An Outlook of Living Mobile TV
After all the sound and the fury, there seems to be finally light on the other side of the tunnel for mobile TV aspriants.
Trend Description:
It is not easy to formally usher in any new media form in a sensitive country like China. The concept of mobile TV came into being in 2004, but only after three years’ joint efforts by concerned technological, administrative and commercial interests was it able to take up its virgin land on the media market.
Cases:
In the summer of 2007, Shanghai Dragon New Media Co., Ltd, the new media branch of Shanghai Media Group, launched the claimed first living mobile TVchannel “the Fifth Media” in the world. Cell phone users of China Mobile, the No.1 mobile platform in China, have free access to the channel while those of ChinaUnicom, the second largest mobile company need to pay 8 RMB (about US$1) per month for the service. All users have to pay for the flow fees. According to Dragon New Media, news and user-generated content are the mainstream programs. The mobile version of news is collected from newspaper, TV and the internet but edited specifically for the small screen of the cell phone. The news is broadcast live every 5 minutes on “the Fifth Media”.Wu Chunlei, the general manager of Dragon New Media told jounalist the income generated by mobile TV service accounts for 40% of the company’s total. The other 60% is mainly from mobile value-added service. Up to now, 300,000 registered for Dragon’s mobile TV service, among whom 90% live outside Shanghai. Wu expected the users’ number will expand to 500,000 at the end of 2007.
CCTV.com launched its mobile TV site in December 2006. It offers living broadcasting as well as downloading service, but offers no channel exclusively for living mobile TV.
In 2006, Shanghai Media Group(SMG) got the first License of Video and Audio Program Transmission Through Information Network （also known as the mobile TV licence） issued by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the executive branch in charge of media business in China. After SMG, other five institutions, namely China Central Television(CCTV.com), Southern Media Corporation(SMC), China Radio International (CRI), China National Radio (CNR) and Beijing TV Station (BTV) got the licence in 2006 and 2007 respectively. But among the six licences issued so far, only two of them (one for SMG and the other for CCTV.com) are entitled to run all sorts of mobile TV services.
The Hongkong-based“3″ (run by Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong) took the lead of operating mobile vedio services in Hong Kong. The services includes video calling, video streaming, video messaging, news, financial updates, sports and football highlights, remote surveillance, traffic condition viewing, weather reports, movie previews, music and location-based services. Now it becomes the biggest mobile network in Hong Kong.
Trend Impact:
It won’t be an exaggeration to name 2007 the first year of a mobile TV era. With the issue of more mobile TV licences, media groups, mobile service providers and other concerned business are throwing their hat in the ring. How to make the best out of the convergence of the old and new media forms, how to form customers’ habit to watch TV on small screens? And most importantly how to charge them properly, are the questions followed right after the breakthrough of the year.
Image sources:
idmtv.com, cctv.com, three.com.hk