Television in your pocket

 
Mobile TV Swisscom brings 20 TV channels to cell phones 50 days before the Euro. 
Just 50 days before the official start of Euro 08, Swisscom, the nation's largest telecommunications company, is bringing 20 TV channels to cell phones via the new DVB-H network. In front of an appropriate backdrop at Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium, those responsible recently 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 fraudulent label, because on the one hand there are still no broadcasters (with a few exceptions) 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.
The DVB-H-compatible test device, a Nokia N77, which the cell phone manufacturer developed in collaboration with Swisscom, shows in the practical test that the moving images are slightly jerky. In addition, 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 are legible, 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. In addition, the new service zaps much faster and offers a program guide for a quick overview of the channels.
The launch of Bluewin-TV mobile is part of Swisscom's multimedia strategy, as Christian Petit, member of the Executive Board and Head of Private Customers, emphasized to the media. 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 DVB-H 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.
As required by OFCOM, Swisscom will reach 44% of the population outside the home and 31% indoors with the new DVB-H network by the end of May. 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 with 25 antenna sites on April 18, has cost the Group. "It is less expensive than building a UMTS network," was all Christian Petit said.
René Worni
DVB-H not yet up to speedWith the mobile TV offer
The technological possibilities of the new DVB-H network, which Swisscom subsidiary Swisscom Brodcast has set up in preparation for Euro 08, have not yet been exhausted. Mobile TV could be more than just broadcasting television programs. The decisive factor here is interactivity. However, Swisscom is not yet able to offer this and those responsible cannot say when it will be ready.
This is also open to other providers, including those that rely on these interactive features of the technology. Mobile TV Switzerland is currently the only third-party provider with MoTV, a program specially adapted for cell phones. It was invented by Bruno Bucher, a former Swisscom employee from Biel. According to an agreement with Swisscom, he will be able to use one of the 20 channels. One of the channels on offer will then be replaced by MoTV. But it is a gauntlet for Bucher. He had to put his interactive MoTV on hold because the main player could not say when interactivity would be technically possible. Bucher is therefore planning to switch to a linear program in May, "as soon as possible", and hopes to be able to implement his innovative concept at a later date. (rw)