Joint efforts required to raise the bar
Given the potential of mobile/IPTV services, how should broadcasters and operators work together and create a unique set of services? Kanjilal said that mobile TV offers massive market opportunities for all, but to make it happen, telecom, media and broadcasting industry players have to work together. "While content providers, broadcasters, mobile operators or broadcast network operators implement the service, we at Nokia are developing the technology and TV handsets with integrated DVB-H to make mobile TV part of everyday life," he added.

According to Reeder, the key is to raise the bar and focus joint efforts into services that benefit the user and generate revenue. "By targeting leading standards and leading IPTV suppliers, they can save time and money and get deployments rolling faster. Once the basic elements of the service are in place, they will gain the ability to supply and re-brand those services via multiple channels."

As an example, a broadcaster can deliver MPEG-based programming, combined with Web-standards based interactive content. By using something as simple as the latest Cascading Style Sheets standards (CSS 2.1, CSSTV, CSS3), they can separate the content from the style and therefore, easily deliver the same service through multiple operators, ISPs or telcos. This technique can be used to add differentiating features and services in order to compete better and can even be used for branding and advertising purposes.

He added: "Focusing on standards and services that matter will eventually lead to the ability to interchange set-top boxes and indeed see IPTV services built into the TV itself. At this point, the market will really open up and drive the pricing as volume rises. This freedom will allow broadcasters and operators to focus resources onto new services and opportunities across a wider range of networks, rather than being concerned with targeting the same services over multiple networks."

Kejriwal said that this collaboration would be of two culturally very different worlds of telecom and entertainment. Again, application developers and content providers would play a big role in smoothening this collaboration. As all of these players engage themselves in the process of discovering new mobile mass-media market models, new perspectives are being obtained on such concepts as the 'mass market of niche interests', and micro marketing.

He added: "Even if mobile TV is being hyped by the mobile phone industry as the next big application, the users will ultimately determine its success. Which brings us to the issue of the screen size. Frame rates and resolutions are improving, but images are -- and will remain -- difficult to make out and view for long periods on a small screen.

"That is why we see the future of mobile TV not in movies or entire shows, but in condensed content streamed to handsets on demand. Users will be keen to watch for 30s or two minutes or even four minutes of news or sports or a video clip. However, they will not be watching a movie or a soap opera on a small screen. Pricing, too, will be critical. Where the nascent market for mobile TV is headed is anyone's guess. However, one thing is certain: it is gaining momentum. So let all of us stay tuned."

Fun2Phone's Lindholm noted that the Indian operators especially [and this applies to others as well], who take 75 percent from SMS premium revenues, should consider lowering their fees, as this greedy business model does not drive content providers to develop their offerings in India. "The end-user fees are already a record low, and by taking a majority share of the already low fees is not going to create a unique set of services at all. "For example, in China, operators take only 10-15 percent as against 75 percent in India. Guess where the content owners will go first?"

Originally published in http://www.convergenceplus.com.

Written by Geetanjali Wadhwa & Pradeep Chakraborty.

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