Swisscom brings 20 TV channels to cell phones
Just 50 days before the official start of Euro 08, Swisscom is bringing 20 TV channels to cell phones via the new DVBH network. Compared to the UMTS standard, the resolution is significantly better and users can now zap through the program. However, the claim of "HDTV quality" is a fraudulent label.
Just 50 days before the official start of Uefa Euro 08, Swisscom, the nation's largest telecommunications company, is bringing 20 TV channels to cell phones via the new DVBH network. In front of an appropriate backdrop at Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium on Friday, those responsible emphasized to the media that the service, called Bluewin TV mobile, brings television to consumers' cell phones in unprecedented quality. The service is in HDTV quality, they said. However, this is a misnomer, because on the one hand (with a few exceptions) there are still no channels that broadcast programs in full high definition and on the other hand, full resolution on the screen of even the latest generation of cell phones makes little sense. To be honest, the creators should have found a new name for their resolution standard. However, the aim was to use the term HDTV to convey to customers that television on a cell phone "looks and feels" similar to what they are already used to from real television on a flat screen.
Delay in live broadcasts The DVB-H-compatible test device, a new Nokia N77, which the cell phone manufacturer developed in collaboration with Swisscom, also shows in the practical test that the moving images are slightly jerky. Live broadcasts can only be played back with an average delay of eight seconds and the service cannot be used abroad. However, television is still possible and even subtitles can be read, albeit with some difficulty. Compared to Bluewin TV, which has been available for months via the UMTS standard, the difference in picture and sound is clearly recognizable. The new service also allows faster zapping and offers a program guide for a quick overview of the channels.
Three screens for everyday life The launch of Bluewin TV mobile is part of Swisscom's multimedia strategy, as Executive Board member and Head of Private Customers Christian Petit emphasized on Friday. The vision of this strategy is aimed at the three screens in customers' everyday lives: Computer, cell phone and TV screen. The aim is to make music, Internet and moving images available wirelessly at any time. Practical tests have shown that people particularly appreciate the aspect of the personal TV set and, for example, like to take their cell phone to bed with them, even if there is a large flat screen for the whole family in the living room.
However, Petit emphasized that the launch of mobile TV is not the last step in the development process. For example, there is still a lack of interactivity, meaning that users can react to TV offers at the touch of a button and vote, for example. Furthermore, Bluewin TV and its version for cell phones should merge more and more and, if possible, hardly differ from each other. According to Petit, the test device presented to the media will be available in stores in mid-May. Further models will follow.
Upgrade towards the Euro Swisscom will reach 44% of the population outside the home and 31% indoors with the new DVB-H network by the end of May, as required by OFCOM. The network will initially focus on the centers of Basel, Berne, Zurich and the Arc Lémanique with Geneva and Lausanne. Where the network is not available, mobile TV users will have to switch to the UMTS standard and will have 30 instead of just 20 channels to choose from, including ARD and ZDF, for example. The offer will cost CHF 16 per month, regardless of whether television is watched via DVB-H or UMTS.
Those responsible remained silent about how many viewers Swisscom needs for its new mobile TV to pay off, as well as how much the construction and expansion of the DVB-H network, which was launched on Friday with 25 antenna sites, has cost the Group. "It is less expensive than building a UMTS network," was all Christian Petit said.
René Worni
Delay in live broadcasts The DVB-H-compatible test device, a new Nokia N77, which the cell phone manufacturer developed in collaboration with Swisscom, also shows in the practical test that the moving images are slightly jerky. Live broadcasts can only be played back with an average delay of eight seconds and the service cannot be used abroad. However, television is still possible and even subtitles can be read, albeit with some difficulty. Compared to Bluewin TV, which has been available for months via the UMTS standard, the difference in picture and sound is clearly recognizable. The new service also allows faster zapping and offers a program guide for a quick overview of the channels.
Three screens for everyday life The launch of Bluewin TV mobile is part of Swisscom's multimedia strategy, as Executive Board member and Head of Private Customers Christian Petit emphasized on Friday. The vision of this strategy is aimed at the three screens in customers' everyday lives: Computer, cell phone and TV screen. The aim is to make music, Internet and moving images available wirelessly at any time. Practical tests have shown that people particularly appreciate the aspect of the personal TV set and, for example, like to take their cell phone to bed with them, even if there is a large flat screen for the whole family in the living room.
However, Petit emphasized that the launch of mobile TV is not the last step in the development process. For example, there is still a lack of interactivity, meaning that users can react to TV offers at the touch of a button and vote, for example. Furthermore, Bluewin TV and its version for cell phones should merge more and more and, if possible, hardly differ from each other. According to Petit, the test device presented to the media will be available in stores in mid-May. Further models will follow.
Upgrade towards the Euro Swisscom will reach 44% of the population outside the home and 31% indoors with the new DVB-H network by the end of May, as required by OFCOM. The network will initially focus on the centers of Basel, Berne, Zurich and the Arc Lémanique with Geneva and Lausanne. Where the network is not available, mobile TV users will have to switch to the UMTS standard and will have 30 instead of just 20 channels to choose from, including ARD and ZDF, for example. The offer will cost CHF 16 per month, regardless of whether television is watched via DVB-H or UMTS.
Those responsible remained silent about how many viewers Swisscom needs for its new mobile TV to pay off, as well as how much the construction and expansion of the DVB-H network, which was launched on Friday with 25 antenna sites, has cost the Group. "It is less expensive than building a UMTS network," was all Christian Petit said.
René Worni
