No sure fire success Mobile TV in Regensburg

pilot project

The Regensburg MI FRIENDS project, which investigates TV use on mobile phones, enters its third and final phase in December 2007. Besides continual development and improvement, particularly in the offer of local programmes, this phase will also see the introduction of new, multi-standard devices which can receive DAB, DMB as well as DVB-T and DVB-H.

In addition to this, the Bayerische Medien Technik (bmt) also wants to test content saving and, with this, content use which is independent of time. Already now, the findings of the accompanying research show that a multi-standard approach would be the best solution with mobile TV as well as digital radio.

Statement

»With the beginning of the ­active marketing in the year to come Mobile TV will experience a great boost in Germany.«

Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Ring, President of BLM

Complete programm offer

In Germany, it is unlikely that mobile TV will be a sure fire success – something which is also confirmed by the accompanying research of the Regensburg MI FRIENDS project. According to this, there are two main trends in mobile media use. On the one hand, users want as much as possible of the programmes on classic television also in mobile format; on the other hand, the short time spans in which mobile TV is generally used, place special demands on the presentation and preparation of the content. The challenge, therefore, lies in making the desired programmes available to users in a way which corresponds to their habits of use. In principle, it was established that there is a high demand for local content and that users have high quality standards.

Technical standards

Mobile TV has been broadcast in Germany since the football World Cup 2006. Since then, users in many big German cities have also been able to receive »watcha« which comes from the MFD Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland GmbH. While »watcha« is broadcast in DMB standard, a further project will start throughout Germany for the 2008 European Championships in DVB-H standard. Besides these commercial offers, the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for Commercial Broadcasting (BLM) also started its MI FRIENDS European mobile project in summer 2006 which includes sub-projects in Munich, Regensburg, South Tyrol the Bodensee region. After the Munich sub-project was successfully completed after three months in August 2006, the two-year Regensburg sub-project is now in full swing. Here the focus is particularly on local content.

Local time

The 100 test persons in Regensburg are equipped with LG 9000 mobiles and the iriver B20 mobile end device. Using this, they can receive, along with the commercial offer of »watcha«, a further four programmes which have been specially produced for Regensburg. These four channels are: »Rmobil« which focuses on current local and regional information; »Mobile Media Mix« with various cross-regional content specially for mobile reception; »gong fm« featuring local visual radio and the state-wide visual radio version of »Rock Antenne«. The content of the four programmes created by MI FRIENDS comes from various sources from different content providers. These are partly made up of live content which is broadcast simultaneously to the regular TV programme from the integration of live streams from the internet and also from semi-current content from video servers. Special attention should be paid to the local »Rmobil« channel which consists of a daily updated 10-minute programme loop with local and national news, weather reports, cinema and other consumer tips. Here, the ­local news, weather reports and what’s on tips are supplied by local providers.