[opendtv] Live TV over cellphones launched in Hong Kong
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 12:22:16 -0400
Interesting. The subject makes it seem like the story is about DVB-H or
MediaFLO, right? Wrong. It's about a sort of hybrid scheme over 3G
wireless, Multimedia Broadcast-Multicast Service (MBMS), where some of
the system capacity is assigned to a "broadcast" channel. So some
capacity is no longer available for subscriber calls, but the basic
circuit-oriented cell system structure is retained, the same 3G
frequencies are used, and the operator doesn't have to assign unique
point to point circuits for the TV programs to individual subscribers.
Over the broadcast channel, the media streams are transmitted via IP
Multicast. So subscribers can join any of the multicast groups offered.
Or the same programs can be broadcast to the broadcast channel in all
cells.
The advantage of this scheme is that the basic 3G system is all that's
needed. The disadvantage is that you won't get as much total bandwidth
available for these media streams as you can through a true broadcast
network which uses a different right-of-way.
Bert
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Live TV over cellphones launched in Hong Kong
Mike Clendenin
(05/16/2006 9:12 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=3D187203794
HONG KONG - In an effort to find new and immediate sources to drive 3G
demand, telecom provider PCCW is preempting the arrival of
terrestrial-based broadcast services like DVB-H by deploying an early,
simplified version of a specification designed to deliver live TV
services over cellular networks.
The operator is using Cell Multimedia Broadcast (CMB), a technology
developed by China's Huawei Technologies, to offer a financial channel
and a news channel to its 110,000 subscribers here. The service will be
bundled with other service offerings from 3!, the telecom operator's
third generation mobile service, and is enabled through a wireless
software update to Huawei mobile phones. Other vendor phones will
follow.
Huawei's CMB is an early form of Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service
(MBMS), which has been standardized in the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project and is expected to hit the market by the end of 2007.
MBMS is a broadcasting service that leverages the infrastructure of
existing GSM and UMTS networks, and offers the advantage of an uplink
channel for user interactivity-something that's not as easy to do in
one-way broadcast networks. MBMS is also an improvement upon earlier
point-to-point streaming systems, also known as unicast, which can
seriously degrade network performance.
PCCW's decision to move more aggressively into mobile TV is in part
prompted by the lackluster demand for other core services enabled by 3G
technology, such as high-speed data, video calls and mobile commerce.
"Our experience in Hong Kong is that data is very poorly subscribed and
people are not making money," said Liang Wu, executive vice president of
emerging technology for PCCW. Wu said less than 10 percent of the
operator's average revenue per user comes from data. He is also
skeptical of mobile commerce, and believes that downloadable ring tones
have actually been the most popular service.
"But you don't need 3G for that. People talk about m-commerce, but it's
a joke. Nobody makes it work," he said.
According to Huawei, its pre-MBMS/CMB offering supports Revision 6 MBMS
features, but leverages the existing R4/R99 network equipment to lower
costs. Huawei is hoping this simplified version of MBMS can be rapidly
deployed in order to "fill the technological vacuum" that exists prior
to MBMS deployments.
All material on this site Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. All rights
reserved.
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