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Pilot study 
Juha Vesaoja, Head of Technology Management, YLE 

Testing mobile TV users

On 15 December 2003 leading Finnish broadcast (Digita), content (MTV3, Nelonen and YLE) and mobile communications (TeliaSonera Finland and Elisa) companies signed an agreement to start testing a commercial broadcast service to mobile devices. The aim of the pilot study was to gain experience about real end-user acceptance of mobile broadcasting services.

To gain statistically meaningful results of end-user acceptance, 500 end-users were recruited for the pilot study which was launched in Helsinki.

The aim of the pilot study was also to support ongoing standardization work and further clarify the regulatory and spectrum issues for the planned fourth digital television multiplex in Finland and act as a validation of a functional end-to-end solution for mobile broadcasting services platforms.

Today 

Currently Finland has three terrestrial networks (multiplexes) for digital television broadcasting. A fourth digital broadcast network is reserved for mobile datacasting, i.e. for Internet protocol datacast (IPDC) services based on the emerging DVB-H (handheld) standard.

The pilot study was set up accordingly: TeliaSonera Finland and Radiolinja provided access for the protected TV-like services to the end-users; MTV, Nelonen and YLE produced the content available for the pilot users; Digita operated the IPDC service system and network thus managing and broadcasting the services; and Nokia provided IPDC specific equipment such as the terminals, which enabled the devices to receive the broadcast signal.

New pilot study 

On 8 March 2005 Digita, Elisa, MTV, Nelonen, Nokia, Sonera and YLE started a unique mobile TV pilot study in Finland. 

Selected from Sonera and Elisa mobile phone customers, test users were able to view real-time TV and radio programmes on a Nokia 7710 smart phone equipped with a special accessory to receive mobile TV broadcasts. Test users had access to MTV, YLE and Nelonen programmes as well as international theme channels such as CNN, BBC World, Euronews, Eurosport, ViVa Plus and Fashion TV. The pilot study ended on 20 June 2005.

During the pilot study Elisa and Sonera were responsible for customer service, invoicing and connections to the new interactive supplementary services. Digita designed and built the digital TV network needed for the distribution of mobile TV services and managed the network, while Nokia developed the mobile TV service management and smart phones to receive mobile TV broadcasts. 

The mobile TV study used IPDC which conforms with the DVB-H standard. At the end of 2004 the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) adopted DVB-H as the standard for European mobile television services, enabling the simultaneous transmission of several television, radio and video channels to mobile devices. 

YLE had various reasons to take part in the pilot study. It was a very important opportunity to offer our main product, television programmes to the mobile user in addition to our already existing mobile services. Going mobile with YLE’s main offering strengthened its media brand and the pilot study provided an ideal training ground for YLE.

Athletics 

Mobile TV broadcasts continued in August at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics that where held in Helsinki. Guests of the companies behind the Finnish mobile TV project were able to use mobile TV for the first time at an international sporting event.

YLE provided mobile TV users with a multi-channel package, including a domestic broadcast of the Champion-ships, which included both YLE’s TV1 and TV2 coverage of the championships. In addition, mobile TV users received the compilation broadcast for international distribution and five special Championships broadcasts of individual events (running events, field events, race walking and the marathon). Each event could thus be followed without a break from start to finish.

During the World Championships in Athletics, mobile TV users also had access to regular YLE TV1, MTV3, Nelonen, CNN, BBC World and Eurosport TV programmes.

The World Championships in Athletics offered an excellent environment to demonstrate the use of mobile TV, and specifically how new content can be produced for mobile TV devices. For example, users could watch the games on their way to the stadium or whenever they were away from the action.

Results

The results of the pilot study were released on 30 August. They showed the popularity and willingness to pay €4.90 for mobile TV services, which underlined the potential of this new mobile application: 41% of participants were willing to purchase mobile TV services; half thought that a fixed monthly fee of €10 was a reasonable price to pay; and over half (58%) said that they believed broadcast mobile TV services would be popular.

Participants in the pilot study not only wanted to watch familiar programme offer but also welcomed mobile TV content suitable for short and occasional viewing. 

Familiar programmes available through national Finnish television channels proved to be the most popular followed by sports and news channels (CNN, BBC World, Euronews). The Ice Hockey World Cup Games, the San Marino and Monaco Formula One as well as the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and AC Milan were among the top-10 programmes viewed during the study. 

In general, mobile TV users spent approximately 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV, although more active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session. Participants also watched mobile TV at different times to traditional TV peak hours.

Mobile TV was most popular while travelling on public transport to relax or to keep up to date with the latest news although it also proved popular at home for entertainment and complementing participants main TV viewing.

The potential commercial benefits of mobile TV are evident from this pilot study. Overall, users preferred a fixed pricing model although many were also interested in a pay-per-view model, i.e. buying access for specific content such as a football match or racing competition. 

The results also revealed consumers key requirements when it came to using mobile TV services:

• easy and intuitive service usability;
• good technical functionality and reliability;
• content that is also suitable for short viewing periods;
• mobile phone functions must not be compromised by the TV application.    

pj / ep