02 pilots mobile TV - but will it become something else?

DVB-h broadcast trial focuses on television - but small screens actually widen the scope

The convergence of IT and broadcasting took two new turns last month with the news that more BBC radio and TV programmes will be available online, and that O2 is to trial mobile TV broadcasts.

Orange launched a TV service in May using the 3G mobile-phone signal, but it is not broadcast and has to be paid for like other 3G content.

The Oxford-based O2 trial uses DVB-H, a mobile version of the technology used for Freeview digital TV. It will be launched next month in partnership with Arqiva (formerly known as NTL Broadcast).

The business model of broadcast TV has yet to be established, but it could generate revenues from adverts and by providing a back channel for purchases.

DVB-H uses power-saving techniques to reduce battery drain, including switching on only during the one-sixteenth time slice carrying the channel being viewed. However, it is rivalled by DMB, the multimedia version of DAB (digital audio broadcasting).

Both can do the job, and which wins out will depend as much on industry politics and spectrum allocation as on technology. But improving battery life will also be critical to their success.

Around 350 testers in the Oxford trial will use Nokia 7710 phones to access any of 16 channels covering music, sport, news, comedy, soaps and drama. The idea is to investigate the viewing habits of people in the move, though how realistic the results will be with pilot content is open to question.

Mobile multimedia can make much freer use of text than is feasible on TV because it is easier to read close-up on small screens. It could therefore evolve into a medium in its own right with elements of traditional broadcasting content, newspapers, and the web.

The TV viewing window on the 7710 does leave space for text on the side, which could be used for interactive adverts that could in turn develop into more innovative uses of the medium.

The BBC believes that the Internet, personal video recorders and portable media players will lead people to use TV and radio more like they read books – that is, almost anywhere and at times of their own choosing.

It is to launch an online service called MyBBCPlayer next year providing access to the past seven days of BBC television and radio plus ‘an expanding proportion’ of the BBC’s archive, director-general Mark Thompson said at the Edinburgh International TV Festival.