Mobile TV FAQ's

Answers to the most frequently asked Mobile TV questions.

  • What is Mobile TV?

    Mobile TV is the transmission of on demand, recorded or live audiovisual content to a receiver - at rest or on the move.

    Transmissions can take the form of broadcast mobile TV similar to the TV signals you receive through your aerial or satellite dish or it can be streamed over cell phone networks or the Internet to individual mobile devices.

    The main difference between the two methods is that the broadcast Mobile TV blanket covers an area giving unlimited device access to the same signal, whereas streaming Mobile TV sent as data packets to individual devices can be personalized - but is restricted by the number of devices accessing the same TV program due to bandwidth.

    Possibly the most successful solutions will be hybrid, something offering broadcast coverage but providing the interactivity of cellular or IP connections.

    Features of mobile TV include datacasting with traffic maps, targeted weather and news alerts, new content discovery, time, place and device shifting and real time integration with social media.

    Like it's traditional TV predecessor, the mobile TV platform is founded on a number of different underlying standards with broadcast mobile TV being partitioned by geographic region.

    Having said that, mobile TV is in some respects being redefined and becoming more ubiquitous through the use of software applications and video streaming over the Internet to wired and wireless devices.

  • What are the Mobile TV standards?

    Everybody wants to do it their way, remember the VHS versus Betamax video tape and Blu-ray disc versus HD disc. Well Mobile TV is no different except there's even more standards. But don't let this put you off as eventually they will get whittled down to a handful. For example, the EU originally backed a standard called DVB-H which it wanted all its member states to adopt, not much came of it. At the moment you could say there is a standards war but this war will become a concern only for the manufacturers and the network operators as multi standard mobile TV chips are already out there, so eventually wherever you go and no matter what the local standard is, your mobile phone, laptop or whatever will be able to receive Mobile TV.

    Listed below are some of the current standards and where they are used.

    • 3G GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a method of enhancing mobile phones to enable them to send and receive data more rapidly, this includes streaming mobile TV
    • ATSC-M/H (Advanced Television Systems Committee - Mobile/Handheld) - North America
    • CMMB (China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting) - China
    • CTTB (China Terrestrial Television Broadcast) - China
    • DAB-IP (Digital Audio Broadcast - Internet Protocol) - UK
    • DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds) - Europe, the US, South Africa and Asia
    • DStv (Digital Satellite Television) DVB-H based - South Africa
    • DTMB (Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast) - China, Hong Kong and Macau
    • ISDB-T (Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial) - Japan, Philippines and Thailand
    • ISDB-Tb (International System for Digital Broadcast - Terrestrial) - South America
    • MediaFLO - Launched in the US and trialled in the UK and Germany
    • S-DMB (Satellite - Digital Multimedia Broadcast) - South Korea and Japan
    • T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcast) - South Korea, Norway and Germany

  • What are the benefits of Mobile TV?

    The obvious benefit is the freedom to enjoy TV whenever and wherever you want, but there are more subtle benefits like having access to a powerful form of mobile media which will be interactive in ways similar to your digital TV at home. Ultimately there will be a convergence of services across devices, so it won't matter if you are sitting in front of the large screen at home or on the move with your mobile.

    For the nations developing their telecommunications and internet networks it will be a way for their people to access digital TV in remote locations on the same system they use to make and receive calls.

    Some governments see Mobile TV as an excellent way to broadcast national alerts to their citizens, because messages would be as far reaching or targeted as need be and with the full audio-visual impact that only TV can provide.

  • Where can I get Mobile TV?

    It's a constantly changing landscape, see our mobile TV services by country for availability in your region.

    For more specific listings on the status of mobile TV deployment around the world, check the following links:

  • Is Mobile TV free?

    Mobile TV is free in some countries but the majority of services are subscription or pay per view based. Those that are free use advertising to varying degrees to cover their service costs.

    In the future it is safe to say there will be more free mobile TV channels available in all the countries that are rolling out the service. These channels however will mostly consist of those that are already available for free on the individual countries established national broadcasting systems. Eventually you may see all mobile phones with the facility to watch free mobile TV and the option to purchase tariff based channels at any time.

In Resources