Next Generation Wireless Applications: Creating Mobile Applications in a Web 2.0 and Mobile 2.0 World, 2nd Edition

15.7 MOBILE TV IS NOT TV ON THE MOBILE

The ultimate TV experience on the mobile will almost certainly combine unicast and broadcast technologies, along with all other media services in one integrated user interface and experience, as shown in Figure 15.4.

The user will be able to enjoy very high quality channels on the broadcast network and then switch whenever they like to more personalised content via VOD and live streaming on the unicast network. The channel capacity of a mobile broadcast TV network is typically 20 to 30 channels. On a unicast network, the concept of channels begins to blur or fade and it isn't that useful to talk of numbers of channels. In effect, the number is as many as there are pieces of viable content to keep the user engaged. It seems almost certain that most mobile TV services will combine broadcast with unicast, although it is important to understand that mobile TV services will evolve from different backgrounds, some from existing TV franchises (whoever they are and however they're configured in a particular region) and some from mobile operators. It is conceivable that in some countries and on some networks, especially from an existing broadcast franchise, that the service could be limited to broadcast only without the need for a mobile network for unicast services or to support interactive services. It is also possible that in some networks, the content on the mobile could be very similar to the content on the existing TV networks just because of ...