Here's a post of mine that some on this list read about a month ago. I see several killer services that should and could be delivered to handsets and that could make money. Mobile video isn't one of them, unless content creators own the services, and even then ... John Willkie The other day, I attended my first Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) section 36 meeting. I was intrigued by the location and the pitch. The meeting was at the brand spanking new headquarters of Qualcomm's MediaFlo USA headquarters on Eastgate Mall in San Diego. The pitch for broadcasters was that MediaFLO could be a new source of revenue for broadcasters. Fat chance. The challenges of out-of-home video are probably insurmountable. Most of the time, people are at work, or at home, or are sleeping, or are driving their cars. The only one of those activities that has a remote potential for revenue from MediaFLO is at home, but I suspect that few will enjoy the down-res. I recently read of a survey where 80 per cent of the people with video-enabled cell phones said they'd never use the service: and that was without regard to the cost. As I pointed out before the meeting started (I have no interest in selling anything to Qualcomm), I am of the understanding that people are entertained by content and not technology. The executive in charge -- with a cable engineering background, but who claimed to be a broadcaster -- kept on mentioning "content providers" but I didn't see any participating in this system, and last I heard television programmers call people who provide programs "content providers" and they all have their own extensive distribution networks. The basics: MediaFLO uses proprietary and very ingenious Qualcomm technology to transmit, via a COFDM (but not DVB-compatible) single frequency network, up to 20 video (320x240, up to 30 fps) and 20 stereo audio channels to Qualcomm-designed cell phones. Right now, they have almost 20 markets pre-operational, and will have up to 100 by the end of the year. The technology is designed to minimize power usage and to minimize the digital cliff, by using a base and enhanced layer. Up to 15 fps comes from the base layer, and up to 30 fps when one is within a strong signal layer. To minimize bandwidth usage they employ two-pass encoding. Total system delay (input to handset: 15 seconds) The handset is quite impressive, and so are the installations -- last summer, I saw the early install of their facility on Mount Wilson. Qualcomm has obtained (under 47 CFR part 27) the rights to use channel 55 around the U.S., at least once broadcasters vacate that channel. On an interim basis, they are using channel 53 in San Diego, due to channel 55 being used by Los Angeles and San Diego DTV stations. They have a national multiplex, distributed via a Ku transponder Intelsat IA8. In short order, they will have move their uplink from the main Qualcomm campus a few blocks away to this site. Therein lies the first technical issue for them to discover, since this site is under the takeoff pattern of the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. As anybody with a satellite dish in this portion of San Diego knows, when jets takeoff from the airbase, their radar systems interfere with satellite reception and transmission. It's been known for DECADES; several firms that weren't even near the takeoff pattern have had to move their uplinks and downlinks behind hills to shield them from routine transmissions. When "there is a war (or battle) on, all bets are off." The amount of money that they've spent on this facility is impressive. The rack room has 110 racks. Two separate 6mw power feeds; two mw UPS systems, computer flooring, main and back up a/c systems, 40,000 sf main building, with two more at the ready, with all expected to be occupied by the end of this year. On site generator, and two 9 meter uplinks, several simulsats and more to be installed by the end of the year. The nine meter dishes will be very good, I predict, at collecting RFI. The live control room has 5 positions, in a 4:1 configuration. Omnibus automation. The main control room features a video wall with 18 5--inch screens, showing network status video signals, weather, input, uplink, downlink confidence displays. Kind of funny that the display showing the work being done on the network showed the time as being PST, since we're currently in PDT. The wiring in the rack room was the finest I've ever seen. Each rack row has an "eye in the sky", the rooms are access-controlled, and have multiple fire-suppression systems. Our visit ended in the programming "pit", which was slightly largest than the the programming pit at KGB-AM/FM circa 1978. "If we can't buy programming,we'll produce it ourselves." That's the rub. They have no content, and I didn't detect the slightest knowledge on their part that the hardest thing to bridge is the soft skills needed to work with talent, creatives and crafts to produce programs on time and within sight of a budget line. I tried to discern if they understood the difference between the way cable firms and networks deal with producers, and the way that broadcasters and their networks deal with producers. The answer had something to do with HBO buying programs and producing unique content, which gave me the answer: they figure if they build the network, the content providers will come to them. Yes, and they'll start off intending to sell old content at high cost, but when they see the facilities, they'll triple their prices, since the lack of contracts and content -- and the intention of competing with local and national broadcast networks -- since nobody is required to work with them, only breeds desperation. They talk of having local aggregators to provide local content, perhaps with equipment installed at local tv stations. Gee, we can then watch clips from local newscasts. That 15 second throughput delay might be an issue. One of my brothers is an EVP at Qualcomm. When I left the meeting, what came to mind is his description of Java circa 1994: a technological "solution" in search of a problem to solve. A few years later, he said that Java would NEVER be in cell phones. Two years after that, he was talking about how one could run a version of Java in 4K of memory. (Virtually all phones are Java-enabled now; Qualcomm found a way to embrace Java and defend their proprietary system.) To seed the market for it's CDMA phones more than a decade ago, Qualcomm and Sony entered into a partnership,called Qualcomm Personal Electronics, that made cellphones. It didn't really succeed, at least in the long run, but it was do-or-die for them, and they now thrive. However,the breakup of the division was a painful one for Qualcomm. I suspect that that experience informed Qualcomm in pursuing the MediaFLO strategy. They are likely to spend much money before getting out of the content distribution business. I do suspect they'll end up with several sports contracts, and little in the way of sports revenues, before costs are taken into account. On engineer told me that he thought that MediaFLO equipped cellphones would end up being docked into a media center at home. Yeah,that's the trick: expensive subscription video with lower resolution than NTSC. I do see something that could be a real revenue source for the system: local, subscription-only radio stations. They have plenty of bandwidth,and commercial radio has gotten real crappy. Of course, that can be done in a closet. One attendee said his niece just got a video-equipped cell phone, but would never use it, as the cost for video was $.10 per minute. John Willkie ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.