Let’s be honest: mobile TV hasn’t exactly set the world alight. The reasons are many: the operator services are often a bit shonky even over 3G; non-operator services are pointless if you’re not on a flat-rate data tariff; regulators and technology firms are squabbling over which formats should be used for digital mobile TV here in Europe; and too many broadcasters assume mobile TV means merely simulcasting what’s on the actual telly.
And that’s just a few of ‘em. Anyway, it seems Nokia is under no illusions about the growth (or otherwise) of the sector. “It’s a bit in a turmoil,” said Nokia’s Niklas Savander last week, at an industry conference. “We have seen that there are multiple segments who are not interested in the broadcasting, but rather in downloads. Rollout is slower than we anticipated a couple of years ago.”
Personally, I think he’s on the money with the ‘downloads’ thing. Surely people are most likely to want to use their phones to catch up on stuff they missed at home - time AND place-shifting their TV viewing. And perhaps in the future, they’ll watch more made-for-mobile shows too. But both of those point to downloads rather than live streaming.
Nokia is keen to push the DVB-H standard for digital broadcasting, but perhaps it should be shifting its attention towards making a service that does for TV shows what its Nokia Music Store does for music…
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