Mobile TV (Freeview) in Mobile Phones

August 18, 2008

The first country to introduce Mobile TV was South Korea. They started the telecast of terrestrial DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) as well as satellite DMB in the year 2005. In the United Kingdom BT Group plc was the first to launch this service. BT Group plc that was previously called British Telecommunications plc is the state’s privatised telecommunication operator.

Freeview is renown in the UK as its free digital terrestrial television service provider. It is owned by DTV Services and Freeview is their brand name to the service. They encourage free services of digital terrestrial television comprehensively. They also promote those service providers who rent telecast from the shareholders of the Freeview Consortium.

It started broadcasting on three multiplexes from ITV digital with a DTT licence on October 30 2002. British Sky Broadcasting, Crown Castle UK and the BBC were the founding members of DTV services. Later Channel 4 as well as ITV plc also joined them in October 2005.

Freeview is enabled in a mobile handset today, through a limited number of mobile TV formats of which DVB-H technical specification is definitely the most significant. The European Union endorsed it officially as the desired terrestrial mobile broadcasting technology. DMB is the prime competitor here. This technology is today, enhanced by DVB SH with augmented spectral efficiency and an increased flexibility of modulation.

DVB-H technology obviously evolved from the inspiration from DVB-T system. It has been enhanced by adding those specifically required aspects relevant to battery-powered handheld receivers. A downstream channel can be offered by DVB-H at increased data rates that can be utilised to enhance mobile telecommunication networks that can be accessed by numerous handheld terminals. It can be utilised as standalone either. For actively reducing power, consumption in handheld terminals a technology called Time Slicing is employed here.

Television services are brought to mobile phones by Mobile TV. It acts by combining television content with the services of a mobile phone. However, viewing MobileTV services very much differs from traditional TV viewing. The user is provided video on demand, linear and traditional TV programmes apart from the most important provision – mobility. Mobile Pod casts is another exciting attraction here, where the user can demand or subscribe to his mobile phone, his favourite contents. These contents are viewable even in the absence of network connection for a smart storage facility offered in the handset. Moreover, a service provider can offer off-peak hour schedules too.

With the advancements that has happened in the communication data transferring technology in mobile phones accessing Mobile TV in a handset today, has become increasingly comfortable. One of the speediest way of accessing Mobile TV off the ground is the existing 3G for it is packed with an increased capacity to scale up for a considerable load of Mobile TV services. If hearsays are to be believed, a traffic channel is soon to be shared by all those users of the same area watching the same programme facilitated by MBMS that refers to broadcast over 3G networks. To ensure efficient network utilisation in denser areas those complain of higher loads, MBMS combines synergistically with HSPA for offering an effective load support.

In the day’s mobile phone market, the user is entitled with discretionary powers to choose from a number of mobile phone models that explains Mobile TV features.
Nokia has put forth an experimental DVB-H version in Nokia 7710 Mobile Phone; Motorola has put forth the A680 Mobile Phone; Philips presents HotMAN2, Sagem flaunts My Mobile TV and ZTE, the N7100 Mobile Phone.

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