Philippine Mobile TV Wars: So Many Choices!
I have not been blogging lately due to on-going commitments, more entertaining pursuits (like writing parallel computing stuff) and numerous developments in the life. Fortunately, most of them are very positive. Friendly neighborhood tech blogger Abe just posted a note about Globe launching its own Mobile TV service and I just could not resist commenting on it. Abe describes the new services as …
The corporate website outlines the specifics of the mobile TV service:
They offer two channel lineups: LIVE and Made-for-Mobile (Looped, which means pre-recorded).
Available Channels: ABS-CBN, GMA, CNN, theHub, Sports.
Requirements: Globe Prepaid/ Postpaid Sim, 3G Video Call – capable handset (set to 3G/UMTS or Dual mode)
Supported Phones: All 3G/HSDPA Phones except the ff:
* Nokia Series 40 3G phones: 6280, 6233, 6288, 7390, 6151
* Older Nokia 3G phone: 7600, 6650
* Motorola 3G phones: E770, V3x, V3xx, K3, V6, V6maxx, C1000, V1050, E1070, E1000, V975, V980, A835. A1010, A1000Usage Charging: Promo rate is at P5.00/minute. For postpaid subscribers, you can use your free minutes to watch TV for free. It will be charged against your free minutes as you use it together with your regular voice and video calls.
Operation: Do a video call to *9000.
This is on the heels of Smart’s recent launch of their MyTV service. But, if we look at both services closely. They are actually two different things. Smart’s service uses a digital TV broadcasting technology called Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H). Globe’s service uses their 3G video call functionality. But wait … Smart also has a streaming TV services that was already released before. They already support local TV channels and on-demand episodes. So many choices!
Here is summary of these services.
| Smart DVB-H | Smart Streaming TV | Globe Mobile TV | |
| Launch Date | Aug 2007 | Feb 2006 | Sep 2007 |
| Technology | DVB-H | Streaming TV | 3G Video Call |
| Handsets | Few | Most GPRS/EDGE/3G Compatible Handsets | Most 3G Video Call Handsets |
| Channels | 11 | 2 | 5 |
| Uses CMTS Network? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast? | Yes | No | No |
| Narrowcast? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | P488/month | P20 per day + GPRS | P5 per min |
| Cost per month (assume 2 hours per day for 20 days) | P488 | P1,600 | P12,000 |
As a quick summary, DVB-H technology potentially provides a cheaper viewing experience for active viewers (many hours per month of viewing). It will also potentially be a more cost efficient and reliable programming delivery mechanism because it works outside the carrier’s CMTS network. The downside is that this technology requires the use of a specialized handset. Currently, there are only a few available in our market today and they are potentially pricey.
On the other hand, on CMTS network technologies like streaming TV and 3G video call, allow an operator to use existing infrastructure to deliver the programming. Hence, these services are currently costly for active viewers compared to the DVB-H option. A benefit is that these services are usable with more handsets available in the market today.
Which service will prevail? Only the market can decide.
