Mobile TV Broadcasting - What will be the Underlying Business Model in the Future? Iwona Windekilde, Morten Falch Center for Communication, Media and Information technologies Copenhagen Institute of Technology, Aalborg University Lautrupvang 15, DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark iwona@cmi.aau.dk falch@cmi.aau.dk Abstract 1. Introduction The aim of the paper is to study the major and emerging mobile TV markets and various factors that could add to the further take up of mobile TV. The paper discusses recent developments in the market for broadcast mobile TV services, focusing on the different business models and standards currently implemented in a number of markets. Looking at the different mobile TV markets it is difficult to point out the most successful business. The future for mobile TV broadcasting market is uncertain for many players and no one can predict how this market will evolve and which business model will be the right one. Players on the market need to resolve key issues, including content, pricing, user friendliness, business model, digital rights management and technology standards and spectrum allocation. This paper discusses ongoing international trends in the mobile TV broadcasting market related to the various business models, new services offers and user preferences. The paper is organized as follows. First section presents market developments in various countries. This includes business models, the number of users and technological solutions. In the next section, users preferences regarding content, use context, and willingness to pay are examined. In the following section, the new service offers are discussed. The paper ends with a discussion on the future business models and factors that could influence a faster take up of mobile TV broadcasting. 2. Business models – country studies Various mobile broadcasting standards have been successfully launched in markets all over the world, e.g.: DVB-H, MediaFLO, ISDB-T, T-DMB, and S- DMB. Japan is a leading market for deployment of mobile TV services which are based on the ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) standard. In Japan mobile TV business model is embedded in broadcast infrastructure and mobile TV services are offer for free. All handsets are SIM-locked and produced according to the operator’s specification. In fact, the operator pays the handset manufacturer for handsets ordered up front and markets them through its retail outlets itself, so manufacturers face much less risk in introducing new technologies. Until now Japan has shipped more than 20 million handsets equipped with TV receivers. South Korea is the second fastest growing mobile TV market, with 10 million T-DMB devices. There are two competing mobile TV business models: a free-to- air T-DMB service operated by 6 broadcasters and a competing S-DMB pay-service operated and marketed by the main mobile operator SK Telecom. The T-DMB in Korea has 17,24 million users and is strongly supported by the government. S-DMB pay-service has only 1,85 million users [4]. The Asian market, despite its large subscriber numbers has not been generated much revenue. This is In most of the European countries, mobile TV broadcasting market is in its infancy and mobile network operators, broadcasters, content providers and other players are still looking for the best business models. There are many opportunities for each player but there are also many threats which need to be overcome, depending on the particular business models and strategies each of them employs. This paper examines ongoing international trends in the mobile TV broadcasting market related to the various business models, new services offers and user preferences. The paper ends with a discussion on the future business models and factors that could influence a faster take up of mobile TV broadcasting. 978-1-4244-4067-2/09/$25.00  2009 IEEE Wireless VITAE’09 639