Look into the tube

 
René Worni about television on the palm of your hand. 
 
Who was actually waiting for mobile TV? "Suddenly we thought it was 8:1 for Japan in the game between Japan and Brazil - because we couldn't see the score," said Sat-1 broadcaster Mathias Alberti about his experience with mobile TV at last year's Screenup. Nevertheless, investments are being made heavily: In Switzerland, industry experts estimate that Swisscom has invested around CHF 50 million in mobile TV with its own DVB-H network for better transmission quality. But is this investment worth it if you can't watch anything other than the familiar programs on your DVB-H cell phone? With the difference that the pictures are jerky, movies with subtitles become a problem and in the football stadium the striker has already sunk the ball into the left crossbar eight seconds before the "Tooooor!" appears on the cell phone. Perhaps it remains to examine some everyday situations for potential for mobile TV: watching TV in bed, on the toilet, in the dentist's waiting room, on the playground or under the school desk. But there are still no programs that do justice to this special form of television. TV consumption via mouse cinema is certainly subject to other laws, which the hasty makers, blinded by Euro 08, probably thought were too insignificant. If you think about the flow of commuters, for example, then the corresponding programs for cell phones are almost inevitable. Trend observers are predicting that mobile devices will soon give the commuter press a run for its money.
And so last week's presentation by the communications giant mainly left us with questions. People may argue about the sense and nonsense of mobile television, but like any new technology, it offers potential for innovation. However, there was a persistent silence about this. Those responsible only had their Bluewin TV in focus, whose mobile version as Bluewin TV mobile is quite monopolistic. Other providers are admitted. The only one so far is Bruno Bucher with MoTV, who had to rework his concept, however, because the communications giant probably finds innovative approaches "made for mobile" rather disruptive.
René Worni, Editor