provide a mobile extension of GO211.com’s website, with rich community, blogging and video features, including live streaming of GO211.com events.
GO211.com will leverage Azuki’s technology to bring snackable, personalized content and a full complement of socialization features to mobile users. GO211.com’s mobile site (GO211.mobi) will provide live video streams from the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships at Stratton Mountain in Vermont beginning on Saturday.
“Azuki’s platform enables us to deliver live video streaming to mobile users just in time for this week’s US Open Snowboarding Championships,” says GO211.com CEO, Sean Aruda. “The social features in our new mobile site, including sharing and ratings, will help us build a stronger community for our users. Azuki’s cutting edge technology is quickly moving us forward to deliver the rich, interactive mobile experience our users are looking for.”
GO211.com’s action sports community includes athletes and enthusiasts from snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and BMX, and claims to be the premier site for live webcasts of major alternative sports events from around the world.

ROK Opens Up in India

ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile technology, applications and services company, has announces the launch of a subsidiary office in India. Tasked with marketing ROK’s suite of mobile applications to India’s leading mobile operators, ROK Entertainment India, located in New Delhi, is lead by seasoned marketer Jasjit Puri (Jasjit.puri@rokent.com).
“I am delighted to be equipped with ROK’s portfolio of revenue-generating mobile products at this exciting time in the development of the mobile industry in India” says  Puri. “ROK is at the cutting-edge in mobile entertainment and services innovation.”
ROK, best known for its award-winning mass-market Mobile TV service which streams live TV to mobile handsets over existing 2.5G and 3G mobile networks and wi-fi, has created more than 20 mobile applications and will soon launch ROK TV, ROK Comics, Mobile Video Messaging and mobile email in India, with several major network operators.
The mobile industry continues to grow rapidly in India, with the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) reporting the addition of more than 9 million new GSM subscribers in February alone to take the total to 277 million, nationwide.
Bharti Airtel cemented its position as the country's biggest operator by adding 2.7 million new users last month, with an overall customer base of 91 million customers and a market share of 32.8%, followed by Vodafone Essar's 66 million subscribers. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) remains in third place with 44 million subscribers. Idea Cellular has a customer base of 41 million while other players such as Aircel, Reliance Telecom, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and BPL account for 13% of the market between.
“Crucially, India’s mobile operators are highly dynamic in their adoption and marketing of new mobile services, while mobile customers tend to be hungry for content,” says ROK Chairman and CEO, Jonathan Kendrick. “And with Jasjit leading the deployment of our services, all of which are designed to raise ARPU while preventing churn, we are hugely excited for ROKs continued growth across the sub-continent.”

Skyfire Partners with Ustream

Mobile browser firm Skyfire has announced a partnership with Ustream.TV that will deliver live video to consumers accessing content from their mobile phones. The partnership, which provides Ustream with prominent placement among Skyfire’s bookmarks, will enable users to watch television on their phones from thousands of live streams, including content from Fox, CNET and Air America.
Skyfire’s latest version 0.9 of the browser, released last month, aggregates customized feeds from news, media, Facebook and Twitter. Skyfire notes also that it is the only mobile browser supporting Flash 10 and Silverlight, and so can play back any video.
“Live video from partners like Ustream fits perfectly into our plan to bring the best of the full web to the mobile generation,” says Skyfire VP Marketing, Tracy DeMiroz. “Without any development required to have a mobile presence, Ustream immediately gives their users access to all the content broadcast from their website. We know Skyfire users consume a lot of media during their day. In fact, on inauguration day a vast majority of our users were watching Obama on Ustream. That's why we're excited to include Ustream in the Skyfire bookmarks.”
Skyfire users can find the Ustream link in their bookmarks. It has top billing in the video category. The Skyfire 0.9 Beta is available for free on your mobile at: get.skyfire.com

Siano Launches Low-cost Mobile TV Chip

Siano Mobile Silicon, which makes Mobile TV chips, has announced the launch of a new, low-cost, multi-standard Mobile TV receiver chip, the SMS1140 - and the opening of new offices in Shenzhen in China.
Siano says the chip offers a substantial price reduction compared with all existing market solutions, and supports the major global Mobile TV broadcasting standards, including DVB-T, ISDB-T and T-DMB. According to Siano, the chip enables consumer electronics manufacturers to upgrade every portable device that has a colour screen with a  high performance Mobile TV feature, at a minor impact on the overall bill of materials.
Siano adds that the SMS1140 opens up new market opportunities within the consumer electronics industry, particularly given the rising demand for Mobile TV convergence amongst PC makers, navigational device manufacturers and other entertainment device suppliers. By establishing a local presence in Shenzhen, Siano can directly market the SMS1140 from the heart of the world's consumer electronics capital.
“So far, the reality in portable TV has been such that device makers either had to compromise on cost and get a quality receiver chip, or compromise on quality and pay less,” says Siano CEO, Alon Ironi. “The SMS1140 combines both state-of-the-art reception quality of the three most popular DTV technologies worldwide, at a groundbreaking price, opening up new commercial opportunities for Mobile TV within the consumer electronics industry.”

FRANCE 24 Launches on 3G for the iPhone

French news channel FRANCE 24 has become the first live TV channel available worldwide on the iPhone via 3G. FRANCE 24 is ulsing the Mobiclip video distribution platform to deliver the service.
The move builds on the initial success of the FRANCE 24 LIVE application, which launched on the Apple App Store on 8 February, and enabled users to watch the channel in French, English and Arabic, over wi-fi networks. The application has so far been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

QuickPlay Sees Mobile TV Stream Surge

QuickPlay Media, which provides Mobile TV and video solutions, has revealed the findings of its latest quarterly consumer consumption analysis. The results, which aggregate usage statistics from 15 representative QuickPlay-powered services over the fourth quarter of 2008, demonstrate that mobile users continue to show tremendous interest in streaming and downloading Mobile TV and video content.
The stats reveal that the number of streams viewed in the fourth quarter of 2008 more than doubled from the previous quarter. Downloads also grew, with the average number of downloads per user increasing by approximately 50% over the previous quarter.
QuickPlay says the growth in consumption of streams can be largely attributed to the launch of popular new services, in particular YouTube content available on Telus Mobility. It adds that a decline in streams per user in the fourth quarter can be linked to the growing adoption of live TV services that tend to generate longer views but fewer streams.
Here are the key stats:

• Total live TV and video streams viewed grew 118% from Q3 to Q4 2008, compared with a 27% increase from Q2 to Q3
• Total streams per user dropped slightly to 17.4 in Q4 from 19.3 in Q3
• Average stream duration in Q4 2008 was slightly longer at 2 minutes, 48 seconds, compared to 2 minutes, 47 seconds in Q3
• Average downloads per user experienced its best quarter of 2008 with an average of 6 per user vs. 4.1 per user in Q3
• Total video downloads showed an increase of 73% from Q3 to Q4 compared to an 87% increase from Q2 to Q3

The most popular live TV streaming genres were news, music video, most-watched television programs and weather, while video streaming favourites included music and movie previews. For downloads, music, sports and comedy represented some of the top categories.
“The positive results show mobile entertainment continues to be one of the bright spots in the current economy,” says QuickPlay CEO, Wayne Purboo, “Consumers remain willing to pay for high-quality entertainment services. In 2009, we expect to see mobile operators continuing to focus on mobile data services, as it gives them an effective way to protect ARPU, by delivering added value to their cost-conscious subscribers. For Mobile TV and video services, this should result in increased promotional activity and more attractive pricing options that stimulate service trial and adoption.” 

Mobile TV Under Scrutiny

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Mobile TV: Opportunities for Streamed & Broadcast Services 2008-2013 (Fourth Edition)’. The report investigates the Mobile TV market to date, including a six-year forecasting suite across 43 country levels and eight key global regions.
The 221-page report includes 67 tables and 54 charts, and, say Juniper, provides a crucial understanding of the impact that low power consumption chipsets - capable of receiving analogue and digital TV signals free of charge - will have on the prospects for the deployment of dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks. The report also provides an appraisal of the opportunity for paid-for streamed TV offerings.
Key questions answered by the report include

• How much is the Mobile TV market worth, and what revenues will it generate in five years time?
• In which markets have mobile broadcast TV services been launched, and how successful have those services been?
• Which mobile broadcast TV standards are likely to be deployed in which countries?
• To what extent will handsets capable of receiving terrestrial TV signals penetrate the mass market, and what impact will that have on operator business models?
• What role do streamed TV services have to play in the Mobile TV marketplace?
• What are the prospects for advertising as either a primary or supplementary revenue stream?

The report investigates the availability and number of Mobile TV-enabled handsets shipped per annum, along with current usage data, and the likely availability of spectrum on a country-by-country basis. Along with qualitative research garnered from leading industry interviews, the data - providing market forecasts for eight major regions until 2013 - is then used to qualify and appraise a number of vital key market recommendations.
The report also includes 43 country-level forecasts for broadcast TV are offered including, user numbers; the proportion who pay for services; ARPU by technology; and ARPU by broadcast TV standard
The report costs £1,750 for a single-user PDF licence or hardback copy, £2,500 for a multi-user PDF licence; or £3,750 for an enterprise-wide PDF licence.
There are more details here. And you can download a free Whitepaper here.

Siano Signs Chinese Deals

Mobile TV chip-maker Siano Mobile Silicon has revealed that its CMMB receiver chip, the SMS1180, has been selected to power CMMB Mobile TV for leading Chinese phone-makers ZTE, Tianyu, CEC Telecom and MP3/4 company AIGO. Together, says Siano, the design wins position the company as the leading CMMB chip provider for up to a potential 30 million handsets and 10 million MP3 and MP4 players annually, thus dramatically extending and diversifying the chip-maker’s reach within the Chinese CMMB industry.
Siano will power multiple CMMB mobile phones made by K-Touch (Tianyu), ZTE and CEC Telecom, and a number of MP4/PMP products by AIGO. The newly-upgraded CMMB devices, planned for market launch in early 2009, will be fully compliant with the CMMB Conditional Access System (CAS), and with provisioning for the Secure Broadcast System that has been defined as part of CMMB devices by SARFT (the Chinese State Administration for Radio, Film and Television).
The CAS is designed to enable pay-TV services that will be added to the existing CMMB free-to-air channels in 2009, while the Secure Broadcast System is designed to block pirate, unauthorized broadcasting of CMMB signals.
The move by major Chinese brands to offer CMMB Mobile TV is representative of the rising consumer trend for watching TV on-the-go in China and the industry-wide belief that Mobile TV will prove the top sales factor for mobile phones during economic recession, says Siano. It adds that its CMMB receiver chip will enable access to TV content from over 30 channels, providing first-class picture quality, the lowest possible power consumption levels and exceptional reception; including deep indoor locations and whilst travelling at fast speeds.
“It is an honour to be selected by the crème of the Chinese mobile and portable industry, and a strong testament to the set of advantages of our CMMB receiver chip,” says Siano CEO, Alon Ironi. “We are witnessing more and more leading Chinese brands deciding to use Siano’s CMMB receiver in their new models. We estimate that CMMB will ultimately become the most popular Mobile TV technology worldwide and look forward to witnessing huge market ramp-up in China in 2009”.
The CMMB standard, based on the Chinese homegrown technology known as STiMi (Satellite and Terrestrial Interactive Multiservice Infrastructure), is currently deployed in over 100 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with nationwide coverage, supported by the addition of satellite broadcast, planned for 2009.  
There are two offerings to Siano's CMMB chipset: the SMS1185 supports antenna diversity – on one single chip – for both the terrestrial UHF signal and the satellite S-band signal. The SMS1180 supports only one antenna per each spectrum band. Both solutions exhibit very high sensitivity, excellent mobility performance, extremely low power consumption and the highest level of component integration.

Dilithium Powers Saudi 3G TV Service

Dilithium, which specialises in high-quality multimedia delivery over mobile and broadband networks, has announced that its ViVAS solution is powering an advanced 3G live TV and video on demand portal that has been launched by Mobily in Saudi Arabia. The Subscribers to the service have access to 21 live TV channels, 14 video on demand channels, and more. Dilithium says the service launch is an illustration of ViVAS' powerful capabilities in enabling operators and service providers to rapidly develop and launch video-based Value Added Services.
“We are very pleased with the quality of the Dilithium Video Portal, and the customer experience,” says Mobily CEO, Khalid Al-kaf. “The uptake of the service has been growing rapidly, and we are hoping to extend the Video Portal and add new services.”

QuickPlay Powers Bell Mobile TV Service

QuickPlay Media, which provides Mobile TV and video solutions, has revealed that it is powering live and on-demand services for Canadian operator Bell Mobility on the network’s most popular video-enabled devices, including the BlackBerry Storm. The new audio and video entertainment offering is accessible via Bell’s integrated media player and marks the first time that QuickPlay has powered a large scale, live Mobile TV service.
“Today’s mobile customers are looking for the most advanced 3G services to help them stay informed and entertained on the go,” says Nauby Jacob, Vice President of User Experience and Content at Bell Mobility. “Working with QuickPlay has helped enable Bell Mobility to deliver a rich multimedia experience to our clients so they can enjoy TV, radio and videos right from their mobile phones.”

Rubberduck Handed Mobile TV Task

Mobile TV solutions provider Rubberduck Media Lab has announced a collaboration with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle broacasts to an international audience, with radio channels in 30 languages and TV in several languages, including German and English.
Through the mobile portal mobile.dw-world.de Deutsche Welle users can access a wide range of news, entertainment, culture and sports programming. The offering includes regular TV and radio shows from Deutsche Welle’s archives, but also made-for-mobile clips between two and five minutes long. The service can be used regardless of the network the user is on, and viewers pay only for data costs.
Rubberduck’s Studio: 1 platform handles the technology behind the video-on-demand service and handles the conversion of the videos to a mobile format to suit all network types, such as 3G or EDGE, and all video-capable phones.

EC Approves Solaris for Mobile TV Application

Solaris Mobile has been confirmed by the European Commission as an ‘admissible candidate’ for the two-stage application process for the provision of mobile satellite services across Europe.
Solaris Mobile was one of four companies to submit an application to the EC in October for the rollout of S-Band Spectrum mobile satellite services, under a single European selection procedure, instead of under 27 different national systems.
The company says that with a state-of-the-art satellite due to be launched next Spring, it is the only candidate operator that will meet EC expectations that cross-border Mobile TV services are likely to start in 2009. Solaris says it will be in the unique position of being able to offer mobile satellite services that empower existing and next-generation mobile hybrid networks, and enable the provision of innovative services to consumers across Europe.
Together with key industrial partners and media players, Solaris Mobile is actively establishing, a harmonised ecosystem to optimize the delivery of Mobile TV services, and broadband. The company also says that it welcomes the recently-published European Commission Guidelines for the provision of Mobile TV services in EU countries.
“We look forward to the publication of similar guidelines for mobile satellite services,” says Solaris Mobile CEO, Steve Maine. “We would especially support the commitment of the European Commission to award procedure guidelines that are public, transparent and defined in advance, as well as the aspiration that full interoperability and EU-wide Mobile TV roaming will be important considerations for Mobile TV service providers.
“The European Commission has also recognised that speed in service delivery will be key for global competitiveness, and therefore we are also in favour of the recommendation that frequencies made available for Mobile TV should be withdrawn if the service has not started within a reasonable time. With a focus on clear guidelines and light regulation, the European Commission is clearly supportive of the rapid roll out of Mobile TV across Europe, and this is good news for companies such as Solaris Mobile."

Mobile Content to Boom in 2009, says Screen Digest

Media analyst Screen Digest has released its forecasts for key media markets in 2009, which look at the impact of the recession on these markets. In addition to looking at the home entertainment (including TV viewing and videogames), and cinema industries, the forecasts also cover mobile. Screen Digest concludes that as consumers start to reduce their mobile phone bills, premium content such as Mobile TV and video on demand will be the first to go. With their planned launches of entertainment on hold, the company says, operators and handset manufacturers will offer more ‘free’ bundled subscriptions, using music content as a value-add to attract and retain customers and aggressively pushing mobile broadband as a viable alternative to fixed-line Internet.
“Content providers will be looking at application stores such as Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market to compensate for the loss they will make on mobile operators’ portals,” says Screen Digest Head of Mobile, Ronan de Renesse. “The economic downturn will push operators to release their grasp on the mobile content industry and open up mobile Internet. So against all odds, 2009 will turn out to become the most successful year for mobile content so far.”

ZooVision Selects Taptu

ZooVision, the US-based, free streaming mobile video portal, has replaced its existing mobile search provider with the award-winning, social search engine Taptu. According to Taptu, it has been chosen by ZooVision to enhance its offering by providing a first class search experience and “super fast” search results.
The partnership enables ZooVision viewers to have the best possible mobile experience when searching for media such as music videos, cartoons, video podcasts and audio podcasts and for streaming live video direct to a mobile phone, within the Zoovision portal. Taptu finds the relevant and mobile friendly content in rapid time, which encourages users to return and trust in the ZooVision brand. 
“This is an exciting time for Taptu,” says Taptu CEO, Steve Ives. “This is our second partnership announcement in the last six weeks. It's great to see more and more publishers are recognising the value of social search. They see how the proposition delivers a great user experience, which naturally cultivates loyal users.”
Sean Berner, Vice President of ZooVision adds:
“Taptu understands what’s popular amongst ZooVision users and is purely designed for mobile. This puts it in a perfect position to offer relevant results, fast. Our existing provider didn’t offer this kind of innovative approach, so we have replaced them with Taptu.”
Taptu is available direct to consumers at taptu.com and to mobile publishers, portals and social networks via a suite of customizable search engine APIs. Partners can leverage the power of Taptu’s fast mobile search engine to enable their users to search on-portal content or the broader mobile web. And as the mobile advertising market develops, Taptu is assisting its partners in readying themselves to earn revenues from mobile search via sponsored links advertising.
Taptu is available by visiting http://taptu.com on any Internet-enabled mobile phone with a standard mobile browser,with no download required, and is accessible worldwide in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

QuickPlay Sees Increased Demand for Mobile TV

QuickPlay Media, which provides Mobile TV and video solutions, has revealed the findings of its first quarterly consumer consumption analysis. The results, which aggregate usage statistics from 15 representative QuickPlay-powered services over the third quarter of 2008, demonstrate that demand for Mobile TV and video content is increasing steadily, the company says.
The results, compiled from 1 July through 30 September 2008, show mounting consumer usage of both mobile video on demand (VoD) and linear TV. Further, the increase in streaming video and video downloads per unique user shows consumers are becoming more engaged with this medium.
The results reveal that total video downloads increased by more than 87% over the previous quarter; and that the average download per user increased by 42%, to four per user/month.
Total video streams viewed grew more than 27%, while average streams per user increased by 12%, to 19.3 per user/month. The average stream duration over Q3 2008 was two minutes and 47 seconds
“Our quarterly results demonstrate that Mobile TV and video adoption and usage continue to grow,” says QuickPlay Media CEO, Wayne Purboo. “Results were particularly strong for our customers that offer integrated clients, where all types of mobile media are available from one interface. This makes discovery and navigation considerably faster and easier for the end consumer…Looking ahead to 2009, we expect that interest in Mobile TV and video will continue to develop, with a trend towards longer-form, premium content.”
Lewis Ward, Research Manager, Wireless Communications Research at IDC, says that the QuickPlay Media results are consistent with the company’s own research, which also shows a mounting interest in Mobile TV and video.
“We estimate that the US Mobile TV/video market will increase from about 12 million subscribers and customers at the end of 2007 to nearly 28 million subscribers and customers by 2012,” says Ward. “Companies such as QuickPlay contribute substantially to this growth, and their innovative Mobile TV and video solutions allow integration of virtually all types of video services."

Rubberduck Powers iPhone Video Service

TeliaSonera’s Norwegian brand NetCom is launching a mobile video service specifically designed for iPhone users. The service has been developed by Aspiro’s subsidiary Rubberduck Media Lab, which provides hosting, content sourcing and front-end browser design and development.
The service is an extension of NetCom’s current Mobile TV and video offering on the 3G and EDGE networks. The service enables users to watch news clips from some of Norway’s largest news providers such as Dagbladet, VG, Aftenposten and Dagens Næringsliv, as well as sports and entertainment video clips, and travel programmes from Pilot Guides (former Lonely Planet).
“iPhone owners have a very high consumption rate of data services compared to other groups, as well as high standards when it comes to quality,” says Marius Halle, Head of Content at NetCom. “It was obvious for us that we needed to customize a video service for them and the solution we have chosen from Rubberduck Media Lab is impeccable quality wise. The user interface enables easy navigation and access to the content and has been designed to the tastes of iPhone users.”

Mobile TV Worth $1.5 Billion This Year, $10 Billion by 2013, says Informa

Revenues from Mobile TV services will generate $1.5 billion (£1 billion) in revenues in 2008, rising to over $10 billion in 2013. That’s the conclusion of the latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media:   ‘Mobile TV: Strategies, Business Models & Technologies, 4th Edition’.
At present, the report notes, revenues come predominantly from subscription fees, but this is expected to change over time as the advertising business model starts to gain prominence. Informa believes that by 2013 nearly half of the revenues will come from advertising.
In the next two years, growth is anticipated to be strongest in the pioneering markets of South Korea and Japan, before the rest of the world starts to catch up around 2010/2011. Despite isolated success stories in places like Italy and Austria, Europe is not expected to see rapid growth in Mobile TV until 2009. The US is expected to take even longer, as confusion over standards prevents growth. Eventually, concerted momentum behind ATSC-MH (Advanced Television Systems Committee – Mobile Handheld) is expected to boost the market for Mobile TV in North America.
“As the owner of the marketing and billing relationship with subscribers, operators are in the best position to offer Mobile TV services”, says Shailendra Pandey, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “It seems that a good approach for mobile operators will be to start with a free-to-air business model which also involves minimum capital investment. Once user uptake of services starts to grow, operators can then think of developing new revenue models that can be established on top of the free-to-air content platform.”
Informa believes also that the future of Mobile TV will not be just broadcast or 3G,  but a mix of technologies matched to a mix of audience experiences. For more information about the report, contact shailendra.pandey@informa.com

Dilithium Adds Streaming Support for Android

Dilithium, which specialises in high-quality multimedia delivery over mobile and broadband networks, has announced the availability of live video and Video On Demand (VOD) streaming support for Android handsets, utilizing the Dilithium Content Adapter (DCA). The DCA solution is an infrastructure offering that can be deployed by operators and service providers, enabling their customers to access live or on demand video content through the standard players and browser of most handsets, including the iPhone.
The DCA software solution supports live and pre-recorded clips in a wide range of video formats. DCA performs on the fly and on-demand transport, media format, codec and bitrate adaptation. Users of the Android-based T-Mobile G1 handset can enjoy live and video-on-demand streaming without the need to install a dedicated application, either on wi-fi, WiMax, 3G or 3.5G (HSDPA) networks.
DCA patent-pending technologies and architecture allow smart transcoding, transrating and trans-sizing on the fly. The solutio supports a wide range of phones and devices through RTSP, HTTP (including progressive download), and MPEG2/H.264 TS. It also supports codecs such as, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, MPEG2, MJPEG, and popular audio codecs. The DCA features a high level API that offers easy integration in operator and service provider frameworks and workflows. Dilithium adds that DCA has an advanced built-in caching feature, allowing significant reduction in unnecessary adaptation while providing support for ad-insertion. 

Sky Launches Mobile TV on 3

Sky has announced that its Sky Mobile TV service, is now available to 3 UK customers. 3 customers can now enjoy access to a host of channels, including the family of Sky Sports channels, Sky News, At The Races and CNN, for a monthly fee of £5 or on a pay-as-you-go basis for £1 per day, not including data charges.
The launch sees the service made available off-portal for the first time, meaning that Sky is hosting the TV experience outside of 3’s own portal. Although promoted and accessed via ‘Planet 3’, when accessing the Sky Mobile TV service, all streams will be delivered via a dedicated video server. Sky says that this is the first time that premium live content has been sold in an ‘off-portal’ model. The service is being supported by Sky’s mobile video delivery partner, Vidiator.
Sky says the fact that the service is hosted off-portal will prompt customers to consider taking an Internet add-on in advance of streaming videos. Internet add-ons are available from 3 for £2.50 a month for 10MB of data.
“With more and more customers using their phones to access data rich services on the Internet, such as music and  TV, we’re delighted to welcome Sky’s successful Mobile TV channels,” says 3’s Director of Product Management, Fergal Walker. “We know sport and news are major drivers of Mobile TV, so offering the likes of Sky Sports and Sky News to our customers ensures we continue to press ahead in delivering the best mobile Internet services.”
Sky has been offering mobile content to all the major UK mobile phone networks for many years, and is currently the largest commercial provider of news and sports content to mobile phones with around 7 million unique visitors per month, both through mobile network portals and its own range of dedicated WAP sites.

QuickPlay Powers US Video Services

Mobile TV and video solutions provider QuickPlay Media has revealed that it is powering mobile video stores for American Interactive Media and Red Planet Media, offering customers a wide variety of TV and video content, including Japanese anime, comedy and Spanish-language news and entertainment. The content on these recently-launched off-portal mobile video services is available for download and streaming to more than 35 million video-enabled customers on the AT&T and Sprint networks in the US.
Services are available through a monthly subscription or pay-per-download which can be charged directly to a customer’s mobile phone bill, or paid via a credit card. Premium content from Red Planet Media includes Japanese anime series from FUNimation, Spanish language feature films from Cine Mexicano and Spanish language news from Noti Mobile. American Interactive Media provides comedy clips from ComedyNet. 
To drive service adoption and usage, QuickPlay enables content partners to promote their fully-branded mobile video stores by supporting Shortcode access and web-to-mobile promotions, and by enabling them to offer channels for free.
“QuickPlay offers a unique and proven solution that simplifies all of the components of content ingestion, management, distribution and reporting of video asset performance,” says Red Planet Media CEO, Dean Fresonke. “Our partnership with QuickPlay allows us to easily offer a wide variety of content on mobile, and to connect our brands with new customers in exciting ways.”

3 Italia Selects Rhozet Carbon Coder

Video encoding and distribution company Harmonic has revealed that its ‘Rhozet Carbon Coder’ video transcoding solution has been selected by 3 Italia as part of its cross-media strategy, designed to deliver Mobile TV over its DVB-H network. Harmoni says the solution was chosen for media transcoding due to its extensive format support, the high quality of its format output, its transcoding speed, and its automated features.
In 2006, 3 Italia became the world's first mobile operator to offer a DVB-H Mobile TV service. Since the service launch, 3 Italia's DVB-H Mobile TV subscriber count has grown to over 850,000. 3 Italia is currently implementing its Mobile TV and Internet cross-media strategy, which brings broadcast TV, thematic channels, TV 2.0 and social networking to the mobile handset. Rhozet Carbon Coder will be used to quickly and automatically transcode this content and make it available to 3 Italia's DVB-H network.
Harmonic's Rhozet Carbon Coder is a universal transcoding application that facilitates the transfer of media between a variety of platforms, including acquisition, editing, playout, archive, the Internet and mobile devices. Carbon Coder can run as a standalone application, or as part of a multi-node, fully-automated rendering farm. Carbon Coder provides high-performance, scalable and cost-effective transcoding for a broad range of business environments, from specialized studios to enterprise-scale installations.
“Carbon Coder's automation, performance and scalability make it possible for 3 Italia to rapidly integrate a wide array of broadcast and Internet content into DVB-H format, while delivering the quality their subscribers desire,” says David Trescot, Vice President of the Rhozet Business Unit at Harmonic Inc. “To be chosen as an essential technology component of 3 Italia's Mobile TV service points to just how effective the system is for delivering the high volume of content for this new generation of mobile services.”

WIN and Command Launch Playview3G

WIN plc, which provides interactive mobile entertainment and information services, has signed a partnership agreement with Command Technology Group to jointly deliver interactive 3G video services to mobile phones.
The first exclusive joint video service, Playview3G, available now, allows users on a 3G handset across any network to watch live streamed casino style Mobile TV and place a bet on the game in real time without a break from the video stream. Playview3G builds on existing online and TV betting applications where users watch a TV channel with the option to bet using their home phone.
“Consumers are expecting more from 3G video,” says WIN CEO, Graham Rivers. “Playview3G is a pivotal video service for the betting and gaming sector, enabling users of 3G handsets the freedom to watch TV and bet when they are away from their TVs. By partnering with a leading technology provider such as Command Technology Group, we look forward to delivering a raft of compelling services that offer something unique and new to users.”
WIN notes that this new medium provides broadcasters, Internet providers and content owners with a new platform for interaction with customers, as well as a reliable video and audio stream to deliver content to consumers. Users have instant access to security protected account information with a single call to an automated voice account at no added cost.

Mobile TV Prospects Analysed

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Mobile TV: Opportunities for Streamed & Broadcast Services 2008-2013 (Fourth Edition)’. The 221-page report, including 67 tables and 54 charts, offers six-year forecasts across eight key global regions and 43 country levels. It looks at the impact that low power consumption chipsets, capable of receiving analogue and digital TV signals free of charge, will have on the prospects for the deployment of dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks, and also provides an appraisal of the opportunity for paid-for streamed TV offerings.
The report considers how much the Mobile TV market is worth, and what revenues will it generate in five years time; in which markets mobile broadcast TV services been launched, and how successful those services have been; which mobile broadcast TV standards are likely to be deployed in which countries; to what extent handsets capable of receiving terrestrial TV signals will penetrate the mass market, and what impact they will have on operator business models; and the role of streamed TV services in the Mobile TV marketplace?
The report also investigates the availability and number of Mobile TV-enabled handsets shipped per annum, along with current usage data and the likely availability of spectrum on a country-by-country basis. Forecasts include user numbers; the proportion who pay for services; ARPU by technology; ARPU by broadcast TV standard; and total ad spend and end-user revenues (streamed & broadcast).
The report costs £1,750 for a single-user PDF or hardback copy; £2,500 for a multi-user network licence; or £3,750 for an enterprise-wide licence. There’s more information here.

NDS in Singapore Trial

NDS, which provides technology solutions for digital pay-TV, has revealed that it is providing the core conditional access (CA) security infrastructure for the world’s first commercial trial of the new OMA BCAST SCP standard, an emerging key standard for Mobile TV content protection in Singapore.
Mobile telecommunications providers M1, SingTel and StarHub are working with MediaCorp to run the three-month trial. Alcatel-Lucent’s Mobile Interactive TV solution powers the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) platform for the trial. The trial includes mobile devices from Samsung and Smartcard Profile-compliant SIM cards from Gemalto.
The NDS solution is based on NDS Unified Headend architecture, which provides a single point of rights management for all video broadcasts, irrespective of the delivery networks or the rendering devices. The new platform supports multiple mobile broadcast profiles and multiple handsets simultaneously and cost-effectively, centralising content distribution from a single headend for consumption on multiple devices.
“The mobile phone is truly a unique platform as a third screen for TV content,” says MediaCorp Managing Director for Technologies, Mock Pak Lum. “The success of the Mobile TV service depends on availability of handsets and a good user experience. We are very happy that NDS is supporting us for this trial.”

Rubberduck Powers Estonian TV Service

Rubberduck Media Lab, which provides white-label Mobile TV services, has launched a Mobile TV service in Estonia for Tele2. Rubberduck will manage all Mobile TV initiatives in Estonia for Tele2, which is one of the country’s leading mobile operators. The managed service includes complete administration of the service by Rubberduck, including content sourcing, portal development and maintenance. The hosted service will use Studio:1, the technical backend solution from Rubberduck.
Users will have access to local and international video content, including Estonian news from ERR and Kanal2 and entertainment from Lastekas, MTV and others. The majority of the content will be free to use provided for users with a data bundle. The service will be available both in Estonian and in Russian.
“Users of this service will be able to watch popular regional content and a wide array of international content, which will be continuously sourced as a part of the agreement,“ says Rubberduck Sales and Marketing Director, Miguel Silva. “This is our second managed service in the Baltic Region, an important growth region for us.”

Room for Improvement

As market predictions for Mobile TV spiral ever upwards, Avichai Levy, Senior VP of mobile multimedia and advertising comany Mobixell shares his views on what needs to happen if Mobile TV is to fulfil its lofty expectations

The dramatic rise to fame of You Tube and the media frenzy caused by the launch of the iPhone have given rise to the rebirth of Mobile TV and video with the potential for genuine mass market appeal.  It has also given food for thought to many mobile operators keen to have their share of the Mobile TV pie, but anxious to avoid a case of indigestion.
Industry analysts seem to agree that the Mobile TV market is about to take-off. ABI Research predicts mobile video will reach 167 million customers in Europe and gross $10 billion (£5.5 billion) in revenues by 2012. A recent survey# carried out among US consumers revealed that just under 50% of respondents were interested in receiving Mobile TV and - bearing in mind that there are more mobile phones in use worldwide (2.8 billion) than all the TV sets, computers and cinema screens combined - a 50% interest in Mobile TV represents a massive potential market. Little wonder then that mobile operators are eyeing the market enthusiastically and wondering whether the time is indeed right to make a serious investment in this new, emerging market. So what is the secret to unlocking the mass market appeal of mobile video?

On2 Unveils VP8

On2 Technologies has announced the launch of its latest video compression format, On2 VP8. On2 says this eighth generation of On2 video is the perfect solution for web TV, IPTV and videoconferencing companies looking to differentiate their product and service offerings by delivering higher quality video using less data and requiring less system resource for playback.
The company says the new format is designed with mobile in mind. On2 has worked closely with ARM to ensure suitability for porting to current and future ARM single and multi-core processors in mobile devices.
“We have been working with On2 to ensure that their compression schemes work as optimally as possible with our NEON 64/128-bit SIMD technology, which enables high definition video in software,” says Laurence Bryant, Mobile Segment Marketing Manager at ARM. “NEON technology is a key feature in our current Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 MPCore processors and will be included in all future ARM application processors. The high compression performance of this latest generation of On2 Video suggests that it will be ideal for wireless Internet applications where available data bandwidth is a premium, and complements our recent work with Adobe on the Open Screen Project to drive consistent Internet experiences across multiple screens, including TVs, PCs, mobile devices and consumer electronics.”
According to On2, VP8 “surpasses the compression efficiency and performance of every other video format on the market” by employing over 40 technical innovations, including advanced prediction through constructed reference frames; macroblock row level threading; and improved small area referential encoding.
“With On2 VP8, we set out to increase compression performance over On2 VP7 and leading H.264 implementations by 20% while reducing playback complexity by 40%,” says On2 Chief Technology Officer, Paul Wilkins. “In the end we exceeded these goals.”
On2 video is proprietary to On2 Technologies and is available with patent-pool free licensing.

M1 Selects Streamezzo for MiWorld Go

Mobile technology company Streamezzo has revealed that MobileOne (M1), which provides wireless communications services in Singapore, has selected its technology platform and professional services team to develop, deploy and run ‘MiWorld Go’, M1's new mobile music and video service. 
With more than 1 million mobile subscribers, M1 is one of Asia's leading mobile communications providers, offering a full range of mobile voice and data communications services over its 2G/3G/3.5G network. MiWorld Go is a free application that lets subscribers preview the latest music and video content before deciding on their purchase. The service is updated constantly to deliver the hottest tunes to music lovers with intuitive browsing and instant access to hundreds of available artists.
Streamezzo's software drives M1's new offering, consisting of a downloadable thin client for rendering multimedia content on the handset, along with Streamezzo Rich Media Server, a high-performance J2EE platform for mobile service deployment and management. MiWorld Go is available on more than 20 handsets including Symbian and Java phones.
“At M1 we constantly strive to add to the value proposition we offer customers by working with technology and content partners to enhance and update the appeal and relevance of our range of services,” says M1 Chief Marketing Officer, P Subramaniam. “MiWorld GO results from a collaboration with Streamezzo and it is a service that will no doubt keep pace and be in tune with our customers' energetic lifestyles by providing them with quick and easy access to a vast repertoire of music and entertainment content.”
Streamezzo Rich Media Software Suite is a set of tools for developing and deploying rich media services for any mobile device.  The Suite includes Rich Media Client, a thin client application for service rendering multimedia content on handsets; Rich Media Server, which publishes and delivers a full range of rich media services, such as interactive Mobile TV, widgets, portals, and dedicated real-time multimedia services; Workbench authoring software for designing and creating interactive rich media mobile services; Rich Media for Broadcast, which enables telecom operators, MVNOs, broadcasters, and manufacturers to deliver Mobile TV over broadcast networks to mobile devices; and Service Manager - a back-end solution that enables mobile administrators and marketers to manage and customize any Rich Media mobile service quickly and easily.
“M1 is widely recognized as one of Asia's most innovative mobile operators and their new MiWorld Go mobile entertainment portal will certainly help extend their reputation as a true mobile pioneer," says Streamezzo CEO Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven. “We're pleased that Streamezzo has once again been selected as the technology partner to drive one of the industry's most exciting mobile video and mobile music initiatives.”

Siano Powers In-car TV for Peugeot 207

GPS navigation company AvMap has selected Mobile TV chip maker Siano Mobile to provide Mobile TV functionality for its Geosat 6 device. The first customer for the Mobile TV-enabled Geosat 6 is the Peugeot 207 Energie Sport car model. 
Based on Siano’s Mobile TV receiver and antenna chips, the Geosat offers in-car Mobile TV entertainment, with reception extending to rural areas, even while travelling at high speeds, eliminating the need for external antennae. Geosat 6 Phone also offers advanced GPS navigation, a tri-band GSM phone, alcohol test and multimedia player functions. The device will also feature digital maps and content from Tele Atlas.
“Customers such as Peugeot demand high quality Mobile TV reception that will receive the latest in television entertainment even when travelling at high speeds,” says AVMap CEO, Simone Lazzarini. “In seeking a Mobile TV chip partner for the Geosat, we chose the highest performing Mobile TV solution on the market, Siano, and are very happy with the results.”

SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian UIQ

Sling Media's SlingPlayer Mobile software is now available for Smartphones running the UIQ user interface on Symbian OS, including popular Smartphones from Motorola and Sony Ericsson. SlingPlayer Mobile gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from a network-connected mobile phone.  SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand and pay-per-view. Any programme that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can watch via a PC, Mac, Palm OS, Symbian or Windows Mobile-based device via 3G, wi-fi or fixed-line Internet connections worldwide. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile users can also control their home digital video recorder to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind and fast forward live TV, or even program new recordings while on the road.
“SlingPlayer Mobile is an innovative and compelling application that complements the UIQ platform which itself has been designed to get the very best out of the Symbian OS,” says Elisabet Melin, VP Ecosystem at UIQ Technology. “This new release of SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ on the Symbian OS offers compelling new data revenue opportunities to operators and a feature-rich service to consumers looking for convenient access to their home TV channel surfing, programming and viewing experience.”
The enhanced, personalised mobile TV experience for Smartphones is enabled by Sling Media’s award-winning Slingbox which allows customers to watch and control their home TV on an Internet-connected Mac or PC, as well as a range of mobile phone platforms.
There’s a full list of compatible Smartphones for all SlingPlayer Mobile-supported platforms here. You can download the SlingPlayer Mobile application for £19.99 here.

GoTV Selects AdInfuse

Multi-platform new media network GoTV has selected mobile advertising firm Ad Infuse to deliver its mobile ad network. As a result, GoTV’s multi-platform mobile network will offer cross-carrier, cross-platform mobile video advertising options, giving advertisers access to GoTV’s extensive viewing audience. Ad Infuse says its ad network will serve optimized multimedia ads that seamlessly integrate with GoTV’s premium mobile video content, including its music offerings, to create an engaging, high-quality user experience.
GoTV specializes in mobile music programming, ranking in the top 10 of all music channels available from US carriers. Ad Infuse’s adInMotion platform will be used to dynamically insert mobile pre- and post-roll video ads in real-time into active video sessions. By serving all video ads through the adInMotion platform, GoTV will be able to provide personalized ads seamlessly to its viewers, while providing its multi-platform content and programming. Ad Infuse plans to service more than 10 million users per month through GoTV’s inventory, which it says will make it one of the largest mobile video ad networks in the industry.
GoTV’s distribution breadth and enabling technologies enable syndication of original and branded partner content to its mobile and broadband audiences. The company’s distribution footprint includes direct relationships with US carriers, which accounts for 90% of the 256 million subscribers in the US, including Alltel, AT&T, Sprint (including Boost and Nextel), Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile, across most mobile devices. GoTV Productions, the company’s wholly-owned production studio, develops more than 200 show segments per month, and partners with leading advertising and brand partners to create original programming for broadband and mobile platforms through a family of music and news channels, interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
“Consumer demand for mobile content is high, and we are seeing this same demand from advertisers looking to reach consumers in innovative ways, utilizing all that the mobile web and devices have to offer,” says Ad Infuse President and CEO, Brian Cowley. “By working with Ad Infuse, GoTV will fully leverage the power of GoTV’s mobile video experience to engage consumers, and create unique opportunities for advertisers to reach across GoTV’s broad network and premium mobile content.”

ROK On MSN

Mobile entertainment company ROK Entertainment Group has revealed that its made-for-mobile comedy channel, ‘Fun Little Movies’ (FLM), is featured as a new MSN mobile video channel available to millions of viewers on mobile phones and PCs.   
MSN Mobile offers a broad line-up of premium, branded video programming for consumers to watch on PCs, free of charge, with the service being entirely ad-supported. Advertising will be incorporated into the mobile stream service in the near future.
ROK develops and delivers a portfolio of revenue-generating mobile applications, content, services and technologies including streamed Mobile TV, push email services and data compression technologies, to mobile operators and handset manufacturers alike.

ROK’s Big Mexican Idea

ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile entertainment group, and Telcel, the Mexican mobile operator, have announced the launch of Ideas TV, a streamed, live and on-demand Mobile TV subscription service in Mexico.
Powered by ROK technologies, Ideas TV will offer 10 channels, including three live, and seven pre-recorded looped channels, and will be available to Telcel’s 3G customers. The service will be available to pre- and post-paid customers on several price plans, including  daily tariffs and monthly subscriptions. The channel line-up includes MTV, Nickelodeon, TV Azteca, History Channel, and the Discovery Channel.
“Working with Telcel to prepare Ideas TV for launch has been a great experience,” says  ROK Group CEO, Laurence Alexander. “This deployment of Mobile TV is a major milestone in our global roll-out of our revenue-generating mobile entertainment services”.

Nokia and NSN Power KPN Mobile TV Service

Dutch network KPN has introduced a Mobile TV service. Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have joined forces to enable the service, which offers KPN customers across the Netherlands a choice of 10 television channels, including Nederland 1, Nederland 3, MTV Music, Discovery Channel and Nick Toons.
The ‘MobielTV’ service is delivered through a broadcast network based on the Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld (DVB-H), the European standard for mobile television, and can be watched on DVB-H-enabled mobile devices.
Nokia and NSN provided KPN with a turnkey head-end solution based on open standards to launch the broadcasts. This includes the Mobile Broadcast Solution, plus a broad range of supporting services such as consulting, platform integration, project management, support services and turnkey implementation.
“We are glad to be among the first to launch mobile television broadcasts in Europe,” says KPN Broadcast Services Director, Bart van Ierschot. “This timely launch has been possible thanks to our choice of partners – Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, who are market leaders in providing open standard DVB-H service  platforms.”
In March, the European Commission added DVB-H to the EU List of Standards, which serves as a basis for encouraging harmonized provision of telecommunications services across Europe. The move helps establish a single market for Mobile TV in the EU enabling all citizens to watch TV on the move. 
The solutions offered by Nokia and NSN are based on the open DVB-H standards. They allow short implementation time as well as end-to-end capability, combining the equipment, services and devices to create a unique solution for mobile TV service providers.
NSN leads the world in the number of commercial launches for DVB-H Mobile TV broadcasting, with deployments in Finland, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and, most recently, Switzerland.

ROK Signs Arabian Content Deal

Mobile entertainment company ROK Entertainment Group has revealed that its Finland-based mobile services development company, Geniem, has signed an exclusive mobile content delivery agreement with Rotana, the world’s largest producer and distributor of Arabic music and films.
Under the terms of the agreement, Geniem will build customised on-device portals (ODPs) for Rotana’s mobile partners to be deployed across the Middle East, enabling users to seamlessly access its diverse content portfolio from their mobile phones.
Owned by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Rotana has grown to become the world’s largest Arabic entertainment company, producing and distributing the latest Arabic music and films throughout the world. In addition, Rotana is the leading Arabic mobile content distributor in the Middle East, North Africa, the Gulf and Europe.
Rotana has amassed a portfolio that includes the leading Arabic music stars such as Amr Diab, Mohammed Abdou and Kazem Al Saher. In addition, Rotana has an extensive film library comprising more than 2,000 Arabic movies, ranging from classics to the most recent blockbusters, making Rotana the biggest private owner of Arabic film library in the world.
“This agreement represents a major milestone in our global deployment of mobile entertainment,” says ROK Group CEO, Laurence Alexander. “We are delighted to be providing Rotana our ODP technologies to offer the very best content for mobiles throughout the entire Middle East region.”

Siano in the Money

Mobile TV chip maker Siano Mobile Silicon has secured a third round of funding amounting to $17.5 million (£9.3 million). DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures (DFJTFV), led the funding round, and was joined by all of the existing investors from previous rounds - JVP, Star Ventures, Walden Israel, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Inventec Appliances. Siano has now raised $52 million in three rounds of funding.
Over the past 12 months, Siano has expanded its footprint in the Asian Mobile TV market, opening offices in Korea and Japan, and launching its SMS1180 receiver chip in China, in support of the Chinese Mobile TV technology that is currently making its debut at the Olympics Games. Earlier in the year, Siano launched its latest multi-standard chip, the SMS1130, which added the support of ISDB-T, the Mobile TV broadcasting standard used in Japan and Brazil, to the mobile TV technologies supported already in previous products: DVB-T, DVB-H and T-DMB.
“The consumer market is now starting to fulfil the vision that gave birth to Siano back in 2004,” says Siano CEO Alon Ironi. “Namely that within just a few years, practically every single non-tethered consumer device with a colour LCD would include digital TV function. We are witnessing massive embedding of our products into a surprisingly wide range of devices, from mobile phones and notebooks to navigation devices, portable media players and even boom-boxes and digital photo frames. The new capital will help Siano expand its sales and customer support facilities worldwide, build adequate silicon inventory to match the increasing demand for its products, and continue developing state-of-the-art solutions for the mobile TV market.”

ROK Powers Video News Service in Pakistan

Mobile entertainment company ROK Entertainment Group has announced the launch of its mobile News on Demand (NOD) service with Ufone in Pakistan.
The service is being marketed as Ufone’s ‘Video News Service’. Subscribers receive three 60-second  videos each day, sent via MMS, containing the latest sports and breaking news for a fee of R50 (£0.35) per month. To receive the service in Pakistan, subscribers simply text NEWS to the specially-assigned short-code, 2478.
“At Ufone, our first and only priority is providing our customers with the best mobile services and, with the launch of Video News, we are making sure our customers get all the breaking news on their handsets anytime, anywhere, easily,” says Ufone Head of Value Added Services, Ali Ikram.

Mobixell Investors In For More

Mobixell Networks, which provides mobile multimedia and advertising solutions, has secured $6 million (£3 million) in funding from existing investors Apax, Intel Capital and smac partners. Mobixell says the funds will help the company address the many opportunities emerging in the burgeoning messaging, video and advertising market. As Mobixell partners directly with operators on large-scale projects, the new funding will enhance customer support and professional services to support these initiatives, as well as further sales and marketing activities.
“This investment round will allow us to broaden our range of multimedia solutions for mobile operators and content providers,” says Mobixell CEO, Amir Aharoni. “We see steady growth in our multimedia messaging business and are highly optimistic about the potential growth of our Mobile TV and mobile advertising solutions in the year ahead.“ 
Arun Chetty, a Director at investor, Intel Capital says that multimedia and advertising in the mobile market are evolving and hold significant potential for innovation and growth.
“We see a unique opportunity for Mobixell Networks to not only continue growing its core business in media adaptation, but also to expand into multimedia and advertising in the mobile market,” says Chetty. 
Estimates from industry analyst Juniper Research, released in April 2008, suggest that total annual ad spend on the mobile will exceed $1 billion for the first time in 2008, reaching $1.3 billion by the end of 2008 and rising to nearly $7.6 billion by 2013. The same research also reveals growth for Mobile TV revenues from $3.8 billion in 2008 to $16 billion by 2011.